Shakespeare Cut From Florida Schools to Comply With DeSantis Agenda – Rolling Stone

Ron DeSantis is cracking down on education in Florida, and now some schools are cutting back on Shakespeare to comply with the governor’s expansive slate of restrictions.

The Tampa Bay Times reported on Monday that schools in Hillsborough County, which includes Tampa Bay and the surrounding area, are mostly assigning excerpts by the English language’s most famous writer. The schools previously required students to read two of Shakespeare’s novels or plays, in their entirety, per year.

The decision comes as educators must prepare students for a new set of state exams that cover a wide variety of subject matter, and also, “in consideration of the law,” according to a school district spokesperson. The “law” in question is the new Parental Rights in Education Act, which prohibits teaching any content that is sexual in nature. Shakespeare’s work sometimes can include some “raunchiness,” as local English teacher Joseph Cool put it to the Tampa Bay Times, which means teaching it could open educators up to disciplinary measures if a parent were to file a complaint.

DeSantis has long been working to overhaul Florida’s education system. The Parental Rights in Education Act, known by opponents as the “Don’t Say Gay” act, went into effect last year, barring instruction about gender or sexual orientation up to third grade. The DeSantis administration then expanded it to cover instruction through high school. The College Board released a statement last week claiming the Parental Rights in Education Act has also “effectively banned AP Psychology in the state.”

The DeSantis administration has restricted the teaching of so-called “critical race theory,” as well, with his administration using the state’s Stop WOKE Act to block the College Board from testing a pilot Advanced Placement African American Studies curriculum. The state’s education department said alleged the program “is inexplicably contrary to Florida law and significantly lacks educational value.”

Cool, the English teacher who spoke to the Tampa Bay Times, said he thinks the nation “is laughing us” because of the DeSantis administration’s education restrictions. “Taking Shakespeare in its entirety out because the relationship between Romeo and Juliet is somehow exploiting minors is just absurd,” he said.

DeSantis may be able to muscle his war on education through the Florida state legislature, but it doesn’t seem to be helping his bid for president. He’s dozens of percentage points behind Donald Trump in the polls, donors are getting uneasy if not abandoning him altogether, and on Tuesday he reworked his strategy yet again by ousting his campaign manager.