The Orlando Sentinel reported today that the State Education Department had rejected 35% of the social studies textbooks submitted for review because of leftist content. The DeSantis administration objects to any references to “social justice” or negative references to capitalism.
Leslie Postal of the Sentinel wrote:
Florida rejected 35% of the social studies textbooks publishers hoped to sell to public schools this year and forced others to delete or change passages state leaders disliked, including references to “why some citizens are choosing to ‘Take a Knee’ to protest police brutality” and “new calls for social justice” after the death of George Floyd.
A press release from the Florida Department of Education on Tuesday said 66 of 101 textbooks submitted have been approved, many after making changes the state demanded. On April 6, the department gave approval to only 19 of the books but then worked for the past month to get publishers to update their texts.
The goal was “materials that focus on historical facts and are free from inaccuracies or ideological rhetoric,” said Education Commissioner Manny Diaz in a statement.
The textbooks are for elementary and middle school social studies classes as well as civics, economics, U.S. history and world history courses.
In addition to social justice topics, some of the textbooks initially rejected failed to accurately describe communism and socialism, the department said, and those passages were revamped to emphasize the negatives of both economic systems…
The process became highly political a year ago, however, when the state initially rejected 42 math textbooks, a historic number, and touted the news with a press release that said, “Florida Rejects Publishers’ Attempts to Indoctrinate Students.”
Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration sounded a similar alarm Tuesday.
“The political indoctrination of children through the K-12 public education system is a very real and prolific problem in this country,” tweeted Bryan Griffin, DeSantis’ press secretary. “Just look at some of these examples from textbooks submitted this year to @EducationFL.”
Griffin highlighted a passage from a middle school textbook that described a socialist economy as one that “keeps things nice and even and without unnecessary waste.” The passage went on to say, “These societies may promote greater equality among people while still providing a fully functioning government-supervised economy.”
The department did not indicate what textbook included that passage but shared the new version about “planned economies” that replaced the one about socialist economies. The new passage reads, “Critics say these planned economies have slow development and fewer technological advances” in part because they limit “human incentive. In other words, why do anything if the government is eventually going to do it for you?”
The other examples the department shared included two related to social justice, police brutality and racism. The elementary school textbook that mentioned people taking a knee during the National Anthem as a form of protest was deleted as “not age appropriate,” the department said. So was a passage from a middle school book that discussed “new calls for social justice, including the formation of the Black Lives Matter group and the protests after the killing of Floyd, a Black man, by a white police officer.”
The department also disliked that a middle school textbook about the Holocaust asked, “What social justice issues are included in the Hebrew Bible?” The line was changed to “What are some of the key principles included in the Hebrew Bible?”
The DeSantis’ administration last year claimed the math books contained critical race theory, the idea that racism is embedded in American institutions, and other unacceptable topics such as social emotional learning and culturally responsive learning.
DeSantis and other Republicans argue CRT aims to make white children feel guilty and to teach children to hate the United States and that, while traditionally a graduate school topic, its tenets have seeped into K-12 classrooms. The Legislature last year passed what the governor dubbed his “stop woke” act that outlaws the teaching of the concept in public schools.
Opponents of DeSantis’ efforts argued the real aim was to prevent children from learning about tough topics such as slavery and racial discrimination and said they feared it would lead to a whitewashing of history.
Most of those who reviewed the math textbooks — math teachers and professors — found nothing objectionable in the texts, with only three of about 70 reviewers raising concerns about CRT. Eventually, many of the rejected books were approved after making some changes. The three reviewers who raised questions about the math textbooks were a member of the conservative Moms for Liberty group and two people affiliated with the Hillsdale College, a conservative Christian school in Michigan aligned with the DeSantis administration.
The math book rejections stunned school district administrators, who had already made plans to purchase the rejected textbooks — which were part of a longer list first posted to the education department’s website. As they typically do, committees of teachers and curriculum experts reviewed the books before recommending which ones should be purchased and had not found material they found objectionable.
The districts needed to buy new math textbooks last year and new social studies textbooks this year to make sure their instructional materials match with new state standards for those subjects.
Mindful of what happened last year, Orange County Public Schools decided to select both first and second-choice options for new social studies books this year. The Orange County School Board approved its list of recommended books April 25, but the district has not yet made any purchases, which could cost more than $21 million.
The social studies textbooks OCPS selected as its top choice for elementary schools is on the rejected list the education department released Tuesday. The district could go with its second-choice option, which is approved, or wait to see if the other wins approval in the coming weeks.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
“Fascists are always telling a story about a glorious past that’s been lost, and they tap into this nostalgia. So when you fight back against fascism, you’ve got one hand tied behind your back, because the truth is messy and complex and the mythical story is always clear and compelling and entertaining. It’s hard to undercut that with facts.”
https://www.vox.com/2018/9/19/17847110/how-fascism-works-donald-trump-jason-stanley
Simply stating that a particular point of view exists isn’t the same as advocating it. Speaking of protest, what does the approved description of January 6 look like? Is it characterized as a group of very enthusiastic tourists, as some have stated, or is it just excluded entirely?
I’m Inexperienced in textbook publishing, & so don’t know how extensive & varied the options are. Are the publishers printing special edItions for distribution in Florida et al., or are all school districts around the country who purchase from these publishers now restricted to only the censored editions specified by the lowest common denominator? Are there large publishers offering options presenting a balance of views, or are Florida & Texas now dictating standards for the whole country?
By the way, in the Hunter College CRT course (it’s still legal here in New York) I’m helping my daughter with, the textbook cites recent surveys indicating a substantial majority of immigrants say they believe their lives are much better in the US than their home countries, so where’s this delusion come from about “hating America”?
Florida and Texas have LONG been the de facto decision makers for the entire country. Because these big adoption states throw out all their books and buy new ones on a regular schedule, they provide publishers with a BIG payday. So, they prepare their books with these states in mind. Then, for each state of any size, they slap some state-specific stuff on the product–a cover that says, “North Carolina Edition!” or whatever and some bs about the state standards in the teachers’ edition and in ancillary products (print or online). But the products are basically the same, despite the state labels, except for these really big adoption states like TX and FL.
I worked with immigrants for most of my career, and I can confirm they are delighted and grateful to be here. Despite our flaws and problems, America remains far safer and freer than lots of places in the world. The notion that public schools are teaching students to “hate America” is part of the propaganda campaign against public education. Most teachers simply want to be able to teach accurate history, not some DeSantis distortion of it.
exactly
retired teacher
I would argue that many if not most teachers don’t care what they teach. And teach what is fed to them. Coming into the school with the same ill conceived notions prevalent in the communities they live in. For those who do care about truth, history and science this is problematic.
I think it’s more that Republicans wanna teach students to hate immigrants, along with everyone else is not like them.
Whatever you do not tell the children of Florida that the largest economy in the world is a hybrid yet very much planned economy (its complicated). And certainly do not tell them that the vast majority of Tech innovation was nurtured by the big bad Guberment . This before MRNA vaccines .
Click to access 2014-federally-supported-innovations.pdf
As a Florida teacher, the number of posts on my state us alarming and discouraging. Here’s a question for you:
It seems like Republicans have a real agenda in regard to education, as if they’re sitting down and actually mapping this stuff out. (Like a convention for people who try to outdo each other in callousness.) What are the Democrats doing? How do we counter this?
I hope the Democratic Party comes out swinging in support of public education. Half-measures are ineffective.
Elcaldy-
It’s the religious right, men like Koch-funded Paul Weyrich (now deceased) and Leonard Leo who formed and steer the agenda for education.
ALEC, the religious right and the Heritage Foundation (Ginni Thomas’ former employer), were all co-founded by Weyrich.
Read the research paper, “The New Official Contents of Sex Education in Mexico: laicism in the crosshairs,” posted at the Scielo site for info on the education agenda roll-out, world wide.
I remember about a year ago some history teachers that I worked with (FL) went to a training for a new adoption that was sponsored by the department of education. And there was an uproar from them about the inaccuracies, and the evasive Ness of what was in the textbooks and the program, it made the news so I know people spoke out. Not that it mattered.
Cain’t be havin no commie crap taught to our precious children now can we?
From DeFascist’s choice: “Hoover’s brilliance was not only bailing out noble banks and big business as lazy Americans got what they deserved, it was also staying the course – refusing to back down to a woke left clamoring for more entitlements….”
It appears that Ron DeSantis and the entirety of the Republican Party is in direct opposition to American history and the United States Constitution.
The Founders envisioned a democratic society “in which the common good was the chief end of government.” They agreed with John Locke’s view that the main purpose of government –– the main reason people create government –– is to protect their persons through –– as historian R. Freeman Butts put it –– a social contract that placed “the public good above private desires.” The goal was “a commonwealth, a democratic corporate society in which the common good was the chief end of government.”
The Preamble – the stated purposes – of the Constitution, reads
“We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”
In Article I, Section 8 of that document, the legislative branch is given broad, specific powers (among them taxing, borrowing money, regulating commerce, coining money and regulating its value, etc.). Indeed, Article I, Clause 1 gives Congress the power to tax for “the common defence and general Welfare of the United States.” Clause 18 of Section 8 stipulates that Congress had the power “To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers.”
Two Supreme Court decisions early in the republic’s history –– both unanimous –– supported and cemented a broad – liberal – interpretation of the implied powers of Congress.
Republicans call them “socialism.”
In 1819 (McCullough v. Maryland) the Supreme Court reaffirmed that the U.S. government was “a Government of the people. In form and in substance, it emanates from them. Its powers are granted by them, and are to be exercised directly on them, and for their benefit.”
The Court explicitly reaffirmed that one of the critical purposes of government under the U.S. Constitution is to promote the general welfare “of the people.”
In that case, Chief Justice Marshall wrote this about the necessary and proper clause:
“the clause is placed among the powers of Congress, not among the limitations on those powers.” And he added this: “Its terms purport to enlarge, not to diminish, the powers vested in the Government. It purports to be an additional power, not a restriction.”
In Gibbons v. Ogden (1824) Chief Justice Marshall wrote this about the Congressional commerce power:
“This power, like all others vested in Congress, is complete in itself, may be exercised to its utmost extent, and acknowledges no limitations other than are prescribed in the Constitution.”
The history of the United States, and the Constitution, over time, reflect progressive changes. The American Revolution was a progressive movement inspired by the ideas of Enlightenment thinkers; conservatives opposed it. The early expansion of voting rights to those who didn’t own land was progressive, and conservatives of the day fought
against it. The purchase of the Louisiana Territory, a purchase that doubled the size of the fledgling United States, rested on a liberal interpretation of constitutional authority. U.S. government funding of roads and canals relied on a liberal perspective of Congressional commerce power. Those roads and canals were instrumental to economic growth and prosperity, not unlike federal funding of interstate highways, the Internet, medical research, and health care.
And yet, the Republican Party is filled with people who basically reject all of this in favor of sedition.
As David Blight, Yale professor of American history put it,
“Changing demographics and 15 million new voters drawn into the electorate by Obama in 2008 have scared Republicans—now largely the white people’s party—into fearing for their existence. With voter ID laws, reduced polling places and days, voter roll purges, restrictions on mail-in voting, an evisceration of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and a constant rant about ‘voter fraud’ without evidence, Republicans have soiled our electoral system with undemocratic skullduggery…The Republican Party has become a new kind of Confederacy.
Obviously, public education has a central – critical – role to play here. Here’s how Will and Ariel Durant explained it in ‘The Lessons of History’ (1968):
“Civilization is not inherited; it has to be learned and earned by each generation anew; if the transmission should be interrupted for one century, civilization would die, and we should be savages again.”
https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2020/11/05/republicans-the-new-confederacy/
Florida Education Standards.
“Say no to drag queens. Say yes to sexual predators”
oops predators
Correction Predators
Luke Zaleski
“Trump’s 8 stages of guilty
1. I didn’t do it 2. I didn’t do anything wrong 3. I didn’t do anything illegal 4. The people accusing me are guilty 5. The law is illegal 6. Prove it. 7. What happened didn’t happen 8. It’s fine, I did it. I’ll do it again.”
That’s the man that 80+ % of right wing Christians and 63% of White Catholics who attend church regularly voted for. It’s past time to realize that these are not good people.
About 50% of Catholic bishops prefer Fox for their news. (Religion News )
Fantastic you spread it around. Now how about adding ultra orthodox Jews .
What’s the Jewish equivalent to Catholic Bishops? How many are there and how many congregants do they represent when they want to schedule a meeting with a member of Congress?
How many states have Jewish conferences with paid lobbyists? What are their annual budgets? Do their conferences have connections to big money to advance right wing agendas (and, since Jews vote 86% Democratic, would they take the money)?
In Ohio, the Catholic Conference is located .3 mile from the state house and employees 6 staff. They are adding an associate director for education who will ”’…interpret state education law…”
How many right wing, political policy, legal organizations do the rabbis and their flocks have, e.g. the Becket Fund.
How many Federalist Society-like organizations are there that are Jewish?
How much influence do they have in the red states that, through, the electoral college elect U.S. presidents (negating the popular vote)?
Will the Jewish shrine in D.C.(if they have one) roll out the red carpet for a Trump photo op like the Knights of Columbus shrine did.
In terms of assets, which religion has something comparable to the Knights of Columbus. You can review the K of C politicking by reading out-of-the-mainstream media.
Joel-
An analogy for those who agree with Joel-
A class is asked to write papers about the biggest cats (carnivores) in the jungle for a big picture look at the ecosystem. The students are given a maximum length of words in which to provide the info., an attempt at brevity of presentation. One of the papers submitted describes the largest wild cat, the tiger, which can reach 600+ lbs. The student completes the paper by identifying the 2nd and 3rd largest ranked carnivore, wild cats.
A different student submits a paper about the rare, smallest wild cat in the jungle (2 lbs.). And, the student limits the paper to the segment that are a herbivore subspecies.
Joel wants to sell the idea that a 2 lb. herbivore cat is equivalent to the 600 lb. carnivore cat in terms of the purpose of the paper because he wants equal treatment.
Joel’s rationale is that both cats live in the jungle.
Speculating, Joel is a member of a big cat pride and he’s attempting to defend the pride’s alpha males while the rights of women and people who are gay are devoured. Again speculation, Joel doesn’t lose as much with White patriarchy as others do.