Florida: Teaching mate­rial on early sexua­li­sa­tion of kinder­garten children and Critical Race Theory is disposed of

By JÖRG WOLLSCHLÄGER | In the state of Florida, the new legal regu­la­tion guaran­te­eing parental parti­ci­pa­tion is now being imple­mented. Among other things, it prohi­bits early sexua­li­sa­tion and the cult of guilt typical of the USA, the so-called Critical Race Theory, for kinder­garten children.

The new law with the abbre­via­tion HB 1557 [link] will come into force on 1 July 2022. Its primary purpose is to protect 5 year olds (K3) and (in part) older children from harmful indoc­tri­na­tion. Educa­tors should inde­pendently assess whether the educa­tional mate­rial is in compli­ance with the law using the follo­wing over­ar­ching questions:

Children should grow up free from guilt

Does the book assume that racism is curr­ently entren­ched in American society and its legal systems in order to main­tain white supre­macy?

Could the book evoke feelings of guilt, anxiety or other forms of psycho­lo­gical distress in students because of other people’s actions in the past? Does it contain the idea that people are privi­leged or oppressed because of their race, colour, national origin or gender? [link]

Critical race theory (CRT) is about a poli­tical struggle ideo­logy deve­loped in the US by civil rights acti­vists and lawyers in the 1970s, drawing prima­rily from Marxism and femi­nism. It postu­lates a struc­tural racism that would alle­gedly run through all areas of society, inclu­ding the judi­ciary and the state appa­ratus. There would be a coll­ec­tive privi­le­ging of whites over other groups. Because of ancient inju­s­tices such as slavery, blacks, for example, were to be posi­tively discri­mi­nated against, i.e. given prefe­ren­tial treat­ment, in the allo­ca­tion of jobs and univer­sity places. The weeks of riots and looting after the death of George Floyd show the danger of such imagi­nary ideas for peaceful coexis­tence, which have been cons­tructed and disse­mi­nated by the media [link].

Even before HB 1557 was drafted, the Florida Board of Educa­tion had rejected 40% of the maths books being considered for class­room use because they contained indoc­tri­na­ting concepts such as CRT, Social Emotional Lear­ning (SEL) and Common Core [link].

Wiki­media: Rote Müll­eimerActual child welfare at the centre

The new law effec­tively puts a stop to the early sexua­li­sa­tion of kinder­garten and primary school children by focu­sing on their „mental, emotional and physical“ welfare. The „left-wing, woke agenda“ in schools, culti­vated prima­rily by teachers‘ unions and school boards, will thus be effec­tively curbed, accor­ding to Florida Secre­tary DeSantis [link].

Of the books for elemen­tary school students, the trans­gender stories „Call Me Max“ by Kyle Lukoff [link] and „I Am Jazz“ by Jessica Herthel [link] were disposed of. A comic book with explicit depic­tions for adole­s­cents entitled „Flamer“, meaning shrill homo­se­xual, was also deemed unsui­table for teaching due to appli­cable porno­graphy laws. The cover image used in this article, „The Gender­b­read Person“, a play on words refer­ring to ginger­b­read, was also rejected [link].

Streng­thening parental voice

Even more important in the long run is the impro­ve­ment of parents‘ voice and infor­ma­tion rights vis-à-vis schools and school autho­ri­ties. If parents know what is actually being disse­mi­nated in kinder­gar­tens and schools and have a say in it, cultural Marxist content that is harmful to children’s deve­lo­p­ment will not stand a chance anyway.

„Parents‘ rights are under incre­asing attack across the country, but in Florida we stand up for the rights of parents and the funda­mental role they play in the educa­tion of their children. Parents have the right to be informed about what is being offered to their child in school, and they should be protected from schools using lessons to sexua­lise their children as young as five years old.“

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, 3/28/2022 [link]

„Parental rights in educa­tion empower Florida parents and protect our children. This bill denies school boards and teachers‘ unions the ability to hide infor­ma­tion about students from their parents. It also prohi­bits discus­sion of gender orien­ta­tion and sexual iden­tity in grades K‑3. Throug­hout the legis­la­tive session, this bill has been viciously mali­gned by those who prefer slogans and phrases over content and common sense. Fort­u­na­tely, Governor DeSantis and I believe that parents should have a say. We will not back down from angry corpo­ra­tions and their tired tactics steeped in hypo­crisy. As a mother of three, I am committed to protec­ting the rights of parents.“

Lieu­tenant Governor of Florida Jeanette Nuñez, 3/28/2022 [link]