YES: Every State Needs To Follow Florida In Teaching Kids About Communism’s Terrors.

It’s no secret that legislating pedagogy can backfire. Often, lawmakers will pass laws about what to include in K-12 classrooms, but they forget to provide accompanying materials (i.e., standardized curriculum, textbooks, assessments, etc.) and professional training, which causes a lack of buy-in from teachers and administrators. At best, what follows is a half-hearted compliance that involves creating a blowoff class or giving a short presentation on the topic.

This is precisely what happened to California when it required an ethnic studies class in its public schools. Beyond the obvious partisan motivations behind such a course, there were countless logistical loose ends. It was anyone’s guess which materials to use, how the classes should be taught, or even which ethnicities to include. Worst of all, the state “never allotted money for the course, which meant the mandate hasn’t gone into effect.”

Fortunately, Florida’s rollout has been far more robust and comprehensive, which should help it overcome these problems.

Teaching kids about the horrors of communism was much easier when we still have the Soviet Union around as a living example.