Florida pushes its students to think more positively about slavery

The Florida Board of Education approved Wednesday a new set of standards for the teaching of African American history, one that promotes a blatant distortion of the past and is the latest in the state’s ongoing effort to gloss over the brutal facts of history to accommodate the feelings of white people desperate to remain in denial. 

For example, according to the state’s new guidelines, instructors will be expected to teach students that enslaved Black people “developed skills” that “could be applied for their personal benefit.” Instructors are also expected...