SHAKESPEARE MAKES FINAL CUT IN DESANTIS' FLORIDA
Last minute reprieve for the Bard after near-universal protest.
After weeks of wildly-varying interpretations, Florida has finally let school districts know that it doesn't think William Shakespeare's works should be removed from classrooms. (USA Today, 8/10/23)
This is believed to be a portrait of William Shakespeare, painted by John Taylor between 1600 and 1609. Courtesy USA Today,
DeSantis Education Department Clears The Bard
Whew, that's a relief! I thought for sure the Bard was out, if for no other reason that he required men to play female roles and dress accordingly.
This is a ray of hope amidst the gloom of educational repression.
Students who read Shakespeare will learn to think for themselves, to challenge authority, to see behind the words they are being told, to consider history from different perspectives. They will learn to love poetry, literature and history.
They will be made to consider racism, anti semitism, war, slavery, morality, free choice, and every aspect of human emotion.
There's no one path to developing the mind, and Shakespeare alone would not be a complete education, though the Bard offers more than the entire DeSantis education scam. It's a welcome alternative to the rigid, limited, religiously -inspired rote pedagogy and falsehoods our governor wishes to foist upon young students, much of it illegal under the First Amendment ban on state religion.
In other words, by reading Shakespeare, students have a much better chance of surviving the DeSantis education scheme and emerge with critical thinking skills and inquiring minds.
What Shakespeare is Best for High School Students?
Of course, it’s a matter of opinion, but after more than four centuries, we have some empirical evidence in trying to figure this out.
My own experience has been that while the Elizabethan English can be difficult to grasp at first, once a reader is drawn into the story it becomes easy and one grows to appreciate the beauty and poetry.
I think high school students would most likely be drawn first to the histories, and specifically to the Roman histories. (The Henry and Richard series are wonderful, but I’d start off with something more approachable.) Thus, were I teaching high school English, the first Shakespeare I’d ask the students to read would be Julius Caesar and Antony and Cleopatra. Most high school students would-or should-have some familiarity with the era, the main characters and the society. They would also read perhaps the most famous of Shakespeare soliloquies, Marc Antony’s funeral oration for Caesar in Julius Caesar.
After that, I’d choose from one or two of the four great tragedies: King Lear, Macbeth, Hamlet, Othello. Again, some of the Bard’s most memorable lines are found in these plays. (“Double, double, toil and trouble,” “Out damned spot!” from Macbeth; “I kissed thee ere I killed thee,” from Othello; “To be or not to be” and Polonius’ advice to his children in Hamlet; “Nothing will come of nothing” from King Lear.)
Certainly, a well-rounded education must include literature beyond the Western catalogue. That’s one way for students to learn about other peoples and other points of view by reading great literature. Most of what Shakespeare and other masters deal with is universal. Studying William Shakespeare brings nothing but benefit and insight to all who read his work.
It’s a Sad Day When Shakespeare is Questioned
Courtesy Getty Images
Clearly, it is a relief that the Bard was spared the axe and will continue to be taught in Florida schools.
However, as opposed to the old days, when his inclusion was taken for granted, today in the Sunshine State the ability to study Shakespeare is at the whim and grace of our Dollar Store Dictator of a governor, an Ivy League graduate with the least inquiring mind of any person in politics today. He’s a book-banning, idea-quashing authoritarian who spreads hate, division and ignorance wherever he goes.
My fear is that Shakespeare slipped through partly because DeSantis and his coterie missed the meaning of his words.
I’m afraid once they figure this out, Shakespeare will go the way of Anne Frank, Alice Walker, Kurt Vonnegut, Toni Morrison, J.D. Salinger, James Baldwin, Judy Blume, Margaret Atwood, Isabel Allende and many others.. All of these writers are highly-acclaimed award-winners whose books are read by high school students throughout America without any negative issues arising.
These are not even the tip of the iceberg. We’re closing in a thousand books that have been banned in Florida schools. There’s a concerted effort by DeSantis to make students more ignorant and less capable of thinking for themselves. He wants everyone to be of a closed and simplistic, one track (religious) mind.
So far, DeSantis as a candidate for President is finding rejection everywhere he brings his caravan of repressive ideas. He can’t even get MAGA world to buy into this folly. He is being weakened at home because of this. He no longer seems so invincible and certainly not very persuasive.
Until he’s out of office, I’m glad we’ve got William Shakespeare to keep our students alert.
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