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‘What? I? Racism? ‘: Florida gives examples of ‘prohibited topics’ from rejected math books

The Florida Department of Education has released four examples of sections of the math book declined last Friday, saying the texts address critical racial theory, or CRT, and other “prohibited topics.”

In a statement released last Friday, the department said it rejected 54 of the 132 math textbooks it reviewed, or 41 percent.

The department followed up this week by saying it received “a large amount of requests … for examples of problematic elements of teaching material that have been reviewed recently.”

In response to those requests, the department published four volumes of rejected books it deemed problematic.

A problem shows two graphs. The title of one is “Measuring Racial Prejudice, By Age” and the title of the other is “Measuring Racial Prejudice, By Political Identity.”

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Florida Department of Education

Another problem from a rejected book presents two algebraic equations. The word problem begins “What? I? Racism? Over 2 million people tested their racial prejudice using the online version of the Underground Links Test. ” The problem requires students to solve for S, which represents the score on the Implicit Association Test.

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Florida Department of Education

Another rejected book section lists a lesson objective as: “Students build proficiency with social awareness as they practice with empathy with their classmates.” Another rejected section mentioned focusing on “students’ social and emotional learning.”

The department said last week that 28 of the books were specifically rejected because they “incorporate prohibited topics or unsolicited strategies, including CRT.” The lists of submitted and accepted books that were provided do not indicate how the rejected books addressed critical race theory.

Other rejected books did not fit the BEST Standard – Benchmark for Outstanding Student Mindset, Florida’s answer to the Common Core – which Governor Ron DeSantis worked to remove.

Another set of rejected books all covered “prohibited topics” and were not in line with BEST, the Education Department said.

“It seems that some publishers have attempted to put a coat of paint on an old house built on the foundation of Common Core and spread concepts like racial fundamentalism, especially to elementary school students,” DeSantis said last week.

DeSantis and Republican lawmakers fought to ban critical race theory, the academic study of institutional racism, in public schools. Critical race theory is usually only studied in colleges and universities.

DeSantis signed on Friday Stop WOKE Act – to limit the way race is discussed in the classroom and in the workplace.

He said the purpose of the law is to prevent the “teaching” of children. “What we’re not going to do is let people distort history to try to serve their current ideological goals,” he said.

DeSantis also signed a bill last month allowing parents to decide what books can be banned from school libraries and other books. that limits the teaching of sexual orientation and gender identity in kindergarten through third grade.

NBC News contacted two publishers that had more than half a dozen math books on the rejected list.

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt HMH did not respond to a request for comment.

“We are reviewing the matter and are seeking detailed feedback from the Florida Department of Education process administrators,” said a representative for McGraw Hill LLC.

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at Blogtuan.info – Source: nbcnews.com – Read the original article here

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