‘It Doesn’t Matter How You Feel’: DeSantis Slams Critics of Florida’s Education Plan

Florida education officials recently decided to toss out about 41% of all proposed math textbooks.

In accordance with the state’s overarching policy, the move came after discovering certain off-limits information in the books.

Proponents of critical race theory and other progressive ideals denounced the decision.

Plenty of concerned parents, on the other hand, expressed relief that these textbooks would not find their way into public school classrooms.

As Fortune explained:

A press release titled “Florida Rejects Publishers’ Attempts to Indoctrinate Students” published on the department’s website Friday said that the quashed textbooks “included references to Critical Race Theory (CRT), inclusions of Common Core, and the unsolicited addition of Social Emotional Learning (SEL) in mathematics.” Florida in 2020 abandoned the use of widely-adopted academic standards, known as Common Core.

The statement also noted that 41% was the highest level of rejection in the state’s history, and that among kindergarten through fifth-grade groups specifically, 71% of the suggested math books were “not appropriately aligned with Florida standards.”

“It seems that some publishers attempted to slap a coat of paint on an old house built on the foundation of Common Core, and indoctrinating concepts like race essentialism, especially, bizarrely, for elementary school students,” Governor Ron DeSantis is quoted as saying in the statement.

Reaction to the news was mixed on social media, but a large number of supporters were glad that Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis spearheaded this campaign.

Bravo for @GovRonDeSantis finding and removing 54 school math textbooks that try to INDOCTRINATE STUDENTS with Critical Race Theory.

Other states need to investigate and do the same because if it’s in ONE SCHOOL, it’s in all of em!

— Lavern Spicer 🇺🇸 (@lavern_spicer) April 18, 2022

In Florida, our students will be taught — not indoctrinated. pic.twitter.com/c73acx1vrg

— Jeanette Nuñez (@LtGovNunez) April 18, 2022

Likewise, the state declining to purchase certain textbooks isn't "banning" them. if you want to teach your kid Woke Math, where "2+2=4" is white supremacy, you're free to buy any CRT math textbook you want. You just cannot force Florida taxpayers to subsidize this indoctrination

— Christina Pushaw 🐊 🇺🇸 (@ChristinaPushaw) April 18, 2022

DeSantis had some tough words for those in his state and across the country who disagree with his opposition to critical race theory.

According to Business Insider:

“There is a movement to say math should be not about getting the right answer, but more about social and emotional response,” DeSantis, a Republican, said at an event in The Villages, Florida, when asked by a reporter about the rejections, which applied to grades K-12.

This type of learning would continue to be rejected in Florida, he pledged, saying that school districts in other states were “moving toward a more sociological and political” type of learning.

“It doesn’t matter how you feel about the math problem,” DeSantis said. “It matters whether you can solve the math problem.”

The following video clip includes a portion of the governor’s remarks.

Do you support efforts to eradicate critical race theory from public school classrooms?