Holocaust text books rejected in Florida's crack down on 'woke indoctrination': report
Two new Holocaust-themed textbooks have been rejected by Florida’s state education department and another book was forced to change a passage about the Hebrew Bible in order to be approved by the state, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported.
As JTA points out, the rejection of the books comes as Florida cracks down on "woke indoctrination" in a campaign against materials of a certain ideological origin that deal with race and gender -- now the policy is affecting Jewish topics as well.
One of the rejected Holocaust textbooks was called “Modern Genocides,” and the other was an online learning course titled “History of the Holocaust" intended for high school students.
“Modern Genocides” was rejected in part for its discussion of “special topics” such as “social justice” and “critical race theory." Both of the rejected materials also received low scores from the state’s educational review committee, the report said.
Another social studies textbook intended for grades 6-8 was forced by the department to alter a reference to the Hebrew Bible that originally included a question for students that asked, “What social justice issues are included in the Hebrew Bible?” The phrase “social justice issues” was replaced with the term “key principles.”
"DeSantis has advanced Holocaust education while also enabling parents to effectively remove Holocaust literature they don’t like from school libraries," JTA's report stated.
"Florida requires Holocaust education in grades K-12, and in 2020, DeSantis signed a law requiring public schools to certify that they teach about the Holocaust. But a law passed last year allows parents to challenge instructional materials and books in public school libraries, and parents in the state have filed challenges that have led to the temporary or permanent removal of Holocaust literature on the grounds that they are inappropriate for children."
Read the full report over at the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.