Unapproved books now a felony in Manatee County schools • Hacker News Board

Re: Unapproved books now a felony in Manatee County schools

#181

Post by unnouinceput » Mon, Jan 23, 2023, 4:27 PM UTC

CydeWeys wrote: post #128

notch656c wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am very much against this law but I think "present in school" is much different than "curated." I couldn't give a shit if kids were bringing Anarchist Cookbook and images of the tortures at Abu Dhabi prison to school. What the kid and his family obtain on their own through private means and choose to read in a public venue like a school IMO is none of my business. If the teachers are curating books that disproporti…

What you're describing very much isn't happening, though. These books indeed were merely "present in school" on a book shelf. Nobody's being indoctrinated into practical terrorism in Florida schools by being forced to read the Anarchist's Cookbook or anything like that.

He said: "...pushes certain non-academic agendas..".

Translation: Teachers are woke and shoving down the kids throat their political agenda.

Re: Unapproved books now a felony in Manatee County schools

#182

Post by alexb_ » Mon, Jan 23, 2023, 4:27 PM UTC

wolrah wrote: post #120

alexb_ wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Let me be clear that I do not agree at all, in any way with this argument, I'm just answering your question as to what the opinion of people who like this think. There are books which contain explicit depictions of sex between teenagers. Why do you want teenagers thinking that having sex before you are 18 is normal? Kids shouldn't be reading stuff about sex (gay, straight, or otherwise) before they are adults. The on…

You should really emphasize your first sentence in some way, it was really easy to have eyes drawn to the second part when skimming down the thread.

It's unfortunate that Hacker News doesn't support bold text. I would have bolded it if I could - it seems like a lot of people replying to me completely missed that I don't actually agree with any of these arguments, and am just telling people arguments that those on the other side make.

Re: Unapproved books now a felony in Manatee County schools

#183

Post by 2OEH8eoCRo0 » Mon, Jan 23, 2023, 4:27 PM UTC

faster wrote: post #116

2OEH8eoCRo0 wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think so but it's Florida. I don't live in Florida. The majority in Florida must somehow be OK with this and it's their teachers and children. Don't take my nuance to mean that I approve of this or think it's a good idea.

Why do you think the majority of Floridians are OK with this? Does it matter to American politicians that the majority of Americans are in favor of access to abortions? The noisy people and PACs who donate to campaigns are against it and that's all that matters.

> Why do you think the majority of Floridians are OK with this?

I don't know. I don't live in Florida. If it's not against the law why should I care?

> Does it matter to American politicians that the majority of Americans are in favor of access to abortions?

Abortion is legal in my state. ¯ \ _ ( ツ ) _ / ¯

Re: Unapproved books now a felony in Manatee County schools

#184

Post by gadflyinyoureye » Mon, Jan 23, 2023, 4:28 PM UTC

srndsnd wrote: post #23

jdlyga wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nothing's ever been ok in Florida. They do their own thing down there, and we stay far away from the crazyness. Each state is semi-independent with the federal/state separation of powers. It's good for vacation though.

I dunno. As the country bifurcates more and more, I'm thinking long and hard about if I want to travel to certain states. I'd rather as little of my money as possible be spent there.

I know how you feel. I refuse to go to Virginia since they don't accept my CCW permit from Florida.

Re: Unapproved books now a felony in Manatee County schools

#185

Post by cratermoon » Mon, Jan 23, 2023, 4:28 PM UTC

Jiro wrote: post #37

deugtniet wrote: post #4

If anybody thinks this is a good idea, I'm looking forward to reading your opinions.

There's actually a very simple argument: The existing system has been used as a workaround by activists to defacto teach things that shouldn't be taught to students. Keeping the books out of the library is the best practical method of stopping this, because directly controlling the contents of the curriculum is hard to enforce. That argument may or may not be true in this particular case, but it's not some impossible…

> teach things that shouldn't be taught to students

What things? Can you provide specific examples, lesson plans, or classes of these concepts being taught?

Re: Unapproved books now a felony in Manatee County schools

#186

Post by schulboy » Mon, Jan 23, 2023, 4:28 PM UTC

mabbo wrote: post #3

Hey America, is everything okay down there? Y'all have some truly dystopian stuff going on there. Felony prosecution for showing kids books that the Governor didn't approve of? Yikes.

What countries do you feel are correct here?

Looking across the pond I see people being arrested for mean tweets and memes.

Seems rather further dystopian than a state mandating their public tax funded schools keep content neutral around divide topics - allowing parents to make their decisions.

Re: Unapproved books now a felony in Manatee County schools

#187

Post by wilsonnb3 » Mon, Jan 23, 2023, 4:28 PM UTC

This article is better IMO: https://wusfnews.wusf.usf.edu/education/2023-01-18/state-pon...

Includes a link to the law that teachers would be violating: http://www.leg.state.fl.us/Statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Displ....

Re: Unapproved books now a felony in Manatee County schools

#188

Post by zeroonetwothree » Mon, Jan 23, 2023, 4:28 PM UTC

arctic360 wrote: post #168

What’s the legal definition surrounding “book”? Can the teachers hand out a “leaflet” with a QR code to the unapproved text?

I wouldn’t want to base my potential prison sentence on this interpretation

Re: Unapproved books now a felony in Manatee County schools

#189

Post by Someone1234 » Mon, Jan 23, 2023, 4:28 PM UTC

havblue wrote: post #108

mabbo wrote: post #3

Hey America, is everything okay down there? Y'all have some truly dystopian stuff going on there. Felony prosecution for showing kids books that the Governor didn't approve of? Yikes.

A lot of people are under the impression that public schools are a disaster in this country unless you're in a high performing school district. Either buy an expensive house or try to make enough money to send your kids to private school. So, no, public schools are not okay here, regardless of your view on this law.

It is designed that way.

Instead of taking property tax money, pooling it, then evenly dividing it across a state. The way most states are designed is that property tax is given to the local school district, meaning that areas with cheaper homes get less money than areas with more expensive homes. This is made worse by demographic problems associated with poverty which makes teaching poor kids more expensive than rich (e.g. ESL, food poverty, unstable households, behavioral issues, untreated mental health problems, etc).

There're three tiers: Private education, rich area public, and poor area public education.

Re: Unapproved books now a felony in Manatee County schools

#190

Post by NovemberWhiskey » Mon, Jan 23, 2023, 4:29 PM UTC

mabbo wrote: post #3

Hey America, is everything okay down there? Y'all have some truly dystopian stuff going on there. Felony prosecution for showing kids books that the Governor didn't approve of? Yikes.

Politicization of schooling, particularly party-political school board elections, is setting up conflict between teachers (who are seen as a natural liberal constituency) and some people who seem to have drunk particularly deeply of the anti-woke koolade.