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Florida Rejects and Edits Dozens of Social Studies Textbooks to Purge Content Related to Race and Social Justice

Books deemed "inaccurate material, errors, and other information that was not aligned with Florida law"
on May 10, 2023

In the latest effort under Governor Ron DeSantis to purge textbooks of contentious topics, particularly those related to current issues of race and social justice, the state's education department announced on Tuesday that Florida had rejected dozens of social studies textbooks and worked with publishers to edit dozens more.

Due to what they deemed "inaccurate material, errors, and other information that was not aligned with Florida law," state authorities first rejected 82 out of 101 submitted textbooks, according to a news release from the Department of Education.

However, Florida worked with publishers to make revisions as part of a significant revision effort, ultimately approving 66 of the 101 textbooks. Nevertheless, even after that procedure, 35 were refused.

Republican candidate Mr. DeSantis has ranted about "woke indoctrination" and a Marxist agenda in the school. The state rejected numerous maths textbooks last year because they included controversial ideas like social-emotional learning and critical race theory, which have come under attack from the right.

Similar concerns were anticipated during the state's yearly evaluation of social studies textbooks.

The state's education department published a paper describing a number of changes that, according to the agency, publishers made at its request. However, since neither the names nor the publishers of the updated books were listed in the paper, it was challenging to independently confirm the assertions.

The state's proposed changes included:

Previously, an elementary school textbook's "home support" advice on how to discuss the national anthem had suggested that parents "use this as an opportunity to talk about why some citizens are choosing to "take a knee" to protest police brutality and racism." According to Florida regulators, the content was inappropriate for kids.

A description of socialism as keeping things "nice and even" and maybe creating greater equality was removed from a text on different types of economies. The word "socialism" was never used in the description since it was recognized as incorrect.

A section about the Black Lives Matter movement, the murder of George Floyd, and its effects on society is no longer found in a middle school textbook. The deleted line detailed demonstrations and stated that while "many Americans sympathized with the Black Lives Matter movement," others criticized the movement's use of violence and looting and saw it as anti-police. The section, according to the state, included "unsolicited topics."

The education commissioner for Florida, Manny Diaz Jr., stated that textbooks should "focus on historical facts" and be "free from inaccuracies or ideological rhetoric."

Nationally, but particularly in Florida, where Mr. DeSantis, widely anticipated to declare a 2024 presidential candidature, has made it a trademark political issue, teaching about race has become a hot topic.

In contrast to the previous year, the state's declaration this year had a softer tone.

When the state rejected the math textbooks in 2022, the announcement was announced in a flashy news release emphasizing the rejections: "Florida Rejects Publishers' Attempts to Indoctrinate Students."

As opposed to last year, state authorities this year focused on the proportion of textbooks that had been authorized as well as how the state had collaborated with publishers to improve the number of approvals.

During a press conference held at a classical charter school on Tuesday morning, Mr. DeSantis highlighted several other issues, including the $1 billion allocated to raise teacher pay.

The governor paid little attention to social studies textbooks, although he did make a passing reference to a New York Times article that revealed that Studies Weekly, a publisher, had suppressed aspects of race in its Florida submissions, including the Rosa Parks tale.

"If you are trying to create narratives that something like a Rosa Parks book is not allowed, that is a lie," Mr. DeSantis declared on Tuesday.

Studies Weekly has been attempting to "decipher" how to adhere to the Stop W.O.K.E. Act, a recent Florida statute. The legislation, which Mr. DeSantis signed last year, forbids teachers from requiring their kids to express regret for the actions of prior members of their race. The law has occasionally caused misunderstanding, and Studies Weekly later apologized for what it called the curriculum team's overreaction.

Nearly three million Florida public school children will be taught history differently due to the state's authorized list of social studies textbooks, which covers everything from slavery and Jim Crow to the Holocaust.

Florida's acceptance of textbooks may also impact what is taught to kids in other states. Though fewer than half of the states do so, those that do include Florida, Texas, and California, the three largest marketplaces. Publishers frequently target these nations, modeling their offerings after them for smaller markets.

Several textbooks from major national publishers, including McGraw Hill and Savvas Learning, were rejected by Florida.

According to a statement from McGraw Hill, "We are reviewing the situation." "At this time, we are unsure of the reasons these titles were not suggested." On Tuesday, Savvas declined requests for interviews.

The social studies market in Florida was not even open to Houghton Mifflin Harcourt this year.

According to Adam Laats, a historian of education at Binghamton University, American publishers have changed textbooks for over a century to assuage political concerns, sometimes employing razor blades to exclude information on subjects like evolution or the Reconstruction.

According to Professor Laats, conservatives have frequently pushed for censoring educational materials, and he recognized familiar themes in Florida's declaration.

He pointed out that state legislators had asked one publisher to delete a discussion of players kneeling during the national anthem due to "age appropriateness" in a request.

Professor Laats noted that while discussing police brutality with children may indeed be upsetting, the state raised no issues with another mention of violence and death on the same page of the lesson: "Talk to your child about our military and how they sacrifice their lives for us," the text advises.

He said, "Using age appropriateness is a strategic or tactical decision," and that "Parents and other stakeholders tend to dislike the thought of textbooks having critical material left out.