Ron DeSantis is fighting authoritarianism. Courtesy | Flickr
“Authoritarian.” “Extreme.” “Christian Crusader.”
This is what the media calls Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ public education reform. In reality, however, he has been working to stop government schools from pushing authoritarianism through Critical Race Theory and so-called Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion programs.
DeSantis announced on Jan. 31 the state will work to “prohibit DEI, CRT, and other discriminatory programs and barriers to learning” in its schools, and “align education for citizenship of the constitutional republic.” He has been working with Hillsdale’s K-12 Education office to review textbooks for Critical Race Theory.
When the Florida Department of Education rejected an AP African American Studies course last month, it met outcry from public figures such as Al Sharpton, who protested the move with a Feb. 15 “Rally to Save Our History.” DeSantis is already saving history, but not how Sharpton thinks.
“If the course comes into compliance and incorporates historically accurate content, the department will reopen the discussion,” said Florida Department of Education Spokeswoman Cassie Palelis, according to The Washington Post. “In its current form, the College Board’s AP African American Studies course lacks educational value and is contrary to Florida law.”
Florida has mandated Black history classes since 1994, and DeSantis confirmed to CNN that this requirement is still in place. After all, Black Americans are an integral part of American history. All students should learn their struggle for the nation’s founding idea that all men possess equal natural rights.
But critical theorists, or public school diversity czars, deny such rights exist. Critical theory, the broader discipline CRT comes from, draws on theories of Karl Marx and Sigmund Freud to conclude education must center power imbalances to drive political change, according to Encyclopedia Britannica. In other words, there are no natural rights – just privileges granted to one group, which must be overturned to liberate others. This manifests in CRT when applied to race, Radical Gender Theory when applied to gender, and Radical Queer Theory when applied to sexuality.
My home state of Oregon offers plenty examples of this, according to City Journal. Tigard-Tualatin School District, a Portland suburb, has adopted CRT, endorsing theories of Brazilian Marxist Paulo Freire in order for “white folks to become allies, and eventually accomplices, for anti-racist work.” This aims to combat “colorblindness,” “individualism,” and “meritocracy” – foundational pillars of free society.
Portland Public Schools has since adopted Radical Gender and Queer Theory, telling students to substitute their “white colonizer” sexuality with “the infinite gender spectrum.” This destroys the family for ends of sexual liberation.
The public school system has embraced the goal of imparting “critical consciousness” to the next generation. “Critical consciousness” – the end of critical theory – encourages students to “take action against systems of oppression,” according to Boston College. This brings youth to “a broader collective struggle for social justice,” subverting the individual for the collective.
Many teachers have the best intentions. They want to help their students, and they are told diversity czars know how. They are the experts, after all. But they push critical theory in schools, and work with teachers’ unions who push left-wing policy in communities. Schools then produce students with similar ideology, who vote accordingly. Public schools have become political machines.
DeSantis has been cleaning this ideology from government agencies, leaving the peoples’ freedom untouched. The “Stop Woke Act” barred critical theory from public schools, and a curriculum transparency bill removed sexually-explicit material from their libraries. The state’s attorney general has stepped into the private sphere to investigate burlesque drag shows for minors, but this simply restricts the “liberty” of grown men to strip in front of children.
States should follow DeSantis’ lead, rooting out critical theory from their primary schools, as it targets the next generation in its most vulnerable years. States should also ban Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion agencies in public colleges, as they are the engines pushing critical theory. States should consider barring private curriculum companies from pushing ideology in public schools, as the states have no obligation to let private interests politically influence their schools. DeSantis recognized this, and is finally taking steps to fix his state’s education system.
A free government should never use its people for partisan ends, but this is suddenly controversial. The teachers’ unions are frantically running public relations against education reform, and corporate media outlets are repeating the unions’ message. But DeSantis does not care, and neither do the 4.6 million Floridians who reelected him as governor.
