Florida Evaluates Social Studies Curriculum and Textbooks for 'Prohibited Topics'

The state of Florida is done reviewing Math curriculums for topics labeled as prohibited. Now, they are scrutinizing Social Studies.

Described by Sarah Mervosh of the New York Times as the "most contentious subject in education," Social Studies is now the focus of Florida after rejecting 41 percent of Math textbooks due to "prohibited topics," such as the critical race theory for one, CNN reported.

As part of the review process for the last few months, a group of state experts, teachers, political activists, and parents have assessed the Social Studies curriculum and delved into the thousand pages of Social Studies textbooks. The goal was to evaluate academic content and "flag" topics that could hint at critical race theory, Mervosh stated.

Publisher edited and "softened" material to get approval 

Members of a prominent conservative education group volunteered for the evaluation works. They have already objected to a pile of textbooks that they say are "promoting bias" and blaming the publishers for it.

Two publishers were said to have declined from participating. Yet, one publisher, the Studies Weekly, worked through the material by creating multiple versions to gain the state's approval. The material was "softened," and references to race, even in the story of Rosa Parks, were reported to be eliminated.

The New York Times set three versions of the publisher's Rosa Parks story for students under the first-grade side by side - a current lesson utilized in Florida, an initial version created for the review, and a second updated version.

In the current lesson, the story of Rosa Parks highlighted segregation, stating, "The law said African Americans had to give up their seats on the bus if a white person wanted to sit down."

In the textbook created for review, the version went, "She was told to move to a different seat because of the color of her skin," where race was indirectly mentioned.

In the updated version, race and the explanation of segregation have been erased. "She was told to move to a different seat," the lesson stated.

It still needs to be confirmed which of the versions was officially submitted for evaluation. However, the second version, which did not mention race, was on their website last week.

Studies Weekly was also reported to have made similar changes to a social studies lesson given to fourth graders about the Civil War and its segregation laws.

Read More: A Changing Texas Town Contends a Conservative Revolt Over Schools

Stakes are high

Jeff Livingston, an education consultant who was a former publishing executive, emphasized that though state adoption is a less concern for many, "the stakes are (actually) so high" that many people are hovering on it.

It is still uncertain what curriculum or textbook will have the state's seal of approval, as well as how the approved materials will address the issues of race and segregation in history. Florida will be announcing the Social Studies textbooks that have passed the assessment in the coming weeks, according to the New York Times. 

The Florida Department of Education stated that the mandate for teaching Black history has expanded to include the school's responsibility to ensure students recognize the consequences and outcomes of racism, prejudice, and stereotyping of individual freedoms.

Textbooks started to become hot politics under Gov. Ron DeSantis's campaign to end "woke indoctrination" in public schools, especially towards race and gender.

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