Ron DeSantis banned lessons on racism in Florida public schools. 'Freedom schools' fill the gaps

[groundloop]

Source: The Guardian

When I say, ‘because’, you say: ‘Black people invented it,’” Renee Scott Best told a class of predominantly Black students one Monday last month. The call and response from the kids grew louder as they read a fictional story about a dystopian world without African Americans and their inventions. A folding bed, tricycle, clock, toilet, heating furnace, thermostat and air conditioner were among the innovations that no longer existed because, “Black people invented it,” the students shouted.

“Because we were brought here as slaves, they try to make us think we’re not very smart,” Best said toward the end of the lesson. She stood beside a poster that displayed the cover of her poetry book about 50 Black inventors, Black Inventors Poetry in Motion, which inspired the day’s lesson plan. She said: “We know that’s not true, because without all of the Black inventions in and around your home, you’d be in a cabin!”

The class Best teaches is part of an educational initiative launched in 2023 by the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH), a Black heritage academic club founded in 1915 by historian Carter G Woodson. Known as a “freedom school”, the class was formed in response to what critics call an assault on Black history in Florida public schools launched by Ron DeSantis. The Republican governor’s Stop Woke Act prohibits schools from teaching about structural racism or using educational material from The 1619 Project, and he’s also banned advanced-placement African American history courses.

While state statute still requires the teaching of African American history in Florida’s public schools, only 11 out of more than 60 districts have a Black history teaching plan advertised in curriculum guides, according to the state board African American History Taskforce. And since last year, the state’s social studies standards have included instruction that enslaved people learned skills that “could be applied for their personal benefit”. Some students and instructors say that the governor’s policies have sowed a culture of fear.

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/aug/24/desantis-florida-schools-racism

[Lovie777]

1. Ugh.....................

but alas, children can be taught at home and or other facilities who will teach the factual history and like before in the past these people who tells the truth about the USA's history maybe sought by the fascist and put in jail.

We won't go back.

[no_hypocrisy]

2. Homes, churches, Boys & Girls Clubs, Scouts, Family Gatherings

Museums, Libraries, Social Gatherings, Online research, and more.

You can't keep past and present racism a secret.

[Botany]

3. No need to teach Florida's students that 50 to ...

.... 90 thousand African Americans were removed from voting in Florida in 2000 so the election could be close enough to steal it with help from the SCOTUS and that got us 9-11, wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, ISIS, and Ohio 2004.

Calling something "woke" and then just moving on allows the right to not speak about the real issues and our real history.

[erronis]

4. Great points.

[Martin Eden]

5. There's a word for flushing history down the Memory Hole: Orwellian

DeSantis and his ilk want a dystopian Orwellian White "Christian" autocracy.

They are laying the foundation by subverting the educational system through racist legislation.

[BattleRow]

6. And just imagine the implications

of Project 2025.

[AllaN01Bear]

7. hem. snork. freedom schools? so , how does that get the kids ready for the future ?

[Marthe48]

8. Each of us should be aware of our

Potential. I grew up with the myth that girls were no good at math and science. If I hadn't learned about Marie Curie, or Hedy Lamar, Katherine Johnson, and so many others, I might not have realized I could learn concrete subjects and do well. What if every vestige of women's achievements were banned from schools?
On top of that, what is the psychological effect of denying the reality of ancestry? Probably a lot like denying orientation, ignoring personhood. People lacking validation of their race, denied, ignored, can rightly feel like something's missing as they learn about the world and their own possibilities.
I'm glad to know that students in Fl. have alternatives to public school curricula that by denying reality, must make at least some of the students feel disoriented. How can they learn anything if they don't understand what they are building on or how the education will benefit themselves?

[ShazzieB]

12. Is this a serious comment?

I really hope not, but I can't tell for sure.

I started to write a very critical reply, but decided against it since I'm not positive about the intent. For now, I will just say that I wish posts with satirical content would lways include some kind of indication of that. If you don't want to use the fancy smilie for this purpose, adding /s or a winking or laughing emoji would help avoid the need for guesswork. That is all.

[AllaN01Bear]

13. tell me how freedom schools get kids ready for the future and yes it is a damn serious comment.

i want to know how certain things are going to get our kids ready for jobs and so fourth rather than being scolded, nol here , very serious .

[ShazzieB]

14. Hmmm....

If you can't honestly see the value of teaching black kids to be proud of who they are in a society that is constantly sending them negative messages about their worth and value, or how that might help prepare them to survive in the world, I don't know what I could possibly say that would make a difference.

Have a nice day.

[AllaN01Bear]

15. thanks . you too.

[maxsolomon]

16. You may not have caught what a "Freedom School" is.

The class Best teaches is part of an educational initiative launched in 2023 by the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH), a Black heritage academic club founded in 1915 by historian Carter G Woodson. Known as a “freedom school”, the class was formed in response to what critics call an assault on Black history in Florida public schools launched by Ron DeSantis. The Republican governor’s Stop Woke Act prohibits schools from teaching about structural racism or using educational material from The 1619 Project, and he’s also banned advanced-placement African American history courses.

[AllaN01Bear]

17. thanks .

[Timeflyer]

9. DeSatan thought there weren't enough of us around in FL in the '50s, 60s who remember segregation and will testify.

Some Floridians grew up here, and saw the struggles first hand. Blacks weren't supposed to use the public beach, and there were "colored" signs posted on older buildings. There was a 'colored' movie theater, and one for whites--blacks had to sit in the balcony if permitted in the 'white' theater at all. Nobody told whites about things like the Rosewood massacre (those kind of incidents were referred to a "race riots", if mentioned at all).

"A people without knowledge of its past is like a tree without roots."

[Skittles]

10. DeFascist

they want to rewrite history to make conservatives look better

[eppur_se_muova]

11. At first I read "banned" as "planned" ... bad glasses, or are my latent psychic powers finally emerging ? nt