On Wednesday, July 19th the Florida State Board of Education adopted new changes in curriculum regarding the teaching of Black History in the state\u2019s social studies classrooms that many have condemned as regressive and a step backward for the state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
These new standards, the latest of which Florida has updated annually since the creation of the African History Task force by the state legislature in 1994, seek to update Florida\u2019s social studies curriculum to reflect recent policy updates. One such law, the controversial \u201cStop WOKE Act\u201d prohibits any teaching that could make students feel they bear \u201cpersonal responsibility, guilt, anguish, or other forms of psychological distress\u201d for any past actions committed by any members of their own race. Furthermore, the law blocks any instruction which may suggest that a group of people can be described as \u201ceither privileged or oppressed\u201d based on race or skin color.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One new standard (SS.68.AA.2.3), suggests middle school instruction should highlight how slavery \u201cdeveloped skills which, in some instances, could be applied for [slaves\u2019] personal benefit.\u201d was directly called out by Vice President Kamala Harris in a July 20th speech as \u201crevisionist history\u201d and \u201can attempt to gaslight [the American people].\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Another (SS.912.AA.3.6), was called out by State Representative Geraldine Thompson for implying that events such as the 1920 Ocoee Massacre and 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre were responses to African American instigation. \u201cThat\u2019s blaming the victims…,\u201d Thompson commented, \u201cLet\u2019s not have a sugar-coated, white-washed version of the African American Experience. Let\u2019s teach students the unvarnished truth about African American history.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Florida Education Commissioner Manny Diaz responded to these claims, stating he believed new changes to the curriculum were \u201crobust\u201d and could \u201cset the norm for standards in other states,\u201d further asserting his stance that Florida schools should \u201cteach the good, bad, and the ugly of American History.\u201d Alex Lanfranconi, who serves as the communications director for the Florida Department of Education, concurred, tweeting \u201cThese standards teach it all… Don’t believe the union lies.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While these standards may have a large impact on the teaching of African American history statewide, Ponte Vedra High School AP United States History Teacher Christopher Van Beveren assured that the school will continue using the same textbooks and curriculum for United States history courses. \u201cI have to follow what the College Board says,\u201d Van Beveren explained, \u201cCertain aspects of history need to be taught.\u201d This sentiment was echoed by another Ponte Vedra High School History Teacher, Brittany Edwards, who clarified that these changes would not impact Honors or Standard US History courses. \u201cThe changes to standards had more of an impact on the middle school level,\u201d Edwards elaborated, \u201c…in terms of US History [at PVHS] the emphasis is more on ensuring teachers stick to the curriculum in place.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nonetheless, the new guidance serves as a part of broader push by Florida Republicans to limit the discussion of topics deemed too controversial for the state\u2019s K-12 education. Laws such as the Parental Rights in Education Act (colloquially referred to as the \u201cDon\u2019t Say Gay Bill\u201d), Stop WOKE Act, and the statewide ban of AP African American Studies courses point to a concerted effort to prevent instruction on issues such as race and gender identity from being discussed in Florida\u2019s classrooms. As Governor DeSantis gears up for the Republican primaries, these moves reek of political posturing, leaving Florida students caught in the crossfire between the governor and his ideological opponents.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Jackson Gianchetta On Wednesday, July 19th the Florida State Board of Education adopted new changes in curriculum regarding the teaching of Black History in the state\u2019s social studies classrooms that many have condemned as regressive and a step backward…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6242,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pgc_meta":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[396,395,86],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/pvhstiburon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Gianchetta.SocStudies.jpeg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pvhstiburon.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6235"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pvhstiburon.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pvhstiburon.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pvhstiburon.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pvhstiburon.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6235"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/pvhstiburon.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6235\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6243,"href":"https:\/\/pvhstiburon.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6235\/revisions\/6243"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pvhstiburon.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6242"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pvhstiburon.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6235"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pvhstiburon.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6235"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pvhstiburon.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6235"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}