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Florida made it a felony to share books that weren’t approved. As a teacher, it makes sense to remove books instead of risk prosecution. This isn’t the school

Florida made it a felony to share books that weren’t approved. As a teacher, it makes sense to remove books instead of risk prosecution. This isn’t the school libraries, this is books individual teachers keep in the classroom.

skissane 4y ago
How many teachers have been prosecuted for said felony? How many unrelated felonies have they committed, which they don’t care about? If everything which is technically a felony were (successfully) prosecuted, probably every adult American would be a convicted felon - http://alex.kozinski.com/articles/Youre_Probably_a_Federal_Criminal.pdf http://alex.kozinski.com/articles/Youre_Probably_a_Federal_C... - but I doubt they’d apply the same attitude to all those other laws
- standardUser 4y ago
  Consider the context in Florida. Are you aware of the political situation there? I think if you had the perspective of a Florida teacher, you would rightfully be cautious if not afraid.
  - skissane 4y ago
    You really think Governor DeSantis going to start throwing random teachers in prison, because they had non-controversial but not technically approved books in their classrooms? Like him or loathe him, he’s a pretty smart politician, why would he engage in such an act of political self-sabotage? From what I understand, this is a state law, and there are 67 counties in Florida, and this is a report from a single county - is every teacher in the state doing this? Or is it just a thing in certain school districts? I suspect the later. I wonder what kind of characteristics would predict which school districts will have large large numbers of teachers reacting to the law in this way and which won’t?
    - standardUser 4y ago
      The fact is that teachers have become a target from the right wing and DeSantis has been leading the charge with his words and actions. After the elaborate migrant flight fiasco, I don't think anyone wants to make big assumptions about what DeSantis won't do to satisfy his increasing bloodthirty base.
      - skissane 4y ago
        > The fact is that teachers have become a target from the right wing and DeSantis has been leading the charge with his words and actions. I wonder how many teachers in Florida vote for DeSantis, and still plan to vote for him even after all of this? While no doubt it is true that school teachers in the US (and public school teachers especially) tend to skew Democratic, I’m sure the number of DeSantis-voting public school teachers in Florida would be significantly greater than zero. I wonder if those teachers would agree that “teachers have become a target from the right wing”?
        standardUser 4y ago
        Any person who can't agree with the phrase “teachers have become a target from the right wing” despite the overwhelming evidence, including countless direct quotes and video clips from elected conservative politicians, should not be allowed anywhere near a classroom because they are not operating in reality.
        skissane 4y ago
        The phrase is wrong because the target is a certain kind of left-leaning teacher. Not teachers qua teachers. Right-leaning teachers are not being targeted. Teachers who aren’t explicitly “right-leaning”, but who think socially controversial topics are best avoided in the classroom, are not being targeted either. Nor do I think the target includes “contrarian leftist” teachers (the kind of teacher who might admire the African-American Marxist Adolph Reed, who basically says that all these race/sexuality/gender debates have turned into a distraction from the real work of class struggle, and thus serve the interests of the capitalist ruling class)
- maxerickson 4y ago
  The counterpart to that is how many teachers are giving their students inappropriate books, or refusing to discuss with their administrators/school boards/parents what is appropriate? There's no reason for this to be a felony. Just like there's no reason for a lot of other things to be felonies.
- alistairSH 4y ago
  How many teachers have been prosecuted for said felony It’s a new law, and AFAIK no teachers have been charged yet. Not sure why that should ease teachers’ fears.

skissane 4y ago

How many teachers have been prosecuted for said felony? How many unrelated felonies have they committed, which they don’t care about? If everything which is technically a felony were (successfully) prosecuted, probably every adult American would be a convicted felon - http://alex.kozinski.com/articles/Youre_Probably_a_Federal_Criminal.pdf http://alex.kozinski.com/articles/Youre_Probably_a_Federal_C... - but I doubt they’d apply the same attitude to all those other laws

standardUser 4y ago
Consider the context in Florida. Are you aware of the political situation there? I think if you had the perspective of a Florida teacher, you would rightfully be cautious if not afraid.
- skissane 4y ago
  You really think Governor DeSantis going to start throwing random teachers in prison, because they had non-controversial but not technically approved books in their classrooms? Like him or loathe him, he’s a pretty smart politician, why would he engage in such an act of political self-sabotage? From what I understand, this is a state law, and there are 67 counties in Florida, and this is a report from a single county - is every teacher in the state doing this? Or is it just a thing in certain school districts? I suspect the later. I wonder what kind of characteristics would predict which school districts will have large large numbers of teachers reacting to the law in this way and which won’t?
  - standardUser 4y ago
    The fact is that teachers have become a target from the right wing and DeSantis has been leading the charge with his words and actions. After the elaborate migrant flight fiasco, I don't think anyone wants to make big assumptions about what DeSantis won't do to satisfy his increasing bloodthirty base.
    - skissane 4y ago
      > The fact is that teachers have become a target from the right wing and DeSantis has been leading the charge with his words and actions. I wonder how many teachers in Florida vote for DeSantis, and still plan to vote for him even after all of this? While no doubt it is true that school teachers in the US (and public school teachers especially) tend to skew Democratic, I’m sure the number of DeSantis-voting public school teachers in Florida would be significantly greater than zero. I wonder if those teachers would agree that “teachers have become a target from the right wing”?
      - standardUser 4y ago
        Any person who can't agree with the phrase “teachers have become a target from the right wing” despite the overwhelming evidence, including countless direct quotes and video clips from elected conservative politicians, should not be allowed anywhere near a classroom because they are not operating in reality.
        skissane 4y ago
        The phrase is wrong because the target is a certain kind of left-leaning teacher. Not teachers qua teachers. Right-leaning teachers are not being targeted. Teachers who aren’t explicitly “right-leaning”, but who think socially controversial topics are best avoided in the classroom, are not being targeted either. Nor do I think the target includes “contrarian leftist” teachers (the kind of teacher who might admire the African-American Marxist Adolph Reed, who basically says that all these race/sexuality/gender debates have turned into a distraction from the real work of class struggle, and thus serve the interests of the capitalist ruling class)
maxerickson 4y ago
The counterpart to that is how many teachers are giving their students inappropriate books, or refusing to discuss with their administrators/school boards/parents what is appropriate? There's no reason for this to be a felony. Just like there's no reason for a lot of other things to be felonies.
alistairSH 4y ago
How many teachers have been prosecuted for said felony It’s a new law, and AFAIK no teachers have been charged yet. Not sure why that should ease teachers’ fears.