December 15, 2021, the governor of Florida, Governor Ron DeSantis, announced the Stop the Wrongs to Our Kids and Employees (W.O.K.E) Act. This act allows parents to sue schools for teaching critical race theory (CRT) in schools. This act came months after he banned critical race theory for all public schools in Florida. Governor Ron DeSantis, along with other Republican leaders, are accusing the public education system of brainwashing students and being hostile.  The Stop W.O.K.E act is inflaming a controversial culture war over critical race theory.

The Stop W.O.K.E Act will censor teaching and classroom speech. This bill would literally change history by blocking out an entire part of history, only giving one side of the story. Teaching kids a false version of history could create a false sense of security and innocence in the world, when the reality is the world is more complex than that. It would cause children to be unprepared for when they go out into the real world, and African American students will never be able to learn their true history.

The Stop W.O.K.E Act has had some resemblance to the 2020 abortion bill in Texas. Like the abortion bill, if the Stop W.O.K.E Act is passed, it is predicted to have a rippling effect in states with similar ideals to Florida. There have already been some reciprocations of this bill found in different states. For example, in the Kentucky Bill Request 69, no public school or charter school is allowed to offer any instruction or discussion on topics relating to race, sex, or religion. This is an emergency bill. You can find other bills similar to this in other states around the country. (Source: https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/record/22rs/prefiled/BR69.html Title: Kentucky General Assembly Date: 12/21/2021)

The legislation in Florida believes this would help students feel more comfortable in school, but censoring the truth is not the way to make students more comfortable. Censoring the truth just delays the uncomfortable conversations for later in life. Allowing parents to interfere in the education process allows the education of students to be corrupted by political opinions and social views. The fact in the matter is the education of history can not be tainted by politics. Students need to learn true American history rather then a censored version. It might be uncomfortable for some students, but it will make them be better prepared for the real world, and more informed to make decisions in life and how they wish to live it.