Several Shakespeare plays use suggestive puns and innuendo,and it is implied that the protagonists have had premarital sex inRomeo and Juliet. Shakespeare’s books will be available for borrowing at media centres at schools,said the district,which covers the Tampa area.
“There’s some raunchiness in Shakespeare,” Joseph Cool,a literacy teacher,told theTampa Bay Times newspaper. “Because that’s what sold tickets during his time.”
“I think the rest of the nation – no,the world – is laughing at us. Taking Shakespeare in its entirety out because the relationship between Romeo and Juliet is somehow exploiting minors is just absurd,” the Gaither High School teacher said.
But the district’s statement said “first and foremost,we have not excluded Shakespeare from our high school curriculum. Students will still have the physical books to read excerpts in class”.
“Curriculum guides are continually reviewed and refined throughout the year to align with state standards and current law.”
The decision in Tampa is the latest fallout from laws passed by Florida’s Republican-controlled Legislature and championed by Republican Governor Ron DeSantis over the past two years. The first law,dubbed “Don’t Say Gay” by critics,was passed last year and prohibited classroom discussion about sexual orientation or gender identity in lower grades.