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On Feb. 12, the Ohio Senate voted 21-11 to pass Senate Bill 1, a complete overhaul of the education system in the state.
According to the authors of the legislation, the goal of it is for students to “reach their own conclusions about all controversial beliefs or policies and shall not seek to indoctrinate any social, political or religious point of view.”
The bill bans diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, prevents teachers and administrators from striking and sets rules and restrictions for classroom discussions. This legislation also puts diversity scholarships in immediate danger, shortens university board of trustees terms from nine years down to six and requires all students to take an American history course.
In classroom discussions, topics such as climate change and climate policy, electoral politics, foreign policy, diversity and inclusion programs, immigration policy, marriage or abortion will be banned. Any mention of left leaning ideology, history of America that does not paint the US in good light, gender or sexual orientation would be reported to school administrators.
When asked about the legislation, Senator Jerry Cirino, R-Kirtland, who introduced the legislation in January of this year, said, “A lot of it is related to making sure that diversity of thought is practiced as a policy in our universities and community colleges.”
In no way does this legislation encourage diversity of thought, but rather squashes it out entirely. Any government that strives to silence the voices of its opposition, especially to the extent that we are seeing before our very eyes, is a fascist government.
Once the Nazi Party rose to power in Germany, they ensured that no one was speaking about any sort of ideas that may be a threat to the regime, going so far as to round up books to be burned. While we are not seeing literal book burnings yet, the Republican Party is banning books at the state level in multiple states.
While simultaneously calling for the end of censorship, the Trump-Musk administration and its state level loyalists are turning around and enacting the very thing they swore to end. This bill is the legal censorship of all views, conversations and beliefs that President Trump sees as threats to his regime.
This is not only an infringement on the First Amendment rights guaranteed to all Americans, but this is an outright government overstep. In a democratic country, the government does not ban books or ideologies, this happens under the guise of fascism.
Ohio is opening the door for other states to follow in its footsteps, with more and more states censoring the education of their citizens so as to return America to an imaginary state. In order to tell the whole truth about the history of our country, the most uncomfortable periods for white Americans to talk about are the most important. From slavery, to Jim Crow, to the modern prison and police system, this country was built on and is perpetuated by racism and white supremacy.
While they can be difficult to discuss, these horrors must never be forgotten, or else we are doomed to repeat history.
We, as the American people, must stand up to authoritarian leaders, especially those who are so fond of Nazi ideology. Fascism has no place here, and we must not allow our leaders to continue to violate the rights that this country was built on.
By passing this bill, Republicans have dealt the lethal blow to higher education in the state of Ohio. The effects of this legislation will be felt for years to come and will certainly be looked back on in shame.
Jackson Small is a columnist. Contact him at [email protected].