It appears that liberal educators are once again trying to use the subject of race to further divide us. Not content with banning the works of noted anti-racists such as Mark Twain, Harper Lee and Dr. Seuss from schools, they’re feverishly seeking to use discredited educational materials related to Critical Race Theory such as the NY Times “1619 Project” or the even more incendiary materials promoted by Black Lives Matter. Today, Ivy League faculties and the K-12 National Education Association vie for being the most ‘woke.’ Those who resist their indoctrination are resented, rebuked, ridiculed, or treated even worse. The latest assault on common sense now seems to be in the form of Florida HB105 submitted by Geraldine Thompson (D-Orange County, CO-SPONSORS: Bartleman; Benjamin; Gottlieb; Grieco; Nixon; Tant; and Woodson). This measure would amend Florida’s required instruction statute, FS 1003.42, by adding language on how schools must address the teaching of African-American History—one of the many specific areas of content all school districts must provide to students. Although there are multiple bills pertaining to African-American history this year, this one is the worst.
By law, textbook publishers and schools must address twenty politically important content areas. These twenty areas involve mostly civics and history. For example, students must be instructed on the principles set forth in the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, the content of the Federalist Papers, the overall history of the United States, the arguments in support of a Republican form of government, the history of the Holocaust, and the contributions of women, Hispanics, and African-Americans to our nation. (Some other areas of the statute pertain to teaching students to ‘be kind to animals,’ and the harmful effects of alcohol.)
HB 105 seeks to give preferential treatment to just one of the twenty areas of the required instruction statute by mandating onerous annual reports from each and every Florida school on exactly how well they address the teaching of African-American history. Under the proposal, schools would be mandated to have teacher in-service in the above beyond the diversity training most school districts already have in place. Schools would have to address this content not just at one grade level or within the content of one course such as American History, but must infuse the content throughout all grades and across subject areas. Each school must partner with an institution of higher learning to provide appropriate in-service and each school must annually submit a report to the state detailing the extent to which such training and teaching took place. The state must additionally develop assessment questions to be annually administered to students to assess their knowledge and understanding of this one group’s contributions to our nation. Finally, a completely new statute—FS 1003.445—would be created to ensure compliance of not just Florida’s public schools, but all Charter Schools and selected private schools. Under this new statute, any such school not fulfilling these duties to the satisfaction of the state would risk having its Charter revoked and the principal could lose his or her salary.
The intent of this new bill is nefarious. Parents who have fled the nation’s public schools and who have enrolled their children in Charter Schools or private schools to protect them from the harmful indoctrination of Critical Race Theory are now literally being pursued by Leftists. Not content to allow Florida’s publicly approved textbook adoption process and school districts themselves to fulfill the mandates of Florida’s required instruction statute, the threat of HB105 to revoke Charter School contracts and impound the salaries of school principals is unprecedented. Even the principals of Florida’s lowest-performing public schools aren’t threatened in such terms.
Bear in mind, the provision for teaching African-American history is only one of twenty such content areas that school districts must provide. No other section of the required instruction statute would receive such preferential treatment. No school principal would face a loss of salary for not instructing students in the importance of our ‘free enterprise system’ or failing to ensure students understand the arguments in ‘favor or a Republican form of government”—let alone failing to properly teach American History or Civics. Some Floridians may even remember when former Governor Jeb Bush even went so far as to eliminate these two subjects as requirements for a high school diploma!
What is at stake here is the vast amount of money that will be spent on ‘racial huckstering’ and on questionable teacher in-service workshops. Very likely, these will consist of exposing Florida’s teachers to the nefarious curriculum ideas emanating from racial hucksters like Robin DeAngelo and Ibram X. Kendi. It would likely expose Florida’s children to biased and inaccurate materials from the Black Lives Matter curriculum. There are plenty of such examples. The Naperville, IL school district recently paid one diversity consultant $10,500 for a one-hour in-service zoom lecture that stated ‘whiteness’ was ‘spiritually murdering’ some minority students. Fairfax County, VA schools gave Ibram X. Kenhi $44,000 for a one-hour lecture and for copies of his controversial book which became required reading for students. Millions of dollars have been wasted on such dribble. Now that President Biden has reinstated Critical Race Theory throughout the federal government—which holds ‘whiteness’ and western civilization as impediments to social progress—we can be assured millions more will spent on such divisive workshops and materials.
If only it was a question of squandering millions of dollars in needless district staff development programs. The real harm rests in the continued indoctrination of students through Leftist, un-American content and in the elevation of one group’s heritage over others. It presumes to recreate a teaching staff that already should know—by virtue of their teaching degree—how to instruct students in the contributions of African-Americans. Nor are African-American students even Florida’s largest school minority. If passed, it will likely end up pitting minority groups against one another as Hispanics and other minorities seek similar provisions in Florida law.
As Justice John Marshall Harlan so eloquently stated in his Plessy v Ferguson dissent of 1896, “our Constitution is color-blind.” His argument that no race should be given preferential treatment under the law was later adopted by the Court in 1954. The current attempt by liberal Leftist legislators to now undo that principle by elevating one group above all others is as un-democratic as it is unwise.
Jack Bovee
Fort Myers, FL
The writer has been a social studies educator, founder of Rho Kappa—the National Social Studies Honor Society--a former elementary school principal and a resident of Lee County for five decades.
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