Dictionaries are illegal in Florida schools?
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Judd Legum, "Florida school district removes dictionaries from libraries, citing law championed by DeSantis", Popular Information 1/10/2024:
The Escambia County School District, located in the Florida panhandle, has removed several dictionaries from its library shelves over concerns that making the dictionaries available to students would violate Florida law. The American Heritage Children's Dictionary, Webster's Dictionary for Students, and Merriam-Webster's Elementary Dictionary are among more than 2800 books that have been pulled from Escambia County school libraries and placed into storage. The Escambia County School District says these texts may violate HB 1069, a bill signed into law by Governor Ron DeSantis (R) in May 2023.
HB 1069 gives residents the right to demand the removal of any library book that "depicts or describes sexual conduct," as defined under Florida law, whether or not the book is pornographic. Rather than considering complaints, the Escambia County School Board adopted an emergency rule last June that required the district's librarians to conduct a review of all library books and remove titles that may violate HB 1069.
Presumably some of those 2800 books will be allowed back in, once they've been checked — but as the article makes clear, the dictionaries are in clear violation of the law, since their entries define (some senses of) words like "sex" in forbidden ways.
Reading that article, I was struck by an interesting potential connection with international politics and approaches to the development of AI.
Penguin Random House, five authors, two parents of Escambia County students, and the non-profit group PEN America sued the Escambia County School Board last May, alleging that the board's actions violate the First Amendment. […]
Today, there is an important hearing in the case. A federal judge will consider Escambia County's motion to dismiss the complaint. In a brief submitted by the State of Florida in support of Escambia, Attorney General Ashley Moody argued that the school board could ban books for any reason because the purpose of public school libraries is to "convey the government’s message," and that can be accomplished through "the removal of speech that the government disapproves."
Manya Koetse, "In the race for AI supremacy, China and the US are travelling on entirely different tracks", The Guardian 1/8/2024:
Over the past decade, the focus on AI in Chinese society and digital culture has grown. Since the Covid-19 outbreak, AI implementations in schools, office buildings and factories have rolled out in fast forward. […]
AI facial recognition is employed in everything from public security to payment technology; smart glasses and helmets make it easier for many workers to perform their tasks; and intelligent robots have become a common sight in China’s service industry, in malls, restaurants, and banks.
There seemed little doubt over who would win the tech race between the eagle and the dragon; but then came ChatGPT.
It took months for China to launch its own alternative, models that seemed to lag behind their western variants in multiple ways. Even the minister of science and technology acknowledged that China’s chatbots were struggling against their US competition and Chinese internet users were left asking why – given that China was meant to dominate the AI era.
Experts and bloggers proposed different answers: some suggested China was not the first to launch a ChatGPT-like product because tech startups in China tend to focus on fast applications rather than lengthy research and development. Others said that language model training in China was harder due to the rich and complex nature of the language.
But many seemed to agree that it was the political sensitivities and the Chinese online environment – which is closely monitored and subjected to censorship – making development of ChatGPT-like platforms more challenging in China.
In the summer of 2023, Chinese authorities proposed rules for generative AI, mandating that AI-generated content, whether images or text, must align with the “core values of socialism” and must not undermine state authority, harm national unity or spread false information.
So, "convey the government's message" — though it's a different government and a different message.
Presumably access to LLMs will also be banned in Florida schools, since they can't be relied on to convey (what the current state administration defines as) "the government's message".
Philip Taylor said,
January 10, 2024 @ 11:31 am
In view of the fact that I cannot imagine any regular reader of / contributor to Language Log being in favour of removing dictionaries and encyclopædias from school libraries, I will pass over that and comment solely on the notice informing pupils (and others) that all classroom libraries and social media centres are closed [for the foreseeable future]. What the notice actually says is that "All classroom libraries & social media centers are closed indefinately". One can only assume that the author of the notice decided to eschew the reading of dictionaries in his/her early youth in anticipation of this legislation being passed at some point in the future …
M said,
January 10, 2024 @ 12:40 pm
Ultraconservative homeschoolers in the United States use a reprint of the 1828 edition of Noah Webster's An American Dictionary of the English Language because of its many quotations from the Christian Bible.
Cervantes said,
January 10, 2024 @ 2:43 pm
Reading the language of the statute, it is incontrovertible that they also need to ban the Bible.
Jamie said,
January 10, 2024 @ 3:00 pm
@Cervantes I’m sure I have seen a report of at least one case of the Bible being challenged under these rules
J.W. Brewer said,
January 10, 2024 @ 3:21 pm
I am not familiar with _Popular Information_ and its reliability as a source, but other sources that seem reliable to me say that Florida has a total of 67 counties. Are we to draw an inference from silence that none of the other 66 counties* have interpreted the same state statute to require what Escambia County is allegedly doing in alleged conformity with the statute?
Just as one datapoint situating Escambia County politically, well over 33 of those other 66 counties gave a higher percentage of their vote to the GOP ticket in the 2020 presidential election than did Escambia County, although it is also plausible given the region and its demographics that many of the county's Democratic voters are not particularly enthusiastic about "sexually explicit" (however defined) materials in public school libraries.
For arguably similar story from last year with different apparent political valence, see https://www.deseret.com/2023/9/20/23881250/canada-public-school-book-ban
*I'm assuming for simplicity's sake that Florida, like many other southern states, administers K-12 education at the county level not via school districts that are smaller than counties.
Chester Draws said,
January 10, 2024 @ 3:50 pm
A significant difference is the scope of the bans though.
Dictionaries are in no danger of being forbidden in the US. Indeed, the current actions are people deliberately pushing back at badly worded (and thought through) legislation — and so the Bible has indeed been challenged. It will settle down, quickly enough.
China not only has some bans on the scope of AI, they apply to everything and everywhere.
Mark Liberman said,
January 10, 2024 @ 4:07 pm
@J.W. Brewer: "Are we to draw an inference from silence that none of the other 66 counties have interpreted the same state statute to require what Escambia County is allegedly doing in alleged conformity with the statute?"
Challenging of individual books has been going on for a while, in Florida and elsewhere. Apparently the "Let Kids Be Kids" law was signed by DeSantis on 5/17/2023, and has been interpreted by the Escambia authorities to put the shoe on the other foot, so that all books need to be cleared rather than particular books being challenged. The lawsuit under discussion was also filed on 5/17/2023, which presumably is not a coincidence.
It's not clear to me whether other counties are also implementing a requirement to remove all books until they've been cleared, or are waiting to see the outcome of the lawsuit, or what. But other readers may well be better informed.
Seth said,
January 10, 2024 @ 5:45 pm
Old joke: https://quoteinvestigator.com/2013/09/22/improper-search/
"A literary lady expressing to Dr. J. her approbation of his Dictionary and, in particular, her satisfaction at his not having admitted into it any improper words; “No, Madam,” replied he, “I hope I have not daubed my fingers. I find, however that you have been looking for them.”"
J.W. Brewer said,
January 11, 2024 @ 9:42 am
FWIW there was apparently a positive-for-the-plaintiffs decision yesterday in the lawsuit affecting Escambia County's school library policies. https://www.usnews.com/news/us/articles/2024-01-10/federal-lawsuit-against-florida-school-district-that-banned-books-can-move-forward-judge-rules
Terry K. said,
January 11, 2024 @ 12:02 pm
@Philip Taylor
Perhaps it's an American vs British English thing. I see nothing wrong with that use of "indefinitely". Meaning for an indefinite period of time. That is, it's not set when the closure will end. It may or may not open again at some future time, but for not, it's closed.
Kate Bunting said,
January 11, 2024 @ 12:16 pm
@Terry K.
But did you notice the spelling?
Philip Taylor said,
January 11, 2024 @ 12:30 pm
Yes, sorry, I should probably have emboldened only the a of "indefinately", not the whole word.