#280 Standard Deviations: The politics of education in Florida and beyond w/ Ana Goñi-Lessan & Andrew Polk
The Road to Now
Benjamin Sawyer
4.8 • 628 Ratings
🗓️ 14 August 2023
⏱️ 49 minutes
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Summary
The recent changes to Florida's education system have gotten nationwide attention, with similar stories playing out across the US. In this episode, Ben & Bob investigate the nature of these reforms, who is behind them, and how they may impact the students and teachers whose daily lives are directly affected by these changes. They are joined by Ana Goñi-Lessan, a Tallahassee-based journalist who covers the Florida legislature for USA Today and Dr. Andrew Polk, a history professor and former high school teacher who directs the history and social studies education initiatives for the Department of History at Middle Tennessee State University.
This episode was edited by Gary Fletcher
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | I'm Ben Sawyer. |
| 0:06.4 | And I'm Bob Crawford, and this is the road to now. |
| 0:11.8 | And if you're wondering why our sentence is a bit fractured, it's because today's topic is a bit fractured. |
| 0:16.9 | Today, we are talking about what is going on right now in Florida. |
| 0:22.0 | Don't worry, we're going to narrow it down with their social studies and largely their primary school curricula and how that's changing its relationship to politics and or the truth. |
| 0:37.4 | We've got some great guests today, Bob. Ben, our guests today are |
| 0:41.0 | Anagony Lesson, the state watchdog reporter for USA Today. She's been covering the Florida |
| 0:48.2 | Education Beat for USA Today. And Dr. Andrew Polk, he's an associate professor of history at this small, small college |
| 0:58.1 | in central Tennessee called Middle Tennessee State University. Oh, we know where we are. We know where we |
| 1:07.7 | are. We're proud to be Blue Riders. Let's get it going, Bob. |
| 1:17.0 | Anna, I want to start with you. What is going on in Florida? |
| 1:24.6 | So it's a long answer. But if I were to simplify it, I believe it started with the parental Rights and Education Act, right? |
| 1:28.2 | So critics call it the don't say gay bill. |
| 1:31.1 | You have to give parental notification. |
| 1:32.8 | It also restricts instruction of gender identity and sexual orientation. |
| 1:39.3 | The first reiteration of the law, I think it was kindergarten to third grade. |
| 1:44.9 | Now, with the Board of Education rule, this past spring, it's been expanded all the way to 12th grade. |
| 1:50.6 | And when was this? When did this law pass? |
| 1:53.7 | 1557. |
| 1:54.8 | That was a long time ago. |
| 1:56.1 | 2021 and 2022. |
| 1:57.9 | Okay. |
... |
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