The context in which Florida's latest efforts to stop the spread of woke ideology is important to acknowldege. These efforts are an over-reaction to years of leftest ideology being promulgated extensively for the the past decade or more in our educational institutions. Rufo, Desantis and their Republican cohorts are a threat to academic freedom with these new restrictions. But the established leftest ideologues have also been a threat to academic freedon for years. Our educators need to to re-embrace the liberal notion that their ideas may not be immutable truths that are not open to challenge or debate and that they have a responsibility to teach their students to think for themselves, not to indoctrinate them. Some of those educators who are hyperventilating about this right-wing over-reaction might need to look inward and ask if they may have brought this on themselves.
Obviously what happened in the 50's-60's to the LGBTQ community in Academia is to be condemned and not tolerated again in any form or shape today.
However, as far as I have seen, canceling others reached a new level over the past few years with the rise of CRT and woke organizations pushing a very intolerant agenda.
"The only remedy to racist discrimination is antiracist discrimination. The only remedy to past discrimination is present discrimination. The only remedy to present discrimination is future discrimination", I Kendi.
America is obsessed with race and gender right now; it is very unfortunate for our children as they have to navigate a new form of Apartheid.
Categorizing human-beings by race, genders, etc... and forcing them to conform to the ideology of their group has never moved progress and humanity in the right direction. Why are we making he same mistake over and over...
In the meantime, we have kids who don't share their ideas in the classroom because they are too afraid to be canceled; kids who start to write their English paper with a certain lens so that their progressive teacher don't mark their paper down; kids who think they can only be "safe" if their peers have the same color of skin.
You should be able to be pro or against abortion, pro immigration or wanting to limit it; you should have opinions about healthcare access and education. You should be able to articulate arguments and listen to others even if you disagree. None of our children and college kids have that ability right now: they don't have the space and they don't know how. They don't tolerate disagreement, get "offended", quickly crawling back to a "safe space".
And to top it off, we read story like this in the news: a teacher gets fired for showing a picture of Muhammad in a class about Islamic Art, but some students at Michigan organized a protest where they basically called for the extermination of the Jews and it is all good...
I don't agree with C. Rufo and I don't agree with Amna and Jeffrey either. Please, can a moderate person, relying on true facts, take charge of our Academia!
So now the Left gets a taste of what IT has been doing to the Right for decades and it starts whining.
Only when I see STRONG Statements and STRONGER univeesity action in favor of ROBUST rights of ALL to Academic Freedom and Free Speach will I develop the slight sympathy fot the Florida Education Establishment.
It would seem that, in Flordia and other states with similar anti-CRT legislation, that a large percentage of professors are hemmed in by the left wing and the right wing.
Lol a boogie man. Like the left hasn’t created one on campus. As a faculty member at three Universities I was appalled when two of them required new faculty and staff to submit diversity statements as part of the application and faculty performance review. Why don’t they just force everyone to sign a loyalty oath and be done.
The diversity and grievance staff have grown to large and are to controlling at major colleges. As a taxpayer and former student I believe we a being fleeced.
Also you fail to point out that the school that Ruffo was appointed to the board of has a 32% graduation rate.
Please provide some facts and perspective to your work. I appreciate as a citizen of Florida the Governor tackling this issue.
Yes, the sub- text here is that critical race theory is not a threat to academic freedom but the anti-woke act is. Well I thought Banished existed in the premise that both are. It is not just the substance of the movements.It is also the method. CRT people are just as ruthless and authoritarian as the extreme right.
TRANSCRIPT: The Sunshine State Descends into Darkness (Again)
The context in which Florida's latest efforts to stop the spread of woke ideology is important to acknowldege. These efforts are an over-reaction to years of leftest ideology being promulgated extensively for the the past decade or more in our educational institutions. Rufo, Desantis and their Republican cohorts are a threat to academic freedom with these new restrictions. But the established leftest ideologues have also been a threat to academic freedon for years. Our educators need to to re-embrace the liberal notion that their ideas may not be immutable truths that are not open to challenge or debate and that they have a responsibility to teach their students to think for themselves, not to indoctrinate them. Some of those educators who are hyperventilating about this right-wing over-reaction might need to look inward and ask if they may have brought this on themselves.
Obviously what happened in the 50's-60's to the LGBTQ community in Academia is to be condemned and not tolerated again in any form or shape today.
However, as far as I have seen, canceling others reached a new level over the past few years with the rise of CRT and woke organizations pushing a very intolerant agenda.
"The only remedy to racist discrimination is antiracist discrimination. The only remedy to past discrimination is present discrimination. The only remedy to present discrimination is future discrimination", I Kendi.
America is obsessed with race and gender right now; it is very unfortunate for our children as they have to navigate a new form of Apartheid.
Categorizing human-beings by race, genders, etc... and forcing them to conform to the ideology of their group has never moved progress and humanity in the right direction. Why are we making he same mistake over and over...
In the meantime, we have kids who don't share their ideas in the classroom because they are too afraid to be canceled; kids who start to write their English paper with a certain lens so that their progressive teacher don't mark their paper down; kids who think they can only be "safe" if their peers have the same color of skin.
You should be able to be pro or against abortion, pro immigration or wanting to limit it; you should have opinions about healthcare access and education. You should be able to articulate arguments and listen to others even if you disagree. None of our children and college kids have that ability right now: they don't have the space and they don't know how. They don't tolerate disagreement, get "offended", quickly crawling back to a "safe space".
And to top it off, we read story like this in the news: a teacher gets fired for showing a picture of Muhammad in a class about Islamic Art, but some students at Michigan organized a protest where they basically called for the extermination of the Jews and it is all good...
I don't agree with C. Rufo and I don't agree with Amna and Jeffrey either. Please, can a moderate person, relying on true facts, take charge of our Academia!
So now the Left gets a taste of what IT has been doing to the Right for decades and it starts whining.
Only when I see STRONG Statements and STRONGER univeesity action in favor of ROBUST rights of ALL to Academic Freedom and Free Speach will I develop the slight sympathy fot the Florida Education Establishment.
Alligator tears do not move me.
45-year Professor
It would seem that, in Flordia and other states with similar anti-CRT legislation, that a large percentage of professors are hemmed in by the left wing and the right wing.
Lol a boogie man. Like the left hasn’t created one on campus. As a faculty member at three Universities I was appalled when two of them required new faculty and staff to submit diversity statements as part of the application and faculty performance review. Why don’t they just force everyone to sign a loyalty oath and be done.
The diversity and grievance staff have grown to large and are to controlling at major colleges. As a taxpayer and former student I believe we a being fleeced.
Also you fail to point out that the school that Ruffo was appointed to the board of has a 32% graduation rate.
Please provide some facts and perspective to your work. I appreciate as a citizen of Florida the Governor tackling this issue.
Meeeh . . . There is no "there' there.
Yes, the sub- text here is that critical race theory is not a threat to academic freedom but the anti-woke act is. Well I thought Banished existed in the premise that both are. It is not just the substance of the movements.It is also the method. CRT people are just as ruthless and authoritarian as the extreme right.
That is the problem.