By: Jenna Skop
For years, Florida Legislation had found it imperative to have Holocaust education in the school curriculum. In 2020, the Florida Senate unanimously passed a bill requiring Holocaust education in public schools.[i] Specifically, the Florida Senate Bill 1008 required instruction on the Holocaust. The bill required that annually, the Florida Department of Education verify that school districts, charter schools, and specified private schools incorporate Holocaust History education into their curriculum and standardized assessments.[ii] In further support, the House of Representatives approved a nearly identical Bill, which required that the Florida Department of Education provide curriculum standards for K-12 schools to teach about the History of the Holocaust.[iii]
The enactment of both Holocaust Education Bills in 2020 appeared to be a significant step in the right direction, ensuring that future generations receive a comprehensive education about the Holocaust and the tragic events that led to it. However, in 2022, Florida House Bill 1467 was passed, allowing parents the authority to challenge instructional materials they believe are not suited for comprehension or inappropriate for their grade level.[iv] This development directly impacted Holocaust education, as parents began filing challenges. Their challenges were reviewed and tragically, Holocaust literature was removed from school libraries and curriculums on the grounds that they are inappropriate for children.[v]
Following the same pattern, at the onset of the new 2023 school year, the Florida Department of Education has rejected two newly proposed Holocaust textbooks and has forced at least one other textbook to alter a passage about the Hebrew Bible to meet state education approval.[vi] The two books, “Modern Genocides” and “History of the Holocaust,” failed to gain approval from the Florida Department of Education, and according to the state provided documents, the Department did not approve any new Holocaust textbooks this year.[vii] These actions have sparked controversy and appear to directly oppose the original purpose of the 2020 Holocaust education bills, which intended to enhance Holocaust education in Florida’s schools.
Why is this a problem? The Holocaust, evidently one of the most horrific occurrences in world history, is a necessary part of education. The disapproval of Holocaust textbooks in the Florida school curriculum is detrimental to student’s education and will leave a longstanding negative impact on future generations. In 2020, around the time the Holocaust Education Bills were passed by the Florida Legislature, the Secretary-General spoke at a United Nations Conference. He stressed that ‘Never Again’ means constantly retelling Holocaust stories.[viii] However, three years later, it seems the message has been lost. Instead of ensuring future generations are educated about the History of the Holocaust, the Florida Department of Education is rejecting education by disallowing the approval of Holocaust-focused textbooks for the 2023 school year. For students to understand that ‘Never Again’ will the Holocaust happen, they need to be educated that it happened in the first place.
Without adequate education, the growing rate of antisemitism will only continue to escalate. In recent years, attacks on Jewish people and places of worship have steadily risen.[ix] The Southern Poverty Law Center stated that from January to April 2023, antisemitic incidents in schools and universities had risen 32%, with a 21% increase in K-12 schools.[x] The rising percentage of antisemitism in the school setting is a clear indication that there needs to be an educational shift. The removal of Holocaust textbooks in school curricula is a shift in the wrong direction. Any hostility and prejudice towards the Jewish religion, in part, stems from a lack of education, and students need to learn about the horrors of the Holocaust to ensure ‘Never again’ something like it will happen.
With each new generation, giving students a comprehensive understanding of world history is paramount. The Florida Department of Education’s refusal to approve Holocaust-focused textbooks is removing a crucial aspect of world history from students’ minds. Thus, it is necessary to act in accordance with the Florida Legislature’s intent when passing the Holocaust Education Bills in 2020 and educate students so it will ‘Never Again’ happen.
[i] A.G. Gancarski, Holocaust education bill amended and must bounce back to House, Florida Politics (Mar. 11, 2020), https://floridapolitics.com/archives/322748-holocaust-education-florida-senate/.
[ii] Fla. S. 1008, 2023 Reg. Sess. (Fla. 2023).
[iii] A.G. Gancarski, supra note i
[iv] Nick Mordowanec, Ron DeSantis’ War on ‘Woke’ Targets Holocaust Textbooks, Newsweek, (May 12, 2023), https://www.newsweek.com/ron-desantis-war-woke-targets-holocaust-textbooks-1800034.
[v]Andrew Lapin, Florida rejects Holocaust textbooks for falling afoul of ‘woke’ education ban, Times of Israel (May 12, 2023), https://www.timesofisrael.com/florida-rejects-holocaust-textbooks-for-falling-afoul-of-woke-education-ban/.
[vi] Id.
[vii] Id.
[viii]Press Release, Security General, ‘Never Again’ Means Constant Retelling of Holocaust Story, Secretary-General Stresses at Exhibition Opening, Citing Rising Antisemitism, Other Hatreds, U.N. Press Release SG/SM/19943 (Jan. 21, 2020).
[ix]Alon Milwicki, et al., ‘Never Again’ Starts With Education, Southern Poverty Law Center Learning For Justice (Apr. 17, 2023), https://www.learningforjustice.org/magazine/never-again-starts-with-education.
[x]Id.
