What makes a social studies textbook "woke" in Ron DeSantis' Florida

June 26, 2023 1 min read

Judd Legum
Popular Information

Excerpt: According to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R), textbook publishers are attempting to indoctrinate Florida students by incorporating "woke" concepts into social studies textbooks — in violation of state laws prohibiting certain kinds of instruction on race and gender.

Popular Information discovered, however, that the Florida Department of Education has quietly posted the initial reviews of all currently approved social studies textbooks — including those that were initially rejected. These reviews, which have not been previously reported, reveal why these social studies textbooks were deemed unacceptable. In several instances, the reviewers of rejected texts mischaracterized basic factual information as biased, inappropriate, or ideological.

 Click here for link to full article


Leave a comment


Also in National Free Speech News & Commentary

Differentiating Colleges and Universities In A Tax On Endowment Income

April 02, 2025 10 min read

by Ed Yingling '70

Washington insiders believe it is very likely that a significant increase in the tax rate on university endowment income will be enacted this year. They cite the need for additional tax revenue to offset the Trump tax cut agenda and the antipathy of many Republicans to what has been happening on campuses for the last two years. They also focus on the fact that then-Senator JD Vance introduced a bill in the last Congress imposing a 35 percent tax on endowment income.

Read More
Commentary: I’m Cornell’s President. We’re Not Afraid of Debate and Dissent.

March 31, 2025 1 min read

Michael I. Kotlikoff
New York Times

Excerpt: Cornell University recently hosted an event that any reputable P.R. firm would surely have advised against. On a calm campus, in a semester unroiled by protest, we chose to risk stirring the waters by organizing a panel discussion that brought together Israeli and Palestinian voices with an in-person audience open to all.

The week before, I extended a personal invitation to our student community, explaining that open inquiry “is the antidote to corrosive narratives” and is what enables us “to see and respect other views, work together across differences and conceive of solutions to intractable problems.”

Read More
Commentary: The End of College Life

March 30, 2025 1 min read

Ian Bogost
The Atlantic

Excerpt: The start of spring semester is a hopeful time on college campuses. Students fill the quads and walkways, wearing salmon shorts or strappy tank tops. Music plays; Frisbees fly. As a career academic, I have been a party to this catalog-cover scene for more than 30 years running. It looks made-up, but it is real. Every year in the United States, almost 20 million people go to college, representing every race, ethnicity, and social class. This is college in America—or it has been for a long time.

But college life as we know it may soon come to an end.

Read More