After certain references to topics like Black Lives Matter and social justice were altered, the Florida Department of Education released a list of textbooks that have been approved for use in the state’s K-12 social studies curriculum.
New changes in Curriculum
Tuesday, the department announced in a press release that 66 of 101 materials submitted for approval had been granted, and those materials are now available for purchase by school districts. It said just 19 of the submitted materials were at first qualified for endorsement on the grounds that the others contained “incorrect material, blunders and other data that was not adjusted” with state regulation.
The delivery expresses that the office has worked straightforwardly with distributers to refresh their materials to consent to Florida’s “thorough guidelines.” In the release, Commissioner Manny Diaz, “To uphold our exceptional standards, we must ensure that our students and teachers have access to the highest quality materials available – materials that focus on historical facts and are free of inaccuracies or ideological rhetoric,” Jr. said.
The approval process for the new textbooks comes at a time when Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) has made one of his top goals as governor to fight against what he calls “wokeness” in the state’s education system.
The “Stop WOKE Act,” which DeSantis signed last year, prohibits education in schools that could make students feel like they have to take “personal responsibility” for their past mistakes because of their race, sex, or national origin.
On the department’s website, there are a number of examples of content in previous materials that prevented them from being used in schools.
One more change was made in a book for grades six through eight that examines communism and arranged economies. A socialist economy’s objective, according to the book, was to “keep things nice and even” and to “promote greater equality among people while still providing a fully functioning government-supervised economy,” among other things.
