Very informative how conservative and fundamentalist religious leaders have been attacking the public school system with disastrous results. She does talk rapidly but the CC is pretty good for YouTube. Hugs
Public education is under attack from all sides in this country, typically at the hands of a few wealthy and powerful conservatives who stand to benefit from the failure of public education at the expense of children and teachers.
The people pushing these bans to remove any LGBTQIA representation from schools and libraries are a very small vocal minority using the laws that DeathSantis along with his fellow fundamentalist Christian ideological bigots implemented just for this purpose. This is what the republicans wanted. I get so tired of repeating my self, but this small minority wants to rule over the majority, return society to 1950 basically wiping any LGBTQIA from society or public view. Please remember these books are not intended nor available to younger kids, these are for teenagers, 13 and up. In one case it says for 17 and up. I have news for everyone, 13 years are ready to read these books and may desperately need to read them. Plus most kids that old have free access to internet or a friend that has it, and studies show that by 13 kids have watched and viewed porn along with nude human pictures. Here is an example of two people, yes just two people pushing their idea of moral values on everyone else, regardless of the wishes of the other people. This is fundamental Christian Taliban in action. Hugs
School district officials responded to more than 1,200 book objections.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — According to a list released by Florida’s Department of Education, school districts across the state issued a combined total of 386 book bans after receiving a total of 1,218 objections in 2022.
A small movement
According to a recent analysis by the Tampa Bay Times, more than half of the objections were raised by the same two people: Bruce Friedman, the founder of the Florida chapter of the activist group No Left Turn in Education, and Vicki Baggett.
He reportedly got titles from an internet database and photocopied thousands of objections with vague complaints like “Protect Children!” and “Damaged Souls!”.
Baggett submitted hundreds of complaints of “indoctrination” and apparently copied from book reviews on BookLooks.org, a book challenging group founded by a member of Moms for Liberty, the Times found.
And of the 386 book bans issued last year, 300 of them covered only three school districts: Clay County where Friedman lives (177 books banned), Martin County (98) and Manatee County (25). There are 67 school districts in Florida altogether. Fifty-one of those districts (including Pinellas, Polk, Sarasota, and Citrus counties) did not remove a single book from school shelves in 2022.
5 controversial titles
The titles that were removed from schools often varied by school district despite the fact that efforts to get specific titles banned made national headlines. Such was the case with “And Tango Makes Three,” “Let’s Talk About It” and “This Book is Gay” (which was also the only title Hillsborough County schools banned last year).
Even so, the controversy around some titles reached far enough to get them removed from multiple counties:
A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas – The popular series of adult fantasy novels about a young woman who is taken to a faerie kingdom at war was a New York Times Bestseller. The books are intended for adults 17 or older as they contain sex scenes and abusive relationships. However, it is unclear whether school libraries even carried these books in the first place.
Lucky by Alice Sebold – The memoir written by the author of the book “The Lovely Bones” detailed her rape and brutal assault and how surviving it shaped the rest of her life. The memoir generated attention in Florida after Friedman objected to the book’s graphic descriptions of sexual assault at a school board meeting in November. The board cut his mic before he could read a passage from it.
L8r, G8r by Lauren Myracle – The third book in Myracle’s famous “Internet Girls” series, which told coming-of-age stories for young girls written entirely in internet-speak and instant messages, was removed from multiple schools for its use of profanity and its depictions of adult sexuality as part of its plot.
Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews – A novel about a socially awkward high school senior who, along with his friend and fellow amateur filmmaker, befriends a classmate who is dying of leukemia. Though the novel was well-received, schools have banned it due to complaints about sexually explicit content.
The Sun and Her Flowers by Rupi Kaur – Canadian poet Kaur’s second book of poetry was the follow-up to “Milk and Honey,” which became one of the most widely banned books in the U.S. due to its explorations of difficult subjects like sexual assault, trauma, abuse and family issues. Her second collection, which featured more poems touching on abuse, healing from trauma, infanticide and other touchy subjects, was pulled from schools due largely to the controversy “Milk and Honey” generated.
In the upside-down, through-the-looking-glass world that is DeSantis’s Florida, what should be condemned as an abomination is touted as an accomplishment.
And to think when I was a teen growing up in Houston I read ‘The Chants of Maldoror’ which I checked out at the public library. People didn’t make a fuss about books back then. Once in a while my mom would read a Truman Capote book and make a face. I think most parents were just pleased that their kids read anything.
They banned Bernard Malamud’s “The Fixer”. That book is a Pulitzer Prize winning classic…and I doubt any single one of these philistine chucklefucks even know what it’s about. (It’s about antisemitism in Tsarist Russia, by the way.)
It’s disgusting that 2 people can hold so much power over the parents of children that just want to go to school to learn REGULAR educational cirriculum, and not be dictated to by Christofasicst Theocratic wanna be’s that are determined to take this country back 150 years!
If anyone has become legendary due to the hatred of moral busybodies, it’s definitely her. She’s not only one of the pioneers of realistic YA fiction, she’s also one of the most widely banned.
It’s all about sex education, gays, trans, and other LGBTQ+ types being people and finding love and acceptance throughout the pages. Stuff Christofacists hate, yet they do anyway as they target boys and girls for sex both off and online.
So Florida is hostage to two cranks. I’m a bit surprised that De Spotic didn’t assign this power to himself or his immediate cronies, and not some upstarts.
I want to thank Barry for introducing me to the subject of neurodivergent people / children and the mistreatment they suffer. I have been on the lookout for stories about the abuse this community suffers ever since. I had no idea of it until Barry explained it, just as fundamentalist religious leaders attack the LGBTQIA they are also targeting neurodivergent kids / people claiming they have demons in them. Damn, there is no limit to the harm these people will cause promoting the idea that their god is perfect and wouldn’t create anyone different from the accepted norms. Hugs.
A pastor in Richland is facing intense backlash for comments he made during a sermon last week at Beulah Church.
Published: Sep. 12, 2023 at 7:22 PM CDT|Updated: Sep. 12, 2023 at 7:24 PM CDT
On Wednesday, September 6, Beulah Church in Richland, Mo., held a live-streamed sermon hosted by Pastor Rick Morrow. In the sermon, Morrow made comments that caused a massive backlash in the Richland community and across the country.
In the sermon, he said, in part, “Well, either the devil has attacked [children with autism], he’s brought this infirmity upon them, he’s got them, or God doesn’t like them that much, and he made them that way…my God doesn’t make junk. Quit putting a Band-Aid on it and saying, ‘Oh, it’ll be okay. We just need to treat this or treat that.’ How about you just cast the demon out and then treat all the problems?”
The comments caused an uproar, and none more so for parents like Casey Cox and Erica Hennenberg. Their daughters, Romey and Memphis, love the tire swing outside, love arts and crafts, and are on the autism spectrum.
Morrow says while he understands the frustration, he’s upset that people didn’t understand the meaning behind the comments.
In defense of the comments, Morrow said
“By junk, I met autism, that condition, the illness or the neurodivergence,” said Morrow. “All of us have issues; all of us have problems. All of us have conditions. All of us have sicknesses and diseases and illnesses. And I just refuse to blame God for those things. ”
He had said that autism is born from demonic influence, defending the statement by saying,
“Yes, either in or around on, somehow it’s affecting,” said Morrow. “And when I say a demon, you people want to, like I said, they want to get that Hollywood description of what a demon is this nasty, so ugly and, and that’s not the case, it’s just an evil presence. It’s just the presence of evil.”
What’s more is that in addition to being a pastor, Morrow was on the board of Stoutland schools until resigning from his position amidst the backlash.
KY3 reached out to Stoutland Schools. It responded with this statement:
“The District is aware that a member of the Board of Education, in a setting and capacity outside of his board member role, made comments that have been interpreted as derogatory toward individuals with certain disabilities. One member of the Board of Education does not speak for the Board of Education as a whole, nor the District itself. The District is steadfast in its compliance with both the requirements of and the spirit of non-discrimination laws and our own Board-adopted policies regarding the same. Our school district welcomes students of all backgrounds, regardless of ability, and provides educational opportunities and services to each and everyone with commitment and care. I can confirm that the District has received a letter of resignation from the Board member, which will be presented to the board as a whole at the next meeting.”
For parents like Cox and Hennenberg who are worried about an Autism diagnosis or for people who are interested in learning more about the condition, Cox founded a non-profit called Show-Me Romey, named after her daughter Romey. They say the main focus of the group is to educate people in all areas on what autism is and where it comes from
“We can’t have autism acceptance until we have autism awareness,” said Cox. “And autism awareness is education.”
Cox and Hennenberg say people who make blanket statements about autism don’t understand the condition or the families it impacts.
Autistic children, special needs children, they are different, but they are not less,” said Hennengerg. “They are different, not less.”
Republican Senator John Kennedy spoke at the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on book bans and he also read some similar passages aloud from the books “All Boys Aren’t Blue” and “Genderqueer”. Kennedy then asks Illinois Secretary Of State Alexi Giannoulias whether he thinks librarians should be the only ones who have oversight of whether kids have access to these types of books.
At Tuesday’s council meeting, Prattville residents affiliated with Clean Up Alabama, which began as Clean Up Prattville, pleaded with the council that their solutions were a “common sense” approach to inappropriate materials for minors.
But the local goals are just one part of a three-prong plan that Clean Up Alabama has to push the issue across the state, according to meeting minutes included in an email to subscribers.
The minutes detailed the group’s local goals, as well as its goals with the Alabama Public Library Service, primarily to dissociate from the American Library Association. Gov. Kay Ivey has sent a letter to APLS Director Dr. Nancy Pack expressing concerns that closely follow Clean-Up Alabama’s push over LGBTQ materials in library spaces intended for minors.
But the meeting also included three state legislative goals, which go much further than simply severing any ties with the ALA or asking librarians to move books to an adult section.
Here’s what the group plans to do:
1. “Amend the Anti-Obscenity Law that exempts public libraries from criminal punishment when it comes to the distribution of material harmful to minors.”
Under Section 13A-12-200.5 of the Code of Alabama, it is a misdemeanor “for any person to knowingly or recklessly distribute to a minor, possess with intent to distribute to a minor, or offer or agree to distribute to a minor any material which is harmful to minors.” The section does not classify which level of misdemeanor that would be, but the charge would carry a fine of up to $10,000 and up to one year in county jail.
Currently, “material harmful to minors” is defined under the code to mean:
“a. The average person, applying contemporary community standards, would find that the material, taken as a whole, appeals to the prurient interest of minors; and
“b. Material that depicts or describes sexual conduct [this will come into play later], breast nudity or genital nudity, in a way which is patently offensive to prevailing standards in the adult community with respect to what is suitable for minors; and
“c. A reasonable person would find that the material, taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value for minors.”
However, Section 13A-12-200.10 specifically exempts “libraries and their employees or agents” from the criminal provisions of the act.
On Aug. 16, Clean Up Alabama posted on X (formerly Twitter) that this rule could allow public libraries to give sex toys to children without criminal punishment.
“Did you know that Alabama library employees can legally display sex toys, and possibly give them to kids without prosecution?” The post says.
At this time, APR has not heard any reports of any public libraries displaying sex toys for adults or children.
2. “Possibly add the libraries onto current law passed pertaining to woke ideologies in schools; and increase from 5th grade to 12th grade like Florida was able to do”
This appears to be in reference to Alabama’s version of Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill, which Alabama passed in the 2022 session in a bill sponsored by House Majority Leader Scott Stadthagen, R-Hartselle. The bill originally only dealt with school bathrooms, requiring students to use the bathroom that aligned with their birth sex.
In a last-minute amendment by Sen Shay Shelnutt, R-Trussville, the bill suddenly became much more, barring instructors from leading “classroom discussion or classroom instruction regarding sexual orientation or gender identity in a manner that is not age appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students in accordance with state standards.”
In the last session, Rep. Mack Butler, R-Gadsden, filed a bill to expand that to the eighth grade.
While Clean-Up Alabama suggests extending that to public libraries, it is not clear what that language would be and whether it would apply to the content of books or instructional programs held at the library,
3. “Considering HB401 that never made it out of committee and assure the language in it matches the harmful materials we have found in the libraries and that it includes public libraries.”
HB401 drew a lot of attention last session as it would have prohibited drag performances in public spaces where minors may be present—and some argued the language was so vague it could have applied to any transgender person in a public space.
The bill led to a massive pushback from the LGBTQ community with a march of hundreds on the state capitol.
Stadthagen has vowed to bring the bill back in the next session, and in the same conversation, praised Clean Up Prattville’s fight against LGBTQ books in the library.
Without an understanding of how that law was written, one might be confused exactly what Clean Up Alabama’s plan is to co-opt libraries into the law.
The way HB401 was written, it added drag performances into the definition of “sexual conduct,” which itself is a term included in the definition of “harmful to minors.” (Re-read that section earlier in this article to see how it plays into the code).
When Clean up Alabama says they want to ensure the language “matches the harmful materials we have found in the libraries,” it seems apparent that they mean adding LGBTQ+ content to the definition of “sexual conduct,” thereby changing the meaning of the definition of “harmful to minors” to include LGBTQ+ content.
If Clean Up Alabama were to succeed in these goals, the combination could result in librarians facing up to a year in jail and a fine of up to $10,000 just for having a book like “The Pronoun Book” on the shelf.
Under the current law, the first prong of the three-prong definition of material harmful to minors would rule out books like The Pronoun Book from ever being considered “harmful to minors,” as the word “prurient” is defined as “marked by or arousing an immoderate or unwholesome interest or desire.” But HB401 as it was written last year would break apart those three prongs; instead of requiring content to meet all three elements to qualify as “harmful to minors,” the law would only require the content to meet any one of the three prongs.
Might the plan gain support?
At least four state representatives have been supportive of Clean Up Alabama publicly in some manner: Rep. Susan Dubose, R-Hoover, has begun beating the drum for the group’s goal to keep the ALA from influencing Alabama libraries in any way. Fellow first-term state representatives Rick Rehm, R-Dothan, and Bill Lamb, R-Tuscaloosa, joined Dubose in support of the group as it listed its grievances at last month’s meeting of the APLS.
Stadthagen, as aforementioned, has given his stamp of approval to the efforts of the group.
Ernie Yarbrough, R-Trinity, worked in the last session with DJ Parten, a member of Clean Up Alabama, who wrote the failed legislation that would have allowed abortive women to be charged with homicide.
And Ivey’s letter to Pack references the Prattville books challenged by the group, although her letter shares concern about APLS policies and nothing comparable to this state legislative plan.
Finding information about homosexuality from a public library saved my life. I was eight years old and the only help a librarian gave me was to teach me how to use the main card catalog. I told her I wanted to look up dinosaurs. Librarians are so gullible when you mention dinosaurs…
This dinosaur learned (when he was going to SF State in the 60’s) that the 4th floor library men’s room was generally like a gay men’s meet and greet most evenings. But since it was in a library everyone kept it quiet.
Correct, you’d think there would be some sort of pushback from the opposition party aka the Dems on these bills coming forward. Where are they? Even AL dems are silent.
We have no clear message on this? On jailing librarians? No opposite group to the Moms for Liberty group? How about Moms for Libraries? NOTHING from our party?????
These fascists will continue to move forward when there is no opposition to their authoritarian rule.
They desperately need us to disappear. Without their power of the closet they have come to realize they don’t control the narrative any longer. I remember when I was young knowing that two men could be thrown in jail for doing stuff. (I didn’t know what stuff was, but why should a child know these things) I also knew that there was a place where some boys were sent when they couldn’t stop acting like a sissy. I knew where it was and I knew that ECT was involved. They have lost an enormous amount of power and they see their own children rejecting their hate and their religion. So they are having a temper tantrum because that’s all they know.
That’s the end result they want. But it’s a slippery slope, and on the way, they will want to jail anyone who advocates for homosexuality, which will then be interpreted as anyone who merely mentions it, and that will include any media mention of LBGTs. Eventually, they will want a complete prohibition on the certain words, such as gay, lesbian, and will prohibit anyone from stating that they are so. They want it back like the 1950s, when it was not just a taboo, but a criminal sanction.
I’ll answer it anyway: It’s a white supremacist theocratically-aligned autocracy, imposed by a small minority of citizens with power far in excess of what their numbers normally would allow in a democratic republic.
I am posting this because of the comments. At the end of the comments you will see what I and Ali have been saying, if gender can not be discussed then teachers can not be addressed as Mr. or Mrs or Miss. Also how to explain what bathrooms kids are required to use without discussing gender? Then also if sexual orientation can not be discussed and same sex couples can not be mentioned, why doesn’t that also mean that opposite sex couples shouldn’t be mentioned? Hugs
Manatee County officials have removed “Christian, the Hugging Lion” by Justin Richardson, a 32-page children’s book about two men who raise a lion named Christian in a London apartment. When Christian becomes too big, the two men release the lion into the wild in Africa. When the men go to visit Christian in Africa, they find that he remembers them. The book is based on a true story.
The district cited The Parental Rights in Education Act as the reason for removing the book from district libraries. The Parental Rights in Education Act has a line prohibiting the discussion of sexual orientation or gender identity in classrooms. While the two men, John and Ace, lived together in London and raised Christian the lion, it is never explicitly said in the book whether the two men were in a relationship.
The documentary is about 45 minutes long, if you’ve got time it’s really sweet.
(Edit: This is just a clip of the background to the story and the happy ending. The full documentary is on YouTube if you search “A Lion called Christian”.)
You know, the one profound thing that YouTube did for me very early on was to intro me to human-animal bonding that I never knew existed. It’s not just domesticated animals we’ve had bonds with. It’s a massive variety of animals!!
I hate to remind them that there is another book where the hero was parading around his home country with his 12 male companions, sleeping and eating together. Oh yes, Jesus and his 12 apostles. living and sleeping together for years. So, lets remove the bible too. And any books about monks living in a monastery together… men living together… have to go. And even books about priests in a rectory in a parish…. The sound of music… nuns living together in the convent. Or Downton Abbey… They had male servants sleeping in the servants quarters.
Here’s a rule of thumb… If you are banning books, you’re on the wrong side of history.
Didn’t he also at one time say that if he was going to run for President, he’d run as a Republican because Republicans are so stupid they’d believe anything you told them?
Florida’s Parental Rights in Education Act prohibits the discussion of gender identity in classrooms? Great. Using their corkscrew logic, teachers must be addressed by their first names only, never by their honorific like “Mr.” or “Mrs.” or “Miss.” or, god forbid, “Ms.” And of course we must remove any book that contains an honorific, or dares to mention a husband and wife, or grandma and grandpa.
Yes, you can’t really explain to Steve why he can’t used the Girls bathroom, or Sally why she can’t use the boys bathroom, or question why Mark is wearing a skirt to school. All those require discussing gender identity.
And, as was mentioned, straight is a sexual orientation so any books with a married man and woman have to be removed too. Or any book that mention boy or girl or man or woman, because everyone has a gender identity (just like everyone has a preferred pronoun).
SCOTUS has ruled that the 2nd amendment is virtually unrestricted. If so, then the 1st amendment should be as well. Banned book authors should file a class action lawsuit and make the same arguments the NRA has made.
A small group of very vocal motivated fundamentalist religious right wing bigots who want desperately to return to 1950 are filing all these book challenges. Again notice the damage one of the main complainers wrote. “Damaged souls”! They don’t care about the rights of other parents, just forcing their religious moral views on everyone. These are public schools, not private Christian schools, but in Florida the fundamental religious bigots have taken over ruling as a majority when they are really a minority. Hugs.
Here are five books removed from schools and the reasons why they were taken off the shelves.
The Florida Department of Education released a list of all the books removed from school library shelves last year, and some of the titles might be surprising.
In total, Florida saw 386 book removals from 1,218 total objections last year, according to the list. Clay County had by far the most removals with 177 books removed. Martin County removed the second most books in the state with 98 books removed, followed by Manatee County in third with 25 books removed.
Books like “And Tango Makes Three,” Toni Morisson’s “The Bluest Eye,” and “Push” by Sapphire have made headlines for their removal, as parents have objected to their content for violating the Parental Rights in Education act, also known as “Don’t Say Gay,” or for containing material that is considered “sexual content” under House Bill 1069.
But also removed from school libraries, according to the list, are a book about a mammal from Asia and one of the most famous artists of all time.
Here are five books removed from schools and the reasons why they were taken off the shelves:
Ready Player One
“Ready Player One” was removed from all Clay County School District libraries, according to a spreadsheet from the district, after it was reviewed by a committee of parents, librarians and principals.
The science fiction novel by Ernest Cline, published in 2011, was removed from K-12 shelves for mentioning prostitution, drugs and using profane language, according to the request form.
The book’s film adaptation, released in 2018 and rated PG-13, was directed by Steven Spielberg and nominated for an Academy Award.
The requester, a man affiliated with “No Left Turn in Education,” wrote his reasoning for flagging the book was to “PROTECT CHILDREN!! (sic)”
The requester said the book included “victimhood=CRT,” on page 320; prostitution references; drugs and pills on page 270; and profanity, including the F-word.
Under the question for what the requester believes will be the result of a student reading the material, the man wrote “Damaged Souls.”
Christian, the Hugging Lion
Manatee County officials also removed “Christian, the Hugging Lion” by Justin Richardson, a 32-page children’s book about two men who raise a lion named Christian in a London apartment. When Christian becomes too big, the two men release the lion into the wild in Africa. When the men go to visit Christian in Africa, they find that he remembers them. The book is based on a true story.
The district cited The Parental Rights in Education Act as the reason for removing the book from district libraries. The Parental Rights in Education Act has a line prohibiting the discussion of sexual orientation or gender identity in classrooms.
While the two men, John and Ace, lived together in London and raised Christian the lion, it is never explicitly said in the book whether the two men were in a relationship.
The authors of “Christian, the Hugging Lion” were also the authors of “And Tango Makes Three”, a children’s book about two male penguins raising a family. The authors are already suing Florida and a county school in federal court over restrictions on the book.
Manatee County district officials removed the book from libraries citing Florida Statute 847.012, titled “Obscenity,” and involves the sale or distribution of harmful materials to minors.
Tallahassee Classical School, a charter school in the Leon County School District, was dropped from being a Hillsdale College-affiliated campus after news of the principal’s ousting went viral.
“To set the record straight: This drama around teaching Michelangelo’s ‘David’ sculpture, one of the most important works of art in existence, has become a distraction from, and a parody of, the actual aims of classical education. Of course, Hillsdale’s K-12 art curriculum includes Michelangelo’s ‘David’ and other works of art that depict the human form,” Hillsdale stated in a press release.
Manatee County removed the book from district libraries, citing Florida Statute 1006.40(3)(d). However, section (3)(d) does not appear to exist under Florida Statute 1006.40, which is titled “Purchase of instructional materials.”
When asked for clarity and for a full copy of the objection, Manatee County did not respond in time for publication.
Will we ever grow organs?
Florida Virtual School removed a National Geographic article called “Will we ever grow organs?” from a digital anatomy and physiology course, according to a FLVS spokesperson.
The request to remove the article came from a teacher who teaches the course in a school that licenses the class from FLVS.
The teacher raised concerns about the doctor profiled in the article, Paolo Macchiarini. Macchiarini was sentenced to two years and six months in prison this past June after he was found guilty of gross assault.
While the 2012 article touts Macchiarini’s work building windpipes out of stem cells, a Swedish court said the surgeon “acted with criminal intent” by transplanting trachea into three patients, who all died when the implants failed, between 2011 and 2012.
“Out of an abundance of caution, we decided to remove the article referenced from the new version of the course,” said FLVS spokesperson Hailey Fitch.
Great to see the decent accepting people fighting back against the red state haters, the anti-LGBTQIA jerks, the ones trying to remove anyone who is not cis straight gender role conforming from public view and society. We need more of this open fighting back. Hugs
The law is a direct rebuke to national efforts to erase LGBTQ+ identities from schools.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) is about to sign a law that would forbid schools from banning LGBTQ+-inclusive books. The law also requires schools to have trained staff to help queer kids and reiterates protections against forcibly outing LGBTQ+ students to their possibly unsupportive parents.
The law, known as Assembly Bill 1078, is a direct rebuke to anti-LGBTQ+ book-bans, “don’t say gay” laws, and other nationwide efforts to discriminate against queer students. Newsom has long opposed anti-LGBTQ+ discrimination in education and other areas. Once signed, AB 1078 will go into immediate effect.
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California just became the first U.S. state to establish Transgender History Month
“I believe that as Californians our strongest defense against the anti-trans agenda is just to tell the truth.”
“California is the true freedom state: a place where families — not political fanatics — have the freedom to decide what’s right for them,” Newsom wrote in a Twitter post announcing his intention to sign the law, known as Assembly Bill 1078. “With the passage of legislation to ban book bans & ensure all students have textbooks, our state’s Family Agenda is now even stronger.”
The law prohibits “the governing board of a school district, a county board of education, or the governing body of a charter school” from “refusing to approve or prohibiting the use” of any book on the basis of an individual’s or group’s diverse racial or cultural characteristics. Any school that bans such books could lose state funding. Existing state law requires social sciences classes to include contributions of diverse groups, including, among others, LGBTQ+ Americans and members of other ethnic and cultural groups.
“Restricting access to classroom and library materials because they feature LGBTQ people or were written by LGBTQ authors discriminates against LGBTQ people and constitutes censorship in violation of California law and policy,” the law states. “Similarly, efforts to categorically exclude topics related to race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, or other protected characteristics, or of present or historical discrimination based on protected characteristics, from school library collections, curricula, or classroom discussions constitute censorship that violates California law and policy.”
Additionally, the law reminds state officials and agencies that they have the authority to enforce federal and state laws protecting students from unlawful discrimination and harassment that create an inequitable learning environment.
This reminder is likely connected to three California school districts — the Murrieta Valley, Orange, and Chino Valley Unified School Districts — which recently passed policies forcing educators to out trans and nonbinary students to their parents. California Attorney General Rob Bonta (D) filed a lawsuit against the Chino Valley United School District, and a judge blocked its policy from going into effect.
The law also reiterates that schools may offer “peer support or affinity clubs and organizations, safe spaces for LGBTQ or other at-promise pupils, counseling services, staff who have received anti-bias or other training aimed at supporting these pupils or who serve as designated support to these pupils, health and other curriculum materials that are inclusive of, and relevant to, these pupils, [as well as] online training” and complaint procedures developed to assist LGBTQ+ students with their learning experiences.
Right-wing groups have said that anti-LGBTQ+ educational policies are needed to prevent schools from “secretly” encouraging students to change genders without their parents’ knowledge or to stop the “indoctrination” of “gender ideology” onto students. These policies are often promoted by anti-LGBTQ+ groups who also oppose the expansion of queer civil rights in other non-educational areas of public and private life.
Notice this is the test backed by fundamentalist Christians, home school parents who don’t want any questions that might be based on books and ideas they don’t allow their kids to read that public schools did … until now, and it is the favorite among the hard right wing that wants to deny real history and science. It is the test of choice by home school parents, fundamentalist Christians, and ideologues who want a skewed version of history. As one board member said, the test scores have not been verified to be an accurate measure of how well-educated a student is compared to the well researched SAT and ACT. I will post some comments from Joe My God after this article. Hugs
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis speaks at an event in August. Photo: Megan Varner/Getty Images
Florida’s public universities will now permit the Classic Learning Test in admissions, offering a conservative-backed alternative to the SAT and ACT.
Why it matters: Florida is now the first state university system in the country to allow for the Classic Learning Test (CLT), which has gained recent popularity among the state’s Christian and charter schools.
The classical education model — not to be confused with “classics” or “classical humanities” — focuses on a return to “core values” and the “centrality of the Western tradition.”
Driving the news: The Florida state university system’s board of governors on Friday approved the test for use in undergraduate admissions.
“The system is pleased to add the CLT to reach a wider variety of students from different educational backgrounds.Not intimidated by controversy or critics, our focus is on the success of our students, and the State of Florida,” the State University System of Florida said in a statement Friday.
“Because we reject the status quo, today’s decision means we are better serving students by giving them an opportunity to showcase their academic potential and paving the path to higher education,” they added.
Of note: University of Florida professor Amanda Phalin was the only board member who opposed the approval of the Classic Learning Test during Friday’s meeting.
She said she wasn’t opposed to the use of the CLT overall but “the use of it at this time” because of a lack of empirical evidence demonstrating it is “of the same quality as the ACT and the SAT.”
Phalin clarified that her opposition did not stem from the test’s “focus,” “its content,” or “its creators.”
“I’m simply concerned because the test’s reliability and validity have not been independently demonstrated or verified,” Phalin said.
The big picture: Over 200 colleges across the U.S. accept the Classic Learning Test, which launched in 2015, according to Florida’s university system. It’s gained recent momentum in Florida charter schools and private Christian schools.
Homeschooling families and co-op groups have also used the test.
Flashback: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill into law in May that makes students “eligible to earn Bright Futures Scholarships with CLT scores,” per the test’s official website.
DeSantis‘ office and the Florida Department of Education did not immediately respond to Axios’ request for comment.
He’s is destroying FL universities. That must be his plan. What does he think is going to happen? Well, this might allow unqualified persons (bible thumpers) to access jobs they have no right to have. I’m thinking FL civil services being taken over. If you have not had to pleasure of working under an unqualified evangelical, let me tell you: it is soul crushing and very nearly killed me
“We oppose the teaching of Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) (values clarification), critical thinking skills and similar programs that are simply a relabeling of Outcome-Based Education (OBE) (mastery learning) which focus on behavior modification and have the purpose of challenging the student’s fixed beliefs and undermining parental authority.”
(Bolding is motherfucking mine.)
Even if, as PolitiFact writes, “critical thinking” here refers to a specific relabeling of “outcome-based education” (which, as they note, takes many different forms), the platform plank still glorifies “fixed beliefs” and “parental authority” above true education.
Problem is that the real working world will not settle for “Jesus did it” as an acceptable answer. Is it any wonder that current interest to attend Florida colleges have dropped 30%?
It’s been a few years decades since I took the ACT but I don’t remember any of it being woke or socialist or anti-Western or any other kind of nonsense. I’d bet the folks who approved this are heavily invested in it monetarily.
No, but you aren’t a right wing nutjob. The SAT allegedly (they never reveal how they structure the test) draws its vocabulary words from literature and current news. (So, words you would need to know to understand what you are reading.) If you stick to right wing news and avoid certain books commonly on HS and college reading lists, you are unlikely to know those words and won’t do as well on the test. That’s the bias they are worried about.
Home schooling advocates tout their higher test scores but there are two problems with that claim: 1) they often spend far more time on SAT test prep than public school students would get and 2) the students unlikely to do well on such tests just don’t take them. So the numbers are distorted. This is also true of the state mandated tests.
Thanks to Ali for the link. This continuing assault on education by the right is an attack on democracy itself. The right doesn’t want a thinking public, they want obedient followers and soldiers who will do as told by the rulers. Notice the funding for these right wing sites comes from the ultrarich right that wants either a theocracy or a fascist dictatorship. With them in charge, of course. If you go to the link you will see several more stories of the right ring billionaires pushing the hard right idology. Hugs
PragerU is not accredited but has become a key tool in pushing false claims to youngsters – and raked in $200m from 2018 to 2022
Dennis Prager, the conservative talkshow host and founder of the Prager University Foundation, which is not an accredited education organization. Characters in PragerU’s videos downplay the horrors of slavery and make false claims about the climate crisis. Composite: Guardian Photo Composite/Getty Images/PragerU
A rightwing media outlet promoting climate-crisis denialism and other “anti-woke” staples to young students and adults via social media has become a fundraising Goliath, raking in close to $200m from 2018 to 2022 with big checks from top conservative donors, tax records reveal.
Founded in 2009 by the conservative talkshow host Dennis Prager, the eponymous Prager University Foundation is not an accredited education organization. But via online media its PragerU Kids division has become a key tool in spreading false claims to young people with short videos aimed at undercutting widely accepted science that climate crisis disasters are accelerating due, largely, to fossil-fuel usage.
PragerU’s influence in pushing false narratives about climate change and other far-right shibboleths such as airbrushing the brutal reality of American slavery gained ground when the Florida board of education in July gave the green light to using its videos and other materials in classrooms, a move that PragerU is trying to capitalize on in Texas and other states. On Tuesday, Oklahoma’s school system also approved the use of PragerU’s materials.
But some of PragerU’s expansion plans ran into trouble in August, when it was condemned by Texas education officials for announcing prematurely that Texas schools had approved the usage of its advocacy materials, generating new scrutiny and criticism of PragerU’s operations.
Prager’s website trumpets its mission and its niche in the conservative ecosystem.
“PragerU is the world’s leading conservative non-profit, focused on changing minds through the creative use of digital media.”
That sweeping mission has been fueled by big conservative money and slick marketing, and has led to PragerU’s rising influence on the right.
Among PragerU’s leading financiers are the oil and gas fracking billionaire brothers Farris and Dan Wilks, who have ponied up at least $8m over the past decade, according to Texas financial records.
Other top conservative donors to PragerU, which styles itself as alternative to the “dominant leftwing ideology in culture, media and education”, include the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, the National Christian Charitable Foundation and the Dick and Betsy DeVos Foundation.
Tax records also reveal that PragerU has flourished financially in recent years as the Prager University Foundation raised $196m from 2018 through 2022. That growth is underscored by revenues rising from $17.9m in 2018 to $65.1m in 2022.
Prager’s chief executive, Marissa Streit, whose biography on LinkedIn says she once served in Israeli military intelligence, boasts on its website: “PragerU is redefining how people think about media and education. We produce edutainment – an intersection of education and entertainment. Our content is essential to shaping culture and preserving American ideals.”
Streit’s vision of “edutainment” seems to be reflected in PragerU cartoons and videos, including one about Christopher Columbus and the discovery of America, in which Columbus tries to downplay the horrors of slavery.
“Slavery is as old as time, and has taken place in every corner of the world, even amongst the people I just left. Being taken as a slave is better than being killed,” the cartoon Columbus said. “I don’t see the problem.”
Other PragerU videos about the climate crisis make various false claims: they depict solar and wind power as environmentally dangerous, liken environmental activists to Nazis and claim recent record-breaking heat is just part of the natural weather cycle.
But the edutainment being peddled by PragerU has drawn widespread criticism from academic experts and watchdog groups, who fault its videos and teaching materials for children on the climate crisis, slavery and other issues as erroneous, and unworthy of state approval for classroom usage.
Betsy DeVos and her husband, Dick DeVos Jr, in Washington in 2017. Photograph: Bloomberg/Getty Images ——————————————————- “Prager University is not a university,” said Naomi Oreskes, a Harvard professor of the history of science and the co-author of Merchants of Doubt. “By their own self-description, they are an advocacy group promoting conservative viewpoints on various political, economic and sociological topics.
“It is completely inappropriate for any state to grant them any influence, much less authority. over educational matters.
“For an American state government to authorize misleading, false and overtly biased materials for use in classrooms really crosses the Rubicon. It’s a new and alarming low.”
Other academics express related concerns.
“PragerU may be able to take advantage of overworked teachers in the classroom who are under time crunches to prepare climate-change lessons for their students, and therefore might turn to these inaccurate videos,” said Max Boykoff, an environmental studies professor at the University of Colorado.
Boykoff added that boosting public funding of education could help “keep such unsafe and menacing weapons out of the classroom”.
PragerU did not respond to a Guardian request to talk to Streit or Prager.
Critics notwithstanding, Prager, speaking at a Moms for Liberty conference in Philadelphia this summer, was blunt about PragerU’s goals, boasting that “we bring doctrines to children”, adding: “What is the bad of our indoctrination?”
Similarly, in a PragerU promotional video, Prager said: “We are in the mind-changing business, and few groups can say that.”
PragerU annual reports tout its success in spreading conservative doctrines to young people and adults. According to its most recent annual report, PragerU “edutainment” videos scored more than 1.2bn views in 2022 and over 7bn since its launch in 2009.
Until recently, PragerU content and its fight against what it labels the “woke agenda” depended mainly on Facebook and YouTube, but that is poised to expand with PragerU’s access to Florida classrooms, and other states potentially opening their classrooms too.
To keep growing its audience and operations, PragerU’s website showcases several ambitious fundraising programs. In September, PragerU is hosting a “founders’ retreat” in Nashville that seems geared to wooing more checks from major donors who give at least $100,000 a year.
The event is slated to be “an exclusive three-day experience with our innermost circle of supporters”, and will feature Dennis Prager, the conservative Daily Wire’s editor-in-chief Ben Shapiro, and other Daily Wire “personalities”. The event is “open to Donor Club members at the founders level (total annual giving of $100k or more)”.
Like PragerU, the Daily Wire has benefited mightily from billionaire and evangelical preacher Farris Wilks, who gave it $4.7m in 2015 to launch its operations. Wilks remains a co-owner.
PragerU’s fundraising and marketing success in spreading its climate crisis denialism and other misinformation is alarming watchdog groups.
“Prager U plays a significant role spreading well-packaged propaganda about numerous issues, including attacks on efforts to mitigate climate change, through promoting the disinformation peddled by notorious climate-change deniers, and more,” said Lisa Graves, executive director of the progressive watchdog group True North Research. “ It has always targeted younger adults, but in recent years it has added a massive program targeting children with its slick and deceptive videos.”
Other environmental advocates raised broader concerns.
“The danger of the Prager climate misinformation is how quickly it can spread in this era where a lot of people, including children, are being trained not to trust media sources or scientists,” said Kert Davies, who leads investigations at the Center for Climate Integrity. “That it would be in schools as curriculum is even scarier.
“The Prager YouTube library on climate change features a who’s who of career climate deniers and discredited contrarians. These folks will never admit they are wrong, and never change their minds no matter the weight of scientific evidence.”
Davies added: “Prager climate disinformation is dangerously out of step with reality. It is being disseminated just as the global consensus on the climate crisis grows stronger, as extreme weather events seemingly try to outdo each other.”
More broadly, Oreskes sees the spread of PragerU advocacy materials into Florida classrooms and possibly other states as harmful to educational values.
She said: “Every student has a basic right to an education that, as much as possible, is truthful, and, as much as humanly possible, objective. This is the opposite.”
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