Ron DeSantis’ Course Ban is Total Bullshit!
GOP Gov Rips African American and Queer Theory Courses as ‘Indoctrination,’
But He Allows Veterans to Teach Students While Wearing Military Uniforms
By Gary Glennell Toms
The following is an excerpt from a January 23, 2023, report filed by CBS News. “Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday defended his decision to block a high school Advanced Placement course on African American studies, saying the course’s inclusion of lessons on Black queer theory and the prison abolition movement didn’t meet the state’s standards. ‘We believe in teaching kids facts and how to think, but we don’t believe they should have an agenda imposed on them,” he said, calling the course ‘indoctrination.'”
Governor DeSantis is full of shit, and here is the reason why. In July of 2022, USA Today reported that U.S. military veterans can now teach in Florida with no degree. The DeSantis administration introduced the initiative in effort to address the teacher shortage. “The Florida Legislature passed a bill that gave the approval for military members, both former and present, to teach. Reserve military members count, as well,” the article noted. New Mexico is doing the same, and several veterans were shown working with students, in full uniform, during video news reports.
Again, DeSantis and his supporters don’t believe students should have an agenda imposed on them. Well, the fact that he is allowing students to be taught by veterans in full military uniform could easily be interpreted as imposing an agenda. How? Ask yourself this question. Why are the veterans reporting to classrooms in camouflage or military fatigues instead of civilian clothes like regular teachers? Moreover, if students are in contact with these veterans on a daily basis for hours, there is a strong possibility that the students may be inclined to not only ask questions about the military, but life in the military.
Consider this. Do you honestly think students would not ask Beyoncé or Taylor Swift about music if they were “subs” for several days? Do you honestly think students would not ask Tom Brady, Lamar Jackson or Joe Burrow about football if the NFL quarterbacks were subs for several days? I suspect DeSantis is well-aware of this fact and taking full advantage of it, especially since recent news reports have indicated enlistment numbers are at an all-time low for all branches of the military.
Consider this as well. In December of 2021, DeSantis discussed plans to recreate a “civilian military force,” much like the ones that operated during World War II, that he, not the Pentagon, would control. If that were to be done, how likely is it that the students being taught by veterans would be fast-tracked into the program? Answer: Highly-likely. Hence, another reason to suspect the governor may have an agenda.
The fact that veterans were solely targeted in DeSantis’ effort to address the teacher shortage, as opposed to retired college professors and teachers or people from the business sector, also indicates that DeSantis and his administration may have an agenda, and the attacks on African American and queer theory courses may be nothing more than a carefully crafted diversionary tactic used to draw and increase state and national support for said agenda.
Let me be very clear. If students decide to pursue military careers as a result of their interactions with veterans in the classroom, they have every right to do so. However, I believe a legal argument could be made that by allowing students to be taught by veterans, again, in full military uniform, DeSantis’ effort to address a substantial problem in his state could easily be interpreted as, just as the governor stated, “imposing an agenda,” which would completely invalidate his justification for rejecting the high school Advanced Placement course on African American studies and its inclusion of lessons on Black queer theory.
Incidentally, I would like to know why no one in the mainstream media has asked DeSantis, a decorated Navy veteran, how he would feel if courses on U.S. military conflicts and history, like World War II, Vietnam or the Iraq War, were suddenly banned in states because U.S. accounts of why certain wars were waged were deemed “fraudulent, highly inaccurate and extremely misleading.” I suspect the governor would go berserk, and the situation would expose him as a gleefully-malicious and military-obsessed hypocrite.
People with military backgrounds are taught to adapt, overcome, and accomplish the objective with determination, strategy and tactical precision. Through it all, they are also told one crucial thing. Always make the enemy think you’re doing one thing….and then do the opposite. That is how you secure victory. Consider that, especially if more and more Republican-led states start replacing teachers, on a prolonged basis, with current and former military veterans.
This commentary is from the heart and…..from The G-Man.