Gainesville Sun Editorial Board: Corcoran, DeSantis seek to scrub history lessons of uncomfortable facts
On a day that marks a significant part of our national history, a reminder that right now, some folks want to gag teachers, scrub away any “uncomfortable” parts of history, and push one single, simple, freshly-scrubbed view. In this editorial, the board of the Gainesville Sun calls out Ron DeSantis, a man with Presidential ambitions who wants to control exactly what history Florida’s students get to learn.
To further tighten the leach on teachers, Corcoran told the crowd that Florida is considering a new rule on how history is taught. The rule, being considered June 10 by the State Board of Education, states that lessons “may not define American history as something other than the creation of a new nation based largely on universal principles stated in the Declaration of Independence.”
The rule would ban teachers from being able to “share their personal views or attempt to indoctrinate or persuade students to a particular point of view” that is inconsistent with state standards. At the same the state is considering civics standards that include asking students to understand “the influence of the Ten Commandments” and identify “disorderly protesting” as a characteristic of “irresponsible citizenship.”
Corcoran and DeSantis have also joined commentators on Fox News in criticizing critical race theory, a decades-old academic concept that examines the way that racism is embedded in U.S. institutions. Their approach seeks to prevent students from getting a complete picture of our country’s history, warts and all.
As University of Florida law professor Michelle Jacobs, who teaches a class in critical race theory, told the Orlando Sentinel, some of its some of its ideas should be used in public schools if that means considering what happened to all people, not just white people historically discussed.