Florida's education department has rejected 54 mathematics textbooks from next year's school curriculum, citing alleged references to critical race theory (CRT) among other reasons for the decision. The department stated that 21% of the books were disallowed 'because they incorporate prohibited topics or unsolicited strategies, including CRT'.
Critical race theory is an academic practice that examines how racism operates within US laws and society. The rejection follows a series of hardline measures by Republicans in Florida to alter teaching in schools, including a ban on CRT in public schools and the teaching of the New York Times' 1619 Project, which re-examines American history through the lens of slavery and its consequences.
Florida's Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, welcomed the announcement, accusing some textbook publishers of 'indoctrinating' children with 'concepts like race essentialism, especially, bizarrely, for elementary school students'. In response, Florida Democrats criticised the move. State Representative Carlos G Smith argued on Twitter that DeSantis had 'turned our classrooms into political battlefields and this is just the beginning'.
The decision is part of a wider trend in Republican-controlled US states, which have passed vaguely worded measures to ban the teaching of CRT, leading to fears of censorship on school and college campuses.
