In parallel to his fight against homosexuality, Ron DeSantis, governor of Florida, has found a new target: William Shakespeare. The complete works of the British playwright are now banned in some schools in this state, point out Jezebel and the Tampa Bay Times, relayed by Slate. These establishments say they want to comply with the new state law restricting books with sexual content.
If Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet or Othello can always be studied, the teachers will base themselves only on scrupulously chosen extracts. A decision that is far from unanimous: “Shakespeare, it’s sometimes a little hot, because that’s what allowed him to sell in his time”, summarizes, in the Tampa Bay Times, Joseph Cool, professor of literature in Florida’s Hillsborough County.
“I think the rest of the country, no, the world, is laughing at us,” he continued. It is just absurd to deprive us of the integral of Shakespeare on the pretext that the relationship between Romeo and Juliet is the exploitation of two minors. »
The board of directors of the federal Department of Education also claimed to strongly disagree with the policy pursued by Ron DeSantis.
Yet Shakespeare’s works were on Florida’s official list of recommended books for students wishing to achieve excellence.
But this is not the first time that the governor, the main candidate for the Republican nomination against Donald Trump, has tried to impose his vision on education, and in particular sexual education. He had already enacted a law called “Don’t say gay” to ban the discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity in schools. Some psychology courses, which covered topics related to LGBT people, had also been threatened, says NBC.
According to Jezebel, he also wanted to change some US history lessons by saying that the positive effects of slavery on black Americans should be taught.
