Florida law has schools scared to teach Shakespeare

[Cyrano]

The book banning frenzy in Florida is mind boggling. One county wants to ban "Fahrenheit 451," a masterpiece about a dystopian future in which all books are burned. Evidently, the people in that county don't see the irony. -- There is no doubt that fascism is well underway in FL and elsewhere in America.

A Ron DeSantis-backed law tightening restrictions on books in school libraries and classrooms is having a major impact in one Florida county. Orange County Public Schools have at least temporarily rejected a staggeringly long list of books as media specialists seek to remove any books that censorship-happy parents might decide to challenge once the school year starts.

-- snip --

The books on the temporarily rejected list include “A Room With a View,” “Madame Bovary,” “Paradise Lost,” “Into the Wild,” “The Fault in Our Stars,” “Catch-22,” “Brave New World,” and more. They include books that have been part of the official school curriculum.

There is hope for works that are temporarily on the rejected list while educators consider them: William Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” was initially rejected, then approved for grades 10 through 12 only, a status it shares with three other Shakespeare plays, the Tennessee Williams classic “A Streetcar Named Desire,” and Truman Capote’s “In Cold Blood.”

-- snip --

Republicans are passing one punitive, restrictive law after another, targeting health care, education, and more. We’re seeing the results, and make no mistake, this is the world they want to build: A world where “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” is off limits for younger teens and “Paradise Lost” may be banned. A world where laws are put in place that directly imply that, as one Orange County teacher told the Orlando Sentinel, “I have horrible intentions for my students.” A world where doctors are afraid to give appropriate medical care to women with pregnancy complications until they are on the brink of death. The intent is the government forcing workers to live in fear of someone getting mad about the professional decisions they make. It’s already in action in states like Florida, and it’s what Republicans want to do to the entire United States.

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/7/6/2179429/-Florida-law-has-schools-scared-to-teach-Shakespeare

[RKP5637]

1. FloriDUH, the center for Idiocracy! n/t

[Cyrano]

2. No, it's a state in which Dems have been

gerrymandered virtually out of existence. I live in a heavily blue area and now have a Republican congressperson.

[RKP5637]

3. It is very sad what has happened to Florida. n/t

[kimbutgar]

4. I remember being in a Catholic girls high school and had a great teacher who taught

Shakespeare and this was in the 70’s. We read them all and wrote papers about characters we thought were interesting. I can’t imagine how backwards flor rid duh has become!

[Walleye]

5. When I was in seventh grade I really adored all Shakespeare's comedies, "As You Like It",

“A Midsummer Night’s Dream” etc. But banning “Catch-22” for chrissakes, the term is common in the lexicon. How ignorant do they want these children to be. This is our culture that we build our generational knowledge on.

[Cyrano]

6. The Republicans "Own" Florida

and this is their laboratory for what they intend to do to the entire country.

About half the voters here are Democrats, but DeSantis' gerrymandering has ensured we are totally isolated and ignored.

[no_hypocrisy]

7. Midsummer's Night Dream?

Don't tell me; let me guess.

Bestiality.

https://www.rachaeldickzen.com/blog/2019/10/26/shakespearesplaylist-a-midsummer-nights-dream

[CTyankee]

8. "A Room with a View"????

dear god, WHY? It is such a sweet little love story. Very Edwardian...

well, on second thought, he does kiss her close to her left boob at the end, after they are MARRIED...

This is one of my very favorite movies. How dare they?

[gratuitous]

9. Republicans are banging on about "weaponizing" the agencies of the government

But for some reason, that never seems to apply to their practices.

[obamanut2012]

10. A Room with A View, wtaf???

I am a huge EM Forster fan, and wtaf. I could see the moran parents banning Maurice, but ARWAV???

[CTyankee]

20. I think it is my favorite movie of all time. The Puccini sound track was to die for...

the story, the acting...just dreamy...

[rsdsharp]

11. When I was in high school the drama teacher took a bunch of us to Minneapolis

one Sunday to see a matinee of A Midsummer’s Night Dream at the Guthrie. It remains a wonderful memory for me.

This is idiocy.

[wryter2000]

15. We went to Stratford in CT for Shakespeare

I saw a famous Lear actor, Morris Karnovsky. I was in a cloud for days afterward. It was the most amazing thing i'd ever seen, even though I didn't understand all the language.

I also say Ruby Dee in the Taming of the Shrew. I loved those field trips.

[Ocelot II]

12. Good grief, we read The Canterbury Tales in high school, and that's pretty racy.

I read Brave New World when I was home sick with scarlet fever when I was eleven; my 6th grade teacher assigned it as one of the books to read while I was away from school. In 10th grade we read The Big Sky by A.B. Guthrie, which contains violence, sex, racism, and other not-for-children topics. Lots of Shakespeare, and, of course, The Scarlet Letter, which involved adultery, and Silas Marner, which I recall finding boring, but there was drug addiction and other dissolute behavior in that one. There was The Lord of the Flies and Animal Farm as well; I suppose those will be banned too. What will be left for them to read? Even the Bible is full of violence - murders, including infanticide; and all manner of sexual sins, including prostitution, adultery and incest.

[Initech]

13. Fuck I hate the Christian right.

They are turning this country into a third world hell hole. They can go get royally fucked.

[wryter2000]

14. This is horrible

I hope those kids discover the Bard on their own.

We had special text books for Shakespeare. There is some raunchy stuff in there. Our books would put *** where they'd cut parts out. I used to check my father's Shakespeare to see what they'd cut. One was a line in Hamlet where he complained a woman wouldn't "ope her lap to saint seducing gold," or "she wouldn't do it for money." There's also a line in Taming of the Shrew "What, with my tongue in your tail?"

Those dumb MAGAts probably aren't aware of those.

[milestogo]

16. May they lose population and electoral votes.

[Cyrano]

17. By dumbing down children, they're creating more Republican voters

And this is exactly their goal.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

18. Who is surprised by this?

[Cyrano]

19. Perhaps Democrats who don't pay attention and don't vote?