(TargetLiberty.org) – Florida raised some eyebrows recently when the state’s education department rejected over a third of proposed math textbooks. Liberals would like to call it censorship – but Florida is happy to explain its reasons. The state just wants math books to stick to teaching math.
This is math homework from a public school district in Missouri. How does this help kids learn algebra, exactly? No wonder China is winning…
(Photo from @CMartinForMO) pic.twitter.com/gKF7Fe9QTr
— Christina Pushaw 🇺🇸 (@ChristinaPushaw) April 17, 2022
On April 15, the Florida Department of Education issued a press release confirming it had rejected 54 out of 132 proposed math texts – 41% of the total. The press release also explained why the books had been rejected:
- 21% include prohibited topics, for example Critical Race Theory (CRT)
- 9% don’t meet Florida’s Benchmarks for Excellent Student Thinking (BEST) standards
- 11% include prohibited topics and don’t meet the BEST standards
The inclusion of CRT in textbooks is especially worrying. CRT teaches that US society is “structurally racist” and pushes concepts like “white privilege,” teaching white students they have unfair advantages because of their skin color. Obviously, this has no relevance to teaching math, even if it was allowed to be taught in Florida schools – which it isn’t.
Worst of all, the highest proportion of rejected books – 71% – were aimed at grades K-5. It’s clear why the press release was titled “Florida Rejects Publishers’ Attempts to Indoctrinate Students,” because those publishers were clearly aiming to start their indoctrination young. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) thanked Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran for “such a thorough vetting” of the textbooks. No doubt millions of Florida parents share his gratitude.
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