Sue Legg, a retired faculty member at the University of Florida and a member of the board of directors at the Network for Public Education, published an article in The Gainesville Sun about Governor Ron DeSantis’s takeover of the state’s civics curriculum. The old-style Republicans believed in leaving teachers alone and letting them to their job. The new-style, Trumpist Republicans believe that they must tell teachers what to teach.
DeSantis is a busy guy, so he has outsourced the Florida civics curriculum to Hillsdale College, the go-to evangelical college that tells conservative leaders what to think and converts it into a school curriculum.
The state’s new civics curriculum is expected to be in place by 2024.
It is difficult to believe that a small college in Michigan could impact Florida’s students at both the K-12 and postsecondary levels, but it has. DeSantis’ measures to revise the state standards for civics (HB 5), K-12 social studies (SB 1108), and postsecondary requirements regarding diversity of opinions (HB 233) are indicators.
Teacher training workshops are held to make the curriculum “more patriotic.” These changes were reviewed and modified by Hillsdale College. A new University of Florida Hamilton Institutewas funded by the Florida Legislature to develop civics courses at the college level. DeSantis has announced the creation of three community college civics career academies to train students to work in local government.
Count on Ron DeSantis to encourage a “diversity of opinions,” not! When DeSantis gets involved, it is his way or the highway.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
DeSantis is an authoritarian extremist that deliberately promotes lies and misinformation to manipulate his base. He is well funded by other wealthy right wing extremists like the DeVos family which has ties to both Michigan and Florida. It is unsurprising that DeSantis promotes an “antiseptic” version of civics and history free from facts that highlight any of America’s mistakes or missteps. DeSantis version of civics will be what the fundamentalist Christians want it to be instead of the truth. The governor is building a propaganda network that will continue in Florida if DeSantis becomes the next President. If DeSantis wins that office, it will be disastrous for public schools and the nation. He would very likely install DeVos again or someone else equally as toxic to lead the DOE. https://original.newsbreak.com/@victor-1588206/2586574303904-the-devos-family-has-donated-almost-200-million-to-keep-republican-governors-as-leaders-since-1999
It’s worse than just whitewashing. What the Hillsdale 1776 curriculum does is cherry pick historical documents to advance extremist conservative notions like, the country is founded on the concept of natural rights, a Christian notion; the founders opposed lax immigration rules; the founders meant for states’ rights to be foremost and for the federal government to be relatively weak; there is a moral law in the universe, and human law and action in the public and private spheres must be based on that; and so on.
I am familiar with Calvinism as I attended the Presbyterian church as a child. While I know most Presbyterian churches don’t focus on their origin, a tenet of the church is that some are predestined to be “better,” as they are morally superior. The whole concept that some people deserve more or better than others offended my sense of equality. By the time I turned thirteen, I was out the door.
Wise, RT!
Democracy, Updated
Hills are Dales and Dales are Hills.
History’s whatever the state church wills.
The founders’ wishes, as Hillsdale contends,
were “All must bow down to invisible friends”
It’s all a great mystery–O do not ask why–
this country’s the work of a guy in the sky,
and yours is but to do or die.
I posted this a few years ago here, but seems like it would be a good primer for my Florida (non-Shepherd, standard spelling) today. Actually, the whole country:
https://harpers.org/archive/1941/08/who-goes-nazi/
The most famous Zimbardo and Milgram and Asche experiments all tell us this: 40 to 60 percent of people would go Nazi. I often play this game when I am in a crowd. Which of these? Which would be full-on Nazi? Which would be particularly vicious collaborators? Which would be silent but loyal collaborators? Which would be frightened into collaboration?
Interestingly, 40 percent is about the size of the Trump base.
This is a brilliant example of how well meaning, damaged people easily slip toward fascism and don’t see how their aggrieved narcissism drives their political fanaticism.
And the O’Brien piece is revealing and appalling. So, I’ve come to the opinion that in our current state of development as a species, this slide into fascism is an ever-present danger–that we are not “by nature” better than that. But I also think that we are not “by nature” inclined toward this stuff. I think that one has to be taught, though the teaching can be accidental and incidental and subtle (think of the “values” taught by high-school coaches; these can EASILY veer off into fascism–loyalty to the tribe, adherence to the commands of the leader, etc).
It’s interesting that many doctors are OK with young people having to go for insane amounts of time without sleep and under enormous stress during their residencies. The same aggrievement principle at work. I had to put up with it, so you should, too. And this is in a group of arguably intelligent people! That system is so clearly wrong, but they haven’t insisted on changing it.
Of particular interest is the Asch, where the only question was the length of a line segment. I am not sure whether the willingness to go along with a group concerning a perceived but unimportant reality is any indication of the inclination to accept authority, but it is very interesting. The electric shock Milgram experiments are the ones that are troubling. That earning money for delivering the electric shock increased willingness to deliver the electricity is the most damning piece of evidence ever assembled in prosecution of the human race. Original sin in economic action.
This is a fascinating article, Greg. The various thumbnail personal histories are interesting. Many routes to this madness. Ofc, one of the values of literature is that it demonstrates this kind of thing. However, simply the point that simply being cultivated or intellectual is not inoculation against fascist ideology is an important one. Goebbels was, as you know, a playwright with a PhD in which he focused on study of Romantic literature.
cx: However, the point that
“…being cultivated or intellectual is not inoculation against fascist ideology…”
Here, here! Germany was possibly the best educated population in history up to that time. European intellectuals had spent a generation before Fascism rose in all European countries making the spurious argument that Enlightenment ideas were to blame for the problems of the world. The fascinating thing was that this reaction against individualism accompanied wild enthusiasm for the ideas of Angell, who argued that economic relationships made war very unlikely (WWI fooled him)
Maybe FL can call TX.
Because organized groups of TEXAS educators, parents, advocacy groups and others showed up in Austin Monday 8/1 to testify on the once-in-a-decade rewrite of the TX social studies curriculum.
The Hearing Room was packed. Book Bans, shutting down school libraries, attacks on LBGTQ students, attacks on teachers, calling slavery “workers”, “immigration” or “involuntary relocation” is completely unacceptable to loads of TX citizens.
The Civics Alliance social studies standards for K-12 schools, entitled “American Birthright is a whitewash.
Civics Alliance was created in 2021 as an offshoot of the National Association of Scholars which features right-wing leaders like Ginni Thomas on its board.
American Birthright says the 1776 Curriculum, published in 2021 by Hillsdale College, is aligned with their vision.
So is the curricula of Great Hearts Academies, a “classical education” network.
So is the Black conservative group 1776 Unites.
Kathyrn Joyce/Salon
https://www.salon.com/2022/07/08/rights-new-social-studies-plan-vows-to-fight-crt-wokeness-and-the-overthrow-of-america/
SCOTUS just certified the end of the Trump immigration policy. Texas and the right wingers everywhere will lose their collective minds when the border explodes.
Here’s hoping that we see dramatic changes from the Biden admin SOON. Every day that the Trump/Miller/Sessions policies remain in place is one in which people are done grievous harm.
More evidence that fascists are taking over the Republican Party. Might as well call it the MAGA Fascist Party. If Traitor Trump had his way, he’d rename the Republican Party himself and Trump’s name would be part of that new fascist party.
“Fascism is a movement that promotes the idea of a forcibly monolithic, regimented nation under the control of an autocratic ruler. The word fascism comes from fascio, the Italian word for bundle, which in this case represents bundles of people.”
https://time.com/5556242/what-is-fascism/
The dangers of fascism that Traitor Trump unleased, long after TT is gone and dead, will be with us for generations.
On that note, I recently read news that a new political party is being established where traditional conservatives like Liz Cheney may go if they can’t stand being in the Fascist GOP.
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/exclusive-former-republicans-democrats-form-new-third-us-political-party-2022-07-27/
The idea, there, is strength in unity. Shockingly, Roman fasces are depicted in bronze bas relief on either side of the flag behind the speaker’s chair in the House Chamber.
I remember a conversation I had on a plane with fellow passenger to Europe more than 35 years ago when we both agreed (I honestly can’t remember who said it first) that the best thing about being American is that you had the right to be un-American. Good times.
Haaaaa!!!!
Here’s the thing about Fascists: their arrogance makes them a particular kind of stupid. They can place themselves in positions of control, but they can’t actually take control because their arrogance will always lead them to ____ things up. They will watch as out of control events careen on their own path. No, Mussolini did not make the trains run on time. Yes, he entered into a ruinous war in Ethiopia and a ruinous pact with Hitler. If Italy is the train, he took it off the rails. And he was the smartest of this lot. He wrote a potboiler novel about the sex life of a cardinal, btw. It’s a predictably bad read. I have a thing for reading the bad writing of dictators. It amuses me.
DeSantis is now being plugged 24/7 by Fox News, and Jabba the Trump is being ignored. This is significant because while Americans think that their president is chosen by the Electoral College based, loosely, on an actual democratic vote, this decision is actually made by a couple of Australian billionaires.