Story by: Carter Mudgett
It’s no secret that legislation moving against diversity, equity and inclusion is simultaneously reshaping students’ experience across Florida.
But as it sends a chilling effect sweeping across higher education, laws and policies are also making some students rethink whether education is really their future career.
A survey of more than 4,250 individuals by Florida’s largest faculty union, the United Faculty of Florida, found that 65% would not recommend their state as a desirable place to work. That mentality has also been translated to students.
At the University of North Florida, enrollment in the College of Education has dropped in recent years, according to Dr. John White, an English Education professor. White told Inside Jacksonville that students in his courses constantly ask how to tackle situations arising in the classroom, but that he doesn’t always have an answer for them.
“Do we prepare teachers for the realities of the classroom they’re going to go into today?” White asked. “Or, do we teach them what we know upon research are the best practices for students?”
That lack of sureness has been well documented in higher education as faculty ring alarm bells for academic freedom, but it’s less clear for PreK-12. In Duval County, teachers have less control over their teaching plans, White said, and they must follow a strict guide for how quickly they teach material to students.
“As we recruit educators into the field, we are losing them just as rapidly,” said Rachel Tutwiler Fortune. Fortune is president of the Jacksonville Public Education Fund, a non-profit dedicated to closing the opportunity gap for low-income students and students of color by investing in “great leadership in our public schools,” according to their website.
The district itself has focused on diversity as a strength in recent years, but it’s a term now frowned on by the state. About a third of educators in Duval reported historically marginalized racial backgrounds which suggests room for improvement, wrote JPEF in a blog post addressing how diversity benefits everyone.