New Law Would Let Citizens Fight to Get Climate Change, Evolution Out of Florida Classrooms
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Citizens in Florida may soon get the chance to challenge the science curriculum in public schools. A bill that has made its way through both houses of the state's legislature would allow residents to protest the teaching of climate change, evolution, and other subjects they disagree with in school materials.
The bill is now awaiting the governor's signature. The Florida bill is unique, but it calls to mind a slew of legislation that has been introduced across the country in recent years — so-called "academic freedom" laws. These are meant to give teachers the right to refrain from teaching things like climate change as fact, if they so choose.
This is worrying people like Glenn Branch, who's deputy director of the National Center for Science Education. He says the Florida bill and the wave of "academic freedom" laws are just a way of getting climate change denial into classrooms.
How did acceptance of the science around climate change become politicized? Listen to WNYC's podcast, "The United States of Anxiety: The Birth of Climate Change Denial," here.
