STRAY LOWER

Some Florida Schools to Censor Shakespeare’s ‘Racy and Sexual’ Content

“I think the rest of the nation—no, the world, is laughing [at] us,” a reading teacher at a Tampa public school observed.

What would The Taming of the Shrew be without Petruchio and Katherina’s tit-for-tat banter? Or Twelfth Night without Malvolio being tricked into thinking his boss is in love with him? Or Romeo and Juliet without the heroine plunging a dagger into her heart? Students in Hillsborough County, Florida are about to find out, as school district officials there have readied a new curriculum guide that only allows English teachers to use excerpts of William Shakespeare’s work. If students want to read the Bard’s works in their entirety, the Tampa Bay Times reported Tuesday, they’ll have to do it outside of the classroom. A spokesperson for the county school district told the newspaper that the revamping was done at least partly because “of the law,” referring to the Parental Rights in Education Act, commonly derided by critics as the “Don’t Say Gay” law. The legislation, which originally banned discussion of gender and sexuality in kindergarten through third grade, was expanded through to 12th grade earlier this year. Joseph Cool, a reading teacher at Gaither High School, said it was “absolutely not” possible to teach kids the magic Shakespeare out of context. “I think the rest of the nation—no, the world, is laughing [at] us,” he said.