Hey Florida! We need to see the math books.

The Florida Department of Education has rejected several dozen math textbooks for use in the state's public schools for reasons, per a departmental press release, including "references to Critical Race Theory (CRT)." The books in question, said Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), were "indoctrinating" young students with "concepts like race essentialism."
Naturally, everyone on all sides is Extremely Worked Up. But what almost no one chattering about this seems to know — so far as I can tell, anyway — is what the books say.
The original press release, circulated on Friday, didn't name the titles rejected. On Monday, Florida published a list of textbooks, but it offered no detail about the disqualifying content. The most we have is tweets from DeSantis spox Christine Pushaw, who has shared images of a math worksheet from Missouri (or maybe Pennsylvania) which awkwardly splices details of Maya Angelou's biography into algebra problems as well as a "Math Ethnic Studies Framework" attributed to Seattle Public Schools. The documents appear to be at least partially authentic, and the Angelou algebra is indeed bizarre, adding no apparent benefit for math instruction while also shortchanging discussion of Angelou's life, which ought to happen in a literature class under a teacher with both more time and more suitable expertise.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
But is this what was in the books Florida rejected? I don't know. And neither, it seems, do 99 percent of those discussing the rejections. Beyond the format of this one worksheet, I'm not even sure how an elementary math textbook could work in effective commentary on race at all. How do you fit that into the "two trains" problem? Where do you cram CRT into basic arithmetic? How, specifically, does the alleged indoctrination work?
Before this goes any further, we need to see the books.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.
-
Who is actually running DOGE?
TODAY'S BIG QUESTION The White House said in a court filing that Elon Musk isn't the official head of Donald Trump's Department of Government Efficiency task force, raising questions about just who is overseeing DOGE's federal blitzkrieg
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
How does the Kennedy Center work?
The Explainer The D.C. institution has become a cultural touchstone. Why did Trump take over?
By Joel Mathis, The Week US Published
-
What are reciprocal tariffs?
The Explainer And will they fix America's trade deficit?
By Joel Mathis, The Week US Published
-
Will Trump lead to more or fewer nuclear weapons in the world?
Talking Points He wants denuclearization. But critics worry about proliferation.
By Joel Mathis, The Week US Published
-
Why Trump and Musk are shutting down the CFPB
Talking Points And what it means for American consumers
By Joel Mathis, The Week US Published
-
Are we now in a constitutional crisis?
Talking Points Trump and Musk defy Congress and the courts
By Joel Mathis, The Week US Published
-
What can Democrats do to oppose Trump?
Talking Points The minority party gets off to a 'slow start' in opposition
By Joel Mathis, The Week US Published
-
'Seriously, not literally': how should the world take Donald Trump?
Today's big question White House rhetoric and reality look likely to become increasingly blurred
By Sorcha Bradley, The Week UK Published
-
Is Ron DeSantis losing steam in Florida?
Today's Big Question Legislative Republicans defy a lame-duck governor
By Joel Mathis, The Week US Published
-
'The Mountain West has acquired a whole new mythos, updated for the high-tech era'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By Justin Klawans, The Week US Published
-
Will Trump's 'madman' strategy pay off?
Today's Big Question Incoming US president likes to seem unpredictable but, this time round, world leaders could be wise to his playbook
By Sorcha Bradley, The Week UK Published