Florida anti-education bill – an entertaining scenario
Florida bill aims to control ‘leftist’ profs
— The law could let students sue for untolerated beliefsTALLAHASSEE — Republicans on the House Choice and Innovation Committee voted along party lines Tuesday to pass a bill that aims to stamp out “leftist totalitarianism” by “dictator professors” in the classrooms of Florida’s universities.
The Academic Freedom Bill of Rights, sponsored by Rep. Dennis Baxley, R-Ocala, passed 8-to-2 despite strenuous objections from the only two Democrats on the committee.
First, why I’m not worried. On the off chance this silliness passes you would immediately see every professor in Florida worth a damn launching a job search, and the good ones would be snapped up by schools in other states posthaste. Such a brain drain would no doubt get the attention of the state’s business leaders, you’d think, who have a significant betting interest in the quality of the state’s university system. May of them may not care about some of the “leftist totalitarian” types, but this law is a tuna net that catches a lot of dolphins, too. It opens up professional school profs, as well, and you’d see a pretty rapid drop in the quality of business, legal, and professional communication education, too. That isn’t something to be tolerated.
As for sheer entertainment value, if I’m right about the reaction of the biz community, it means we’d likely see tension developing between the two wings of the GOP power base, a tension that Karl Rove has worked mightily to tame in the last few years. For my money, anything that sets the Country Club Right and the Trailer Park Right back at each other’s throats, where they belong, is worth whatever they’re charging for admission…..
lullaby pit 
But there’s “Freedom” and “Bill of Rights” in the title, therefore it must be good!
Did it ever occur to these people that not everybody takes personal opinion as gospel? Why not call this the “Protection Of People Who Can’t Think For Themselves From People With Opinions We Don’t Like Freedom Bill”?
They’re trying to institute that in Minnesota as well. It seems to me that many classes such as philosophy and other theory courses, which are built upon a lot of “opinion,” would just have to be taken out of the curriculum if this were passed.
I’m not so sure I’d discount this.
There may be some “brain drain” from Florida, but there will also be many profs who will self-censor themselves, and many of these schools (if this bill does indeed become law) will begin to hire more professors that “wont cause trouble” and raise the cost of legal issues for the university. Not only by hiring more consirvative profs, but by hiring more profs who don’t have controversial opionions.
Whether or not anyone actually sues anyone with this bill, the mere passing of it will have a chilling effect on intellectual freedom.
A little background …
The April 5 edition of The Nation has a few pieces that dive into the issue.
See them at:
http://www.thenation.com/issue.mhtml?i=20050404
Ya know, part of me thinks you’re right. And part of me thinks, “Well, there goes the entire education system in the US. And with it, the all remaining standing in the world.”
Re: A little background …
Thanks.