The Washington Post reports today that Florida's K-12 teachers have been removing books from their classrooms while they await guidance from the state about what's allowed and what's not:
House Bill 1467, which took effect as law in July, mandates that schools’ books be age-appropriate, free from pornography and “suited to student needs.” Books must be approved by a qualified school media specialist, who must undergo a state retraining on book collection. The Education Department did not publish that training until January, leaving school librarians across Florida unable to order books for more than a year.
Those requirements don't sound unreasonable—but it all depends on how the "guidance" interprets them, and that guidance was only published (in draft form) a couple of weeks ago. Here's the most directly relevant guidance about porn:
This is just cut and pasted from the Supreme Court's definition of porn. To qualify, a book has to fail all three of those bullet points, not just any one of them. Unless you have a book version of Debbie Does Dallas in your classroom it's all but impossible to fail this test.
Here's the guidance for suitability and appropriateness:
This doesn't really seem objectionable either, although the guidance in the fourth bullet could use some additional guidance of its own. Who exactly decides if a portrayal is "accurate"?
Later on, the guidance says that books should be selected that "Support the broad racial, ethnic, socioeconomic and cultural diversity of the students of this state." This sounds fine.
On the less positive side, we also have this: "Check any books that have been removed or restricted due to a challenge in other districts. Those books should be carefully considered before purchasing." And this: "Avoid[] unsolicited theories that may lead to student indoctrination." Needless to say, this leads us to the dreaded Critical Race Theory:
This applies to all instructional material. I personally doubt that there's much of anything related to CRT in any instructional media anywhere in Florida, but there's almost certainly none in library or classroom books. So this probably has little practical impact on schoolbooks.
For the most part, I suspect that this whole legislative effort in Florida has generated far more heat than light. It makes it look like Gov. Ron DeSantis is doing something to support wholesome values for Florida kids, but the law actually changes very little unless there really are social studies teachers who have been stocking Story of O on their bookshelves and teaching their kids that white people should all be sent to reeducation camps.
Of course, it all depends on how people react to this in real life. Will everyone simmer down now that they have their law? Or will MAGA parents start mounting endless challenges in the hope of proving that Judy Blume writes porn? I guess we'll find out soon.
You realize, of course, they're banning CRT at the university level as well, which is where it actually belongs.
But above and beyond that, Kevin, I feel like this babe-in-the-woods act doesn't suit you. You know perfectly well what DeSantis and his kulturkampf stormtroopers mean when they say CRT, and it bears no relationship at all to what CRT actually is. It's an all-purpose cudgel to basically mean "anything that questions our narrative of white Christian nationalism."
It's like that list of "Principles of Individual Freedom." They look unobjectionable, but what they actually mean, and you KNOW this is what they mean, is "if you try and discuss structural racism or the ways in which American culture condition people to be unconsciously racist we're gonna fire your ass."
Because that's what this is. You might be trying to make a point of "this is what they actually wrote down, and its very easy to comply with; almost nothing that was allowed before will be banned" but that's not how it, you know, works. It's like when Chris Rufo gets up in front of his completely unearned Board of Trustees seat and says he wants an open and tolerant academic environment; it's a lie.
The intention of these rules is to provide a tool for harassment, and also a pretext for MAGA judges to declare that anything queer that's marketed to kids is porn.
nailed it.
Exactly. It's like the contemptible show arrests of 20 people for "election fraud". DeSantis apologists will say with wide-eyed innocence that they all have their day in court, the charges will be dropped if appropriate, so what's the problem? The true objective, of course, is to discourage anyone who's been to prison from voting, because who needs to risk the hassle?
The key line in the slides is 'err on the side of caution'. You can bet the 95% of teachers and librarians who only want to get on with their jobs quietly will do just that.
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Yeah, this.
Maybe I've been reading Kevin for too long, but the schtick really doesn't work.
Or will MAGA parents start mounting endless challenges in the hope of proving that Judy Blume writes porn?
I think we all know the answer to that, but just in case, here's the list of books Moms for Liberty challenged in Indian River County, FL. (Why that county? Because that's the one I have the list for.)
https://go.boarddocs.com/fl/ircs/Board.nsf/files/CBYND65F46F6/%24file/Challenged%20Book%20List%20Recommendations.pdf
Are they still burning Harry Potter books in Florida?
Given that this is a free country, "they" (whoever you may mean by that) can burn books anywhere assuming the books are "theirs" to burn and that burning them doesn't violate fire codes.
Are you really that stupid. Of course they're not burning books they buy. They're burning the school's or public library's books, i.e. the books your tax dollars purchased.
Remember, there is no law in China that says peaceful protesting will land you in prison. Instead, the law is worded so broadly and vaguely that it could only be interpreted that way if you really squint at it - and Chinese Communist Party officials do indeed take the squinting interpretation when they feel the need.
It's all about who will enforce these Florida guidelines. And given that DeSantis has appointed all of those people, and given them clear marching orders, we should not be nearly as optimistic as Kevin. I'm afraid Murc's take (comment above) is probably closer to the truth.
"If the people fear an imaginary river, build them an imaginary bridge".
This is what Ron DeSantis does. Like the Disney thing. It seemed big, but it was nothing at all.
It was nothing at all unless you are a municpal tax payor in the surrounding counties or one of the bond holders. Then you're going to take it in the neck. It's never fun living in a bankrupt municipality. A
"Will MAGA parents start mounting endless challenges in the hope of proving that Judy Blume writes porn?" These are the same folks that sued Barnes and Noble to try and prevent them from selling books to both children and adults. They won't just suddenly start being reasonable.
" Or will MAGA parents start mounting endless challenges in the hope of proving that Judy Blume writes porn?"
MAGA parents are far less concerned about Judy Blume in their elementary schools than they are about Toni Morrison in their high schools.
There is a Wisconsinite with a similar name to the current Speaker grinning in his grave.
This is weirdly naive (which means it falls into that traditional Kevin Drum category, "that thing you're worried about isn't actually a big deal".)
Speaking of Florida, here's a great thread on Matt Gaetz,
https://mobile.twitter.com/GeoRebekah/status/1620494610488512515
Republicans are people who are more terrified of drag queens than murderous clowns.
Remember how people used to laugh at the wholesome antics of the Joker?
Bring back Pennywise story hour!
UI dream for the days of uncle Miltie.
In my neck of the woods, the MAGA book banners are already calling any book that contains any sexually explicit material "pornography". Explaining the Supreme Court or any other definition doesn't do anything to dissuade them. And several of their members have said any book that discusses gender identity at all is harmful and should be banned, regardless of whether it has any sexually explicit material. And they feel pretty much the same that anything touching on racism is CRT indoctrination.
These groups are going to continue pushing for book banning. They're coordinating at state and national levels and organizing aggressively. This debate isn't going away any time soon. The leaders of this movement aren't looking for reasonable compromise. They're out for blood.
"Avoid[] unsolicited theories that may lead to student indoctrination."
Like, for example, Intelligent Design?
Has Florida actually defined Critical Race Theory yet? Or is it whatever anyone can convince a judge it is? For some people, teaching about Martin Luther King Jr. and his struggles against de Jure segregation is Critical Race Theory. Teaching that enslaved people didn't like being enslaved, and sought to escape it is Critical Race Theory. Teaching that generational wealth provides an advantage to those who have had it, and those who don't are disadvantaged, is Critical Race Theory. Teaching that enslaved persons were brought to North America in 1619 is Critical Race Theory. CRT is whatever it needs to be to keep the illusion of the perfect all-white country, blessed by Jesus and the Virgin Mary, intact.
What is your support that some people consider those things you listed to be CRT? That is not my understanding. In the vernacular, I think most people consider it CRT if there's an attempt to make white people today feel guilt or responsibility for past events. No one I've ever heard of is against teaching history. It's the false connection of history to people today that is objectionable.
The blacks who arrived in 1619 came on similar terms to the vast majority of whites, though the blacks were slightly less onerous. (They only had to pay for half the passage across the atlantic). They often ended up wealth land owners who employed white indentured servants.
C'mon Kevin, this is disingenuous. It's like the argument that state abortion laws have exceptions so what's the problem, ignoring the reality that most health care establishments will avoid any risk of controversy by applying the exceptions in the most limited way possible.
Most Florida school employees, being human, will naturally try to avoid being the target of screaming parent protests and nightly news broadcasts, ginned up by some DeSantis puppet ranting that their school has forbidden books. Nobody in that situation's going to care about the Dept of Education's Powerpoint slides - they were all written by woke liberals!
All these guidelines are just fine if there is a dispute, and the dispute makes it to a judge to be resolved. In practice, though, I expect that many teachers will be easily intimidated and quick to remove any material that might raise an objection. Any teacher who doesn't want to risk their job will not take it upon themselves to fight for the inconclusion of "controversial" material despite the fact that it actually meets the guidelines. Any book on sexuality or racial struggles, even if appropriate for airing during Sesame Street, is likely to be excluded to avoid confrontation.
what kevin fails to mention is that teachers who violate these "guidelines" can be subject to prosecution. hand an unapproved book to a kid who might have a special interest in a controversial subject and you could find yourself on the wrong end of a grand jury. the intent isn't reasonable guidelines; it's intimidation pure and simple.
College Board immediately caved on the curriculum for African American History; you can expect that the teachers who want to keep their jobs in Florida will cave, too.
But how many teachers will want to? And how many teachers will want to replace them? Currently, Florida is experiencing a teacher shortage despite DeSantis' offering pay raises. Women, who make up the bulk of the public school teaching force, can make good money in other fields now. Florida was in the lead for states lacking teachers in 2020. It will only grow worse.
Well then, isn't it time to get rid of certification requirements altogether?
From last month:
'ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — A program to recruit military veterans without college degrees to help backfill Florida’s growing teacher shortage has helped hire 10 applicants so far.
The Military Veterans Certification Pathway program launched this summer makes it easier for military veterans to become teachers. If certain criteria are met, veterans can receive a five-year temporary education certificate while they finish their bachelor’s degree.
But since August, just 10 veterans have been hired out of more than 500 applications the Florida Department of Education confirms it has received.'
Watch for DeSantis soon to announce that he's clearing house at the Dept of Education, whose woke employees have been obstructing his plans to reform the Florida school system.
Do we really want the scum of the earth teaching our children.
I can only agree with just about everyone here. What Florida's Kingfish has done is empower all those nutball book-banners who make a point of going to school board and school-community meetings so they can scream about all the gay race-mixing white-bashing porn that's being forced on their district's kids and make demands about a list of books they've gotten from some well-financed ultra-MAGA organization. They're not all that much into reasoned argument based on careful parsing of texts in relation to rules.
And he's empowered a few really ideological kooks in educational administration to crack the whip on everyone they oversee, because the words on paper don't matter nearly as much as how they're interpreted in practice. And that applies both locally and to the state education office. All it takes is one or two highly-publicized crackdowns to set the tone-- why would this be any different than the felons-voting deal?
As extra added attractions, this could also put a lot of pressure on teachers' unions-- how far do they go, how much do they spend to defend their members-- and could certainly help alienate parents from the teachers and the unions even further.
We'll have to see how it plays out, but I wouldn't be putting my money on the nothingburger side. Kingfish sometimes seems to like demonstrating his authority once or twice, in addition to blustering.
Judy Blume has long been targeted for the content in Are you there, God? It's me, Margaret, and for Forever.
These guidelines could easily be used to get rid of a wide variety of books. What does it mean to require an accurate portrayal of the state's diverse population? Does each book have to do it individually? Does it become very easy to challenge books set in places other than Florida?
offensive to ---> prevailing standards in the adult community <---
In other words a standard without definition. This dovetails with my annoyance that the legal profession completely fails to describe criteria in a clear, non-subjective way. Enough with sloppy language. Be precise!
Just to be accurate, that is the Supreme Court's definition of obscenity.
Porn > Legal
Obscenity> Illegal
Those requirements don't sound unreasonable—but it all depends on how the "guidance" interprets them...
There is nothing so mystifying as Kevin's belief in the good-faith motives of Republicans. They are not about to pass laws and regulations saying they'll only allow material supporting Christo-fascist white supremacy.
But in practice, that's what they do.
From the Florida Freedom to Read Project:
https://twitter.com/FLFreedomRead/status/1620457139272814593
Yesterday we logged almost 200 challenges- about 150 of those resulted in immediate removals.
This is a picture of all the books removed from one HS library, in one day, in one District, due to the objections of one man.
This is not freedom.
The program should be known as the conservative lawyer employment program. Nothing is changed but conservatives will be sung every education district in the state overbooks they don't like.
My wife is a teacher in, and our our kids are students in, Hillsborough County FL, which is like the fifth biggest school district in the country. There has been zero discussion about or action taken on this book approval guidance or the new law. Neither the superintendent nor principals have said anything. My wife said many of her coworkers hadn't even heard of the law.
My high school had a copy of Albert Einstein's The Meaning of Relativity with the appendix on the relativistic theory of the nonsymmetric field, one of his attempts at a unified field theory.
This fails all of the appropriateness standards. I preemptively helped them out with that in 1977 by liberating the book and adding it to my library, safely isolated from students.