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Opinion: I oppose indoctrination, which is why I want schools to prove they are thinking acceptable things

cigaretteman

HR King
May 29, 2001
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Opinion by
Alexandra Petri
Columnist
June 25, 2021 at 1:35 p.m. CDT


Apart from critical race theory, it is very important that we have free thought! There is nothing I value more than people’s ability to think for themselves, except, once again, if what they want to think about is critical race theory, which I, of course, understand and could describe coherently if I were ever asked to. Don’t ask me, though — we don’t have time!

Free thought. That is my lodestar. That is why I, the governor of Florida, am signing into law this bill demanding that students be surveyed to make certain that they and their instructors are getting to think the range of thoughts that I would like them to think, and if they are not thinking correctly, allowing me the option of deciding to punish them.
I am sick at heart when I contemplate a world in which people are not free to think what they would like, especially on a college campus, where free expression and open academic inquiry lie at the heart of the mission of the institution. We are trying to produce people who will be able to lead fulfilling lives and think critically (just critically, unaccompanied by any kind of race theory), and we cannot have them being told what to think. Unless, to be sure, someone is telling them not to think about critical race theory. It is essential not to think about it; you could do irreparable damage to yourself, like when you look into the sun at noonday. Just saying its name so many times has probably hurt us all already, which is one more reason I cannot elaborate any further on what it is, although, of course, I could.
In push against ‘indoctrination,’ DeSantis mandates surveys of Florida college students’ beliefs
I am also signing into law this other bill for students that will make sure that they learn “Portraits in Patriotism,” including “first-person accounts of victims of other nations’ governing philosophies who can compare those philosophies with those of the United States.” I am quite opposed to indoctrination, which is why I want people to be required to learn all the ways the United States is good and free whereas other countries are bad and oppressive. It is important for people to know that in the United States, we have the freedom to think whatever we choose and the government does not get to meddle in our thoughts (except when students and faculty are filling out their required surveys about their political beliefs, knowing that if they do not produce a satisfactory result, the governor has threatened to take funding away).



What I am talking about is good, patriotic, civic education, which there ought to be more of, as opposed to critical race theory, which I will not insult you by describing in any further detail; we both know what it is — let that be enough. That is liberty. Enough of so-called safe spaces on campus where students can hide from the free exchange of ideas, excepting, naturally, the ideas we would like to keep them safe from.
We are very, very free here, is what I am getting at. Free to be correct and to think in the right way, which is the most important kind of freedom. After all, what is education for, if not to teach people to think for themselves, provided that what they are thinking is in line with what I would like them to be thinking? But that goes without saying, which is why I have said it six times already. This is not indoctrination. It is only indoctrination when I disagree.
In conclusion, please remember: No one hates indoctrination more than I do! If you come away from this thinking only one thing: Good!

 
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