The (possibly) next president of the United States has ordered an aggressive Parson Weems style of "civics training" for public school teachers in his state. Heavy on views of proper patriotism — a conviction that the U.S. is, and always has been, a virtuous nation — and the historically fatuous demolition of the church-state wall, Gov. Ron DeSantis says he is battling Floridian students' "woke indoctrination" by mischievous teachers, who begin their sinister deeds in kindergarten and wrap them all up in college.
"We’re unabashedly promoting civics and history that is accurate," said DeSantis. From here on out, he added, students will be "learning the real history." I have a doctorate in American history and I don't know the real story; but I'm okay with that, because no one does. The elitist DeSantis has a Yale B.A. in history, though what he missed while there was that his professors would have been the first to say what I just said. America's history is that of millions of contrasting individuals, which is a rather unwieldy number.
As would be expected, DeSantis' "civics bootcamps" for teachers has them "alarmed," reports The Washington Post. They've no problem with Florida's curriculum, but Putinlike diktats on how to present the curriculum is a different story. The governor's own indoctrinating, preseason training camp is voluntary, however those who attend receive a tantalizing and near-extortionist $700 stipend for three days of bullshit, "with a chance to earn a $3,000 bonus," writes the Post.
Which continues: "Included in the training is the statement that it is a 'misconception' that 'the Founders desired strict separation of church and state. Other materials included fragments of statements that were 'cherry-picked' to present a more conservative view of American history.... In a possible effort to inoculate some Founding Fathers against contemporary political complaints, some slides in a presentation pointed out that George Washington and Thomas Jefferson repudiated slavery."
Remarked Anna Fusco, president of the Broward Teachers Union, "It was basically, it’s this way or no way, like there’s only one side to American history. They kind of slipped in a Christian values piece, ignoring the fact that this country is made up of so many different cultures and religions." Though many of Florida's teachers may know that such inaccuracies and distortions are pure propaganda, what career repercussions might be suffered if conveyed to students?
One true Trump-DeSantis believer is "Central Florida Civics" teacher Abe Lopez, also a committeeman for the Republican National Hispanic Assembly and once an aide to former governor Chris Christie. Mr. Lopez is better known as a guy who tweeted information on Florida's "Stop the Biden Steal" rallies, but as a civil instructor, he's known for this sort of "real," "accurate" history: "I used this opportunity as a blank slate to help my students understand that their rights are intrinsic and do not come from a man, they do not come from a government. Our rights come from a creator."
I for one would never pass his class.