Ron DeSantis often says that Florida is the place where those who “wake up” die. If the word “awakened” means tolerance, science, investigation, freedom of expression, knowledge, yes Florida is where “awakened” dies.
Florida is where public education dies. Ron DeSantis is poisoned.
Not content with installing a fake Joseph Ladapo in the University of Florida Medical School or attacking the accreditation system as the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools investigated academic freedom in the state, the governor appointed six just did New ultra-conservative trustee to the board of directors of the New College of Florida, Sarasota;
They want to discard the tradition of intellectual freedom and turn it into the institution DeSantis’ base prefers, a Bob Jones-style religious school funded with taxpayer money.
The governor’s office claims he chose these councilors because they have a “first-hand understanding of the Florida education system.”
It’s ridiculous. and an insult. One of his nominees actually went to New Her College, but the others have no expertise in public education. They are private university graduates. They work for private institutions and right-wing think tanks.
New College is a public university. It should be useful for Florida, liberal or conservative, religious or secular students.
The governor has a well-known antipathy to most universities and colleges, claiming they are obsessed with “trendy ideologies” such as equality, anti-racism, diversity, feminism and climate science. I’m here.
So, as the governor’s chief of staff puts it, they’re going to destroy New College, as it’s been known and celebrated, and make it ” hillsdale of the South. “
easy picking
New College is an easy choice for educational extremists. It is a small university with about 700 students. Universities are struggling to increase enrollment (like many post-COVID institutions) and are losing revenue. Nearly 100% of students receive financial support.
The university’s alumni base of approximately 4,000 is part of FSU and UF. But those alums include a Fields Medal winner for mathematics, the first Latino to serve in the Georgia Senate, the director of Peru’s National Library, several university presidents, numerous famous poets, Emmy It includes award winners, civil libertarians, and prominent environmental groups. scientist.
DeSantis and his Ideological Demolition Gang are no doubt pissed off at the way New College is prioritizing. Creativity over-fit; you can create your own majors, and progress is measured by “demonstrated competence and actual proficiency rather than the accumulation of credits or grades.”
Unfortunately, that won’t be the case if this batch of MAGA bots is confirmed.We have Emory University professor Mark Bauerlein backing Donald Trump. Debra Jenks, West Palm Beach Attorney.Former Trump member Charles KesslerCommittee of 1776;” Eddie Speer, who founded a Christian school in Bradenton. Matthew Spalding, government teacher at Hillsdale College.
Spalding is a prolific producer of articles for the Heritage Foundation and the National Review, attacking executive-state atrocities such as equal pay laws and attempts to mitigate climate change.
“Patriotic Education”
Kessler promotes what he calls “patriotic education.” This is like instilling pride in white youth by lying to them.George Washington claims the thoroughly debunked ‘1776 Report’ lacked historians and even basic fact-checkers freed his slaves (He didn’t) and Martin Luther King was against affirmative action (not true).
Demonstrating an impressive take on nonsense on January 3 Eddie Spear Spear couldn’t even get Hamlin’s name right, calling him “Devin.”
But DeSantis’ garbage pick is Tucker Carlson’s favorite conservative activist Christopher Rufowhose party tricks fuel fear and loathing against critical racial theories.
Rufo is a master of gaslighting and accuses educators of brainwashing America’s youth with a Marxist-based curriculum calculated to make them hate the Founding Fathers.
He’s surprisingly short on evidence, but he’s managed to convince many Republicans, even those who aren’t as obsessed with lying to voters as the Governor of Florida. immerse yourself in the story of a slave Then he was bullied by evil professors to abandon Sigma New and join the Socialist Workers Party.
Rufo said new york times He means bringing in a “landing team” of right-wing fellow travelers to “design a new core curriculum” and “encode it into a new academic master plan.”
Commitment to ‘Balancing Recognition and Recognition’ expressed by New College celebrate the difference, respecting each other’s growth and ensuring that historically marginalized and oppressed groups do not experience trauma or harm. “
Rufo Invades New College Elon Musk’s Hostile takeover of Twitter. We all know how it works.
DeSantis Wrecking Crew
One of the nation’s top liberal arts colleges will be a place that doesn’t talk about gender or race, doesn’t confront painful aspects of American history, and never talks about gays.
Rufo says the new New College will offer “an alternative to Florida’s conservative family saying there is a public college that reflects your values.”
In other words, no that diabolical critical racial theory. DeSantis’ wrecking he crew seems obsessed with critical racial theory, but that doesn’t mean they have little knowledge of what it is. Christian school huckster Eddie Speer asserts that “critical theory” has permeated the church. It is “pervasive, creeping into the body of Christ within the framework of feminism, black theology and other liberation theologies”.
Wouldn’t you want Jesus’ followers to recognize the humanity of women and people of color?
“indoctrination”
Unlike Spear, Rufo is not ignorant. He’s calculating and Bugaboo using his phrase “critical racial theory” to put himself on Fox.
He declares it an “existential threat to the United States.” Blameless white people need not be reminded that people of color still suffer from institutional disadvantages in education, the justice system, and the justice system. health careand economic opportunities?
If DeSantis gets his way, the new New College will be unable to pursue its higher education mission of “participating in difficult conversations that consider the majority of voices to build a more inclusive community.” .
DeSantis has stated that he is against “indoctrination”. He equates indoctrination with questioning authority, questioning national myths, questioning the world as it is presented to determine what is true and what is not. In any case, if progressive colleges teach their students, so do conservative colleges like Hillsdale.
One has to wonder why DeSantis and his ilk are afraid of ideas. He must have encountered “liberal” views at Yale and Harvard. He doesn’t seem overly swayed by them.
But who are we kidding? Attacks on new colleges are not about educational philosophies. It’s about voting. It’s about the 2024 presidential election.
The governor of Florida will do anything to strengthen his base, including trampling on young people’s right to an education of their choice.
Diane Roberts is an 8th generation Florida native born and raised in Tallahassee. Educated at Florida State University and the University of Oxford in England, she began writing a column on her Flambeau parliament in Florida in 1983 and has since contributed to the newspaper. Her work has been published in The New York Times, Times of London, Guardian, Her Post in Washington, Oxford American, and Flamingo. She was a member of the editorial board of the St. Petersburg Times, dating back to the time when her Times of Tampa Bay was named. She has been a commentator for NPR for her 22 years and continues to contribute her essays and opinion pieces for radio to the BBC. Roberts She is also the author of four books.
