On his Friday CNN show, Don Lemon and correspondent Leyla Santiago condemned Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for banning math textbooks that contained Critical Race Theory. When giving examples, including a bar graph alleging conservatives are more racist than liberals, it was still DeSantis that was accused of culture warring.
Lemon introduced a video of Santiago by taking a Democrat’s word that CRT is not a real thing in Florida schools, “Florida education officials rejecting dozens of elementary school math textbooks, claiming that they contain objectionable material, including Critical Race Theory, which one Democratic lawmaker points out is not taught in elementary schools. Education officials now releasing four images from math books that they claim prove their point.”
At the beginning of her video, Santiago showed four examples released by the state to prove this isn’t a made up controversy, “One of the images, which the Department of Education says were sent to them by the public, shows a bar graph measuring racial prejudice by political identification.”
What Santiago didn’t say, but what the picture showed was a bar graph showing alleged racial bias in different political groups as measured by the Implicit Association Test with conservatives coming across as more racially biased than liberals and moderates.
A similar example was highlighted, but not discussed in greater depth, “Another, adding and subtracting polynomials, a section that begins with 'What? Me? Racist?' It goes on to talk about racial prejudice and measuring bias."
These two obvious example of left-wing culture warring were still pinned on DeSantis, "Public school textbooks just the latest battleground in the culture war waged by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.”
If CNN was a real news network, they would have got a differing perspective that would have informed them that the IAT is junk science that doesn’t measure bias so much as reflex times measured in milliseconds, meaning that if you take the test multiple times, you will get different results each time.
After the examples, Santiago highlighted a couple of activists to decry the removal of the textbooks as politically motivated, something she herself agreed with, “A New York Times review of 21 of the rejected books found many of the textbooks included socioemotional content but found little that touched on race or Critical Theory, perhaps not a focus in the textbooks, but a focus for the political playbook of a potential 2024 presidential candidate.”
Maybe CRT is technically not the correct term for the IAT and other examples the state provided, but public schools should not be teaching that one of the two major political ideologies in this country is more racist than the other, especially in a math class. That is indoctrination and CNN never gave any compelling reason why it should be in public school math curriculum.
This segment was sponsored by Lincoln.
Here is a transcript for the April 22 show:
Don Lemon Tonight
4/22/2022
11:31 PM ET
DON LEMON: So, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signing a bill that puts restrictions on how schools and businesses can talk about race and gender.
At the same time, Florida education officials rejecting dozens of elementary school math textbooks, claiming that they contain objectionable material, including Critical Race Theory, which one Democratic lawmaker points out is not taught in elementary schools. Education officials now releasing four images from math books that they claim prove their point. Here is CNN's Leyla Santiago.
LEYLA SANTIAGO: These are the images released by Florida's Department of Education, examples of what it finds too objectionable to be included in public school math books. One of the images, which the Department of Education says were sent to them by the public, shows a bar graph measuring racial prejudice by political identification.
Another, adding and subtracting polynomials, a section that begins with "What? Me? Racist?" It goes on to talk about racial prejudice and measuring bias. Public school textbooks just the latest battleground in the culture war waged by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
RON DESANTIS: There are really outrageous things going on about what they're doing by basically using Critical Race Theory to bring ideology and political activism as, into the forefront of education.
SANTIAGO: Florida's Department of Education says it's rejecting publisher's attempts to indoctrinate students. The overwhelming majority of materials they deemed problematic were for students K through fifth grade. Some of the books, according to department, did not meet state standards. Others incorporated prohibits topics or unsolicited strategies, including Critical Race Theory.
SUMI CHO: It's kind of interesting to see this ever-expanding umbrella under this fearmongering campaign that's, you know, using Critical Race Theory as the sort of trojan horse in education.
SANTIAGO: Another reason textbooks were rejected references to Social Emotional Learning in math. It's a practice that supports the social side of learning and emotional needs of children as described by the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning.
TIM SHRIVER: This is a fight about honestly next to nothing. A lot of this is inspired by political disputes and by political advantage. There is a vast industry in this country that uses contempt and hatred to divide us politically, and I think sometimes that industry of division and contempt uses schools to advance its own aims.
SANTIAGO: A New York Times review of 21 of the rejected books found many of the textbooks included socioemotional content but found little that touched on race or Critical Theory, perhaps not a focus in the textbooks, but a focus for the political playbook of a potential 2024 presidential candidate.
DESANTIS: Nobody wants this crap. They're trying to shove it down the throats of the American people. You're not doing that here in the state of Florida.
SANTIAGO: And Don, I should mention, the Department of Education, Florida's Department of Education, released those images that were sent to them from the public. But when I asked the press secretary exactly which textbooks these images come from, we never heard back. I've been talking a lot to math teachers, a handful of math teachers here in Florida, and they're really worried that this could delay things for them, that this sort of back and forth that will now happen in what will be the appeals process for publishers here could delay them getting their hands on these materials so that they can start planning for next year. Don?
