
   Living in a relatively progressive area with access to great education, we don’t often think about how censorship could be a part of how we learn in schools. However, academic censorship has the potential to become a major issue with the passing of the Stop Wrong to Our Kids and Employees, or Stop W.O.K.E Act, in Florida by Governor Ron DeSantis. The Stop W.O.K.E Act prohibits the teaching of critical race theory in K-12 curriculums and workplaces. Critical race theory is a framework that argues that racism is not a result of individual biases, but rather systemically embedded in U.S. legal systems and policies that are the root of all problems plaguing African Americans. Although not everyone needs to believe that critical race theory is true, it is imperative that all Americans are educated about this eye-opening approach to how the history of racism in America still affects us today. As such, censoring this theory is a violation of the integrity of our education, which should never be the norm in an educational or work environment.
     One curriculum that has been recently entangled with the Stop W.O.K.E. Act is the AP African American Studies course. This course has been presented as an option in several high schools this school year, and is set to be offered all around the country in the 2024-25 school year. The class delves into the important contributions of African Americans, as well as more modern race-related movements. However, the banning of this class would potentially go against another Florida law from 1994, which mandates the teaching of general African- American history in schools. In the end, the act was not a major catalyst in the changes made to the AP African- American Studies course, but it has raised awareness of the possibility of censorship in our education. The College Board released an updated version of the AP African American Studies course curriculum on February 1, 2023. The new version excluded several of the initial topics such as critical race theory, the Black Lives Matter movement, and other contemporary racial issues. It seems rather intentional that the changes to the AP course coincided with the passing of the Stop W.O.K.E. Act. DeSantis believed that the course was a form of indoctrination for students, and would make white students feel shame for their racial privilege; however, by limiting the education of students on race, DeSantis in turn perpetuates indoctrination because he is enforcing a system that silences the voices of Black individuals. Therefore, College Board should not continue to be making changes to this course, especially in places like Florida, where education about race is already unsubstantial. After all, limiting the education in public schools is censorship because it excludes part of what students should be taught. If we start increasing the amount of censorship in our education system, we will never grasp the full, complete history of our nation; we will only learn a history that has been modified so much that it is an unrecognizable version of the truth and leaves out crucially important and impactful events from the past
   Many important figures have opposed the Stop W.O.K.E. Act, such as Judge Mark E. Walker, the chief U.S. district judge of Tallahassee, who worked towards blocking the law. During the preliminary ruling on a recent case, Judge Walker prevented the Stop W.O.K.E. Act from being upheld in higher education, saying that using the power of the government to restrict the language used by professors and educators in the classroom is “positively dystopian.” Walker blocked the law when it was targeting workplace diversity practices, including recognizing unconscious bias. Without this training, workplaces become less inclusive, because people are not as aware of the potential impact of their actions. As a result of DeSantis’ censorship campaign and others spreading around the U.S., it seems evident that educational censorship may as well be a nationwide crisis. 
   When the “Parental Rights in Education” bill (nicknamed the “Don’t Say Gay” bill) was introduced in Florida in 2022, many students protested against the censorship of sexuality and gender discussions in schools. The same can be done for the Stop W.O.K.E Act. We should continue to study critical race theory, as well as encourage our friends in other areas around the country to do so as well. This way we can continue to learn about this important topic on our own, even if it is not a part of what we are taught in schools. This will not only ensure that we continue to educate ourselves about race (although not in schools), but it will also help to harbor a more inclusive generation of young people in the United States.   
   Although self-studying can help us gain a baseline understanding of critical race theory and other race-related subjects, it will not permanently put an end to the rampant censorship in the classroom. Even though PHS has not been affected by the Stop W.O.K.E Act yet, it is evident that censorship could become a serious national issue and eventually impact how we are taught about race. In order to prevent serious censorship in education, a federal law is needed to prevent laws similar to the Stop W.O.K.E. Act. Considering that the ideas held in Florida about racial education are spreading to other areas around the country, it is possible that other laws like this act could become normalized in our society. With a law to prevent it, we would be in less danger of those ideas being spread to our school, and the law could allow others to see a true portrayal of race in America. 
    Censorship fails to teach students the full story of what the world is like or how it had become that way. It also continues to shield students from the truths of society and the diverse perspectives on our history, which is ultimately what education should be about. This dystopian future that we’re descending into is extremely alarming, and as high school students, we should fight against the censorship that is slowly encroaching on the integrity and quality of our education.


Florida’s education problem: Are we teetering on the edge of censorship?

 This month, an impressive congregation of global leaders from over one hundred countries met for the 2022 United Nations  Climate  Change  Conference  (COP  27)  occurred  earlier  this  month,  with  ideas  about  how  to  deal  with  concerns  such  as  the  emission  of  greenhouse  gasses  and  the  steadily  increasing  number  of  natural  disasters  being  at  the  forefront  of  most  conversations.  The  conference  mainly  addressed  how  to  deal  with  climate  issues  on  a  national level rather than a localized scale, but in actuality, state governments and communities, like high schools, are instrumental  when  it  comes  to  combating  global warming.          Climate  action  shouldn’t  just  be  up  to  the  leaders  and  politicians  who  attended  COP  27.  Everyone,  including  students  at  Princeton  High  School,  should  engage  in  active conversations regarding both climate issues   and   solutions   for   those   pressing   problems. This starts with education, which plays a critical role in preparing students for participation in  civic  society.  Education  is  critical  to  any  social  cause  because  it  increases  awareness  of  the  issues  at  hand,  spurring action, and eventually, change.      Curriculums  must  first  stress  that  action  is  needed  immediately. For many, it seems that all we can do is sit back and watch. The warming of the Earth is frequently portrayed as a distant phenomenon. When climate issues are being reported on, a deluge of far-off dates is thrown at us. Everything is discussed in terms of deadlines, creating the image of an inevitable doomsday when climate change finally  triggers  the  “end  of  the  world,”  instead  of  as  an  ongoing, malleable process of warming.      As high school students, most of us are not thinking so far into the future. We can not fully imagine a time, decades from  now,  when  Earth’s  situation  is  completely  different.  Most  young  adults  are  more  concerned  with  short-term  priorities such as academics and extracurricular activities. It’s  easy  to  believe  that  if  we  can’t  see  the  impacts  of  something  right  away,  it’s  not  worth  paying  attention  to.  Pretty much every student at PHS would much rather ace that  math  test  or  win  that  soccer  game  than  even  begin  to  ponder  our  ecological  footprint.  As  a  result,  we  delay  taking action on climate change.   The practical applications of climate change are  far-reaching  in  subjects  such  as  math,  art,  economics,  and  science,  to  name  a  few.  To  spark  such  conversations  about  climate,  educators    should    strive    to    incorporate    current events and climate-related issues into their  classes,  lessons,  and  projects.    Global  warming isn’t a topic that should be relegated to a single week-long unit in a middle school science class. Schools  should  teach  about  how  we  –  as  students  –  can  contribute  to  reducing  or  stopping  climate  change  and  embrace  sustainable  practices.  They  should  teach  us  how  devastating the results will be if we do not begin to change.   They should not, however, make these lessons boring! The same  way  that  PHS  has  injected  readings  and  reckonings  with   LGBTQ   issues   in   some   assignments   for   science   classes, they could encourage teachers to create innovative lessons involving climate change. A statistics class centered around analyzing the economic damage of a hurricane, or an  English  class  dissecting  an  Oliver  Tearle  poem  about  global  warming,  would  manage  to  both  educate  students  about climate issues and offer them new avenues to learn about existing subject material.      Teachers  should  help  students  understand  the  severity  and  effects  of  climate  change.  Only    through  addressing  the  issue  head  on,  by  putting  an  emphasis  on  education  about  both  its  causes  and  effects,  can  PHS  help  raise  the  awareness  that  will  eventually  cause  its  students  to  take  action.  PHS  has  a  moral  obligation  to  help  us  combat  the  biggest  problem  that  Earth  faces  today.  As  António  Guterres, the Secretary-General of the United Nations put it  at  COP  27,  “We  are  in  a  battle  for  our  lives.  But  it  is  a  battle we can win.

PHS’ curriculums should involve climate change

From 2009 to 2018, according to Everytown Research, the  U.S.  led  the  world  by  a  margin  of  277  in  mass  shootings.  In  fact,  we  account  for  over  75  percent  of  these  horrific  incidents.  All  of  this  adds  up  to  say  that,  over  the  last  two  decades,  mass  shootings  are  primarily  an  American  problem.  In  fact,  gun  violence  is  such  an  epidemic  in  this  country  that  firearms  kill  more  people  in  America  a  year  than  car  crashes,  according  to  the  CDC in 2021. 
America, like the majority of other developed nations, guarantees citizens’ right to own a firearm, thanks to the 2nd  Amendment  in  its  Constitution.  Yet,  unlike  other  developed   nations,   it   experiences   an   unfathomable   amount  of  gun  violence.  Amidst  the  recent  shootings  in  Buffalo,  Uvalde,  and  Tulsa,  our  country  has  been  sent  reeling  into  a  nationwide  debate  over  gun  control,  a  debate  that  we  seem  to  have  every  time  one  of  these  disasters takes place. Unfortunately, we have not learned our lesson, as gun violence is still a highly divisive issue between Republicans and Democrats. Rather than being treated  as  a  public  health  issue,  we’re  treating  these  shootings as a partisan issue, as if kids’ lives are objects to  be  traded  for  political  capital.  During  COVID-19,  we  failed  to  take  sufficient  action  as  a  result  of  political  division. Unlike how we reacted to COVID-19, we must trust actual research and take the appropriate measures to stop this firearm epidemic.
     If  gun  violence  goes  unaddressed,  like  COVID-19,  it  will  end  in  disaster.  We  must  implement  common  sense   and   evidence-supported   gun   regulations   like   background checks for private gun sales, red flag laws to stop potentially violent citizens from obtaining firearms, mandatory waiting periods which help people cool down before they actually get their hands on a weapon that they might’ve purchased in a fit of rage, assault weapon bans, and  stricter  age  restrictions  for  obtaining  these  weapons.  We  also  need  to  muster  up  more  support  for  people  struggling  with  mental  health,  especially  if  they  reside  in  areas that lack sufficient gun control.
  Some  prominent  Republicans  claim  to  believe,  in  between  receiving  boatloads  of  money from the National Rifle Association, that if we arm the “good guys,” they will be able to stop armed assailants before they can kill anyone. Past  events  do  not  support  the  “good  guys  with  guns”  argument.  As  was  seen  in  Uvalde,  police  officers  —  believed to be the good guys — delayed their entry into the building in fear of being killed by the assailant, which probably  led  to  more  deaths  inside  of  the  school.  The  idea  that  a  teacher  with  a  gun  could’ve  done  anything  more  is  preposterous.  As  long  as  this  country  allows  potential shooters to get their hands on assault weapons, the  simple  handgun  that  a  teacher  would  carry  would  not be fast enough to prevent the carnage that the Uvalde shooter wrought.
   PHS has tried to show support for gun control through moments   of   silence   in   class,   educational   Instagram   graphics,  and  in-class  discussions.  Unfortunately,  it’s  all  too  easy  to  become  numb  to  the  sheer  number  of  shootings that occur in our country — NPR reports that there have been over 246 mass shootings this year so far. New  Jersey,  due  to  having  one  of  the  lowest  per-capita  rates  of  gun  fatalities  in  the  country,  can  easily  become  a bystander in the gun violence epidemic. According to the New Jersey Monitor in 2022, 83 percent of guns used for  crime  come  from  out  of  state,  generally  with  looser  gun  restrictions.  By  numbing  ourselves  to  the  violence  and  not  advocating  for  gun  restrictions  in  other  areas,  New Jersey is a part of the problem.
 Princeton, seen as a relatively peaceful town, is not free from  violence  either.  Take  the  Panera  incident  several  years  ago,  where  a  man  carried  a  weapon  into  Panera,  and  was  shot  by  our    Princeton  police.  Princeton Public Schools have also received numerous bomb threats throughout the past few  years.  Violence  can  happen  anywhere,  anytime.  The  brutal  truth  is  that  unless  we  take  action  against  gun  violence,  the  next  shooting could occur in Princeton.
 In order to stop the gun violence epidemic, PHS  students  can  join  national  nonprofit  organizations such as Everytown, The Brady Campaign, or  Newtown  Action  Alliance.  PHS  students  could  also  petition   federal   legislators   or   organize   community-wide  protests.  On  June  11,  Princetonians  participated  in  a  nationwide  protest,  holding  a  gun  control  rally  at  Hinds  Plaza.  But  our  community’s  participation  in  this  movement must not end here. Now is the time to use our voices to stop this massacre, by staging school walkouts, attending  protests,  or  writing  our  local  congressperson.  It is not the time for yet another moment of silence. Only by  standing  up  and  demanding  change  can  we  take  the  first steps towards stopping these horrific shootings.

Princeton must take action against gun violence

Every day, the death toll in Ukraine rises as Vladamir Putin bombs innocent civilans in hopes of frightening the country into submission. For more than a month, citizens around the world have been anxiously watching the confrontation, grimacing at each sign that the conflict might erupt into a global war. Yet, here at PHS, there has been a disquieting silence among both teachers and students when it comes to the conflict. Unfortunately, this pattern of ignoring current events extends beyond the current war. Largely due to the demands of PHS’s curriculum, many aspects of the past few tumultuous years have been brushed over in classrooms. But current events should not be ignored. These events impact PHS students more directly than obscure historical details that we obsessively study in AP United States History, and yet they rarely ever get taught. This trend needs to end. Teachers and administrators in our school must make sure that students are educated on current events.

The war in Ukraine has real consequences for students at PHS. Most obviously, the conflict puts everyone, regardless of age or nationality, in danger. A nuclear conflict would result in the total destruction of schools, homes, and cities. Of course, at this very moment, some PHS students are already feeling the effects of the conflict. Students who have family in Ukraine go to bed at night not knowing if their relatives will be alive the next day.

Everyone is afraid, not just those who have loved ones near the conflict. Part of this fear is undoubtedly created by confusion surrounding current events. With the increase in sensationalism and fear-mongering across social media and the web, it’s easy for those who lack the proper knowledge to buy into headlines like “WWIII is here!” The further inclusion of current events in our curricula could teach students to be skeptical of yellow journalism. The best thing that PHS could do is to tell students exactly what is going on. Our school can ease some of the students’ fears by encouraging an open discussion of the topic in classrooms. In doing so, PHS would be helping to erase feelings of helplessness, and developing the skepticism necessary for students to stay objective while reading the news.

Furthermore, PHS students can use current events to garner the research skills necessary to form their own informed opinions. Those who don’t know the history and context behind a current event are much more susceptible to misinformation and bias. Students who enter the real world lacking the essential skills of researching and fleshing out an opinion will pose a danger to our community and nation. To properly participate in democracy, students will need to be informed on local, national, and global happenings, and know how to make sense of those events. Through the engaging lens of current events, students would learn how to contextualize and analyze current events, and then form opinions on them. If we are to grow up and become useful members of our communities, we need to make sure that we have these skills.

Moreover, many students rely on their parents and close friends for their opinions because they may not have the time nor the knowledge to form their own. The school should not avoid discussing topics simply because they are controversial — in a classroom setting where a diverse range of opinions is expressed, we have a chance to help students break away from their parents’ and friends’ mold.

PHS should encourage students to express their opinions and tell them how to act on those opinions. Take the Ukraine crisis. Where can students donate? How can they raise awareness? Although there is little PHS can actually do to bring the war to a halt, it can help to provide relief to those caught in the conflict and to give students more peace of mind. In order for the school to give students a voice, it first has to tell them how to use that voice to create real change.

PHS is always working towards creating a safe environment for students to express their identities and opinions. Integrating current events into the curriculum would bring us closer to that goal, while also increasing student engagement and nurturing essential life skills. We can start by taking a few class periods to talk over the war in Ukraine, but there are so many other global catastrophes and controversies to be discussed and debated. If PHS wants to help students find their voices and speak out for their beliefs, it needs to teach current events.

The Tower

Kai Wilhelm's Work

The Tower