A new set of standards for African American history in Florida schools will teach middle schoolers how enslaved people “developed skills” that could be “applied for personal benefit”. Another guideline instructs high schoolers to be taught that a massacre led by white supremacists against Black residents in Ocoee to stop them from voting in 1920 included “acts of violence perpetrated against and by African Americans.” Members of the Florida Board of Education have defended the standards for African American history lessons they unanimously approved, with Ron DeSantis-appointed board member MaryLynn Magar assuring the attendees at a hearing in Orlando on 19 July that “everything is there” and that “the darkest parts of our history are addressed” in the curriculum. But civil rights advocates, educators and Democratic state lawmakers have warned that elements of the guidelines present a distorted, revisionist picture of the state’s history of racism. “The notion that enslaved people benefitted from being enslaved is inaccurate and a scary standard for us to establish in our education system,” Democratic state Rep Anna Eskamani told the board. State Senator Geraldine Thompson said that a recommendation suggesting that Black people sparked the Ocoee massacre is “blaming the victim”. Ms Thompson helped pass a law in 2020 that requires schools to teach lessons about the massacre. The Florida Education Association, the state’s largest teachers union, said in a statement that the standards represent “a big step backward for a state that has required teaching African American history” for more than three decades. “Our children deserve nothing less than truth, justice, and the equity our ancestors shed blood, sweat, and tears for,” NAACP president Derrick Johnson added in a statement. “It is imperative that we understand that the horrors of slavery and Jim Crow were a violation of human rights and represent the darkest period in American history. We refuse to go back.” The new standards add another victory in the DeSantis administration’s radical education overhaul and a “parents’ rights” agenda that has restricted honest lessons of race and racism in state schools, reshaped local school boards, and banned public colleges from offering classes that “distort significant events” or “teach identity politics”. Florida’s Board of Education also adopted five rules targeting LGBT+ students, including punishing transgender students and staff who use restrooms that align with their gender and add barriers to students who want their names and pronouns respected in and out of the classroom. LGBT+ advocates have accused the board and the governor’s administration of weaponizing state agencies to implement the DeSantis agenda as he mounts a national campaign, fuelled in part by what opponents have called “Don’t Say Gay” legislation adopted by several other states. That bill, which Mr DeSantis signed into law in 2022 and expanded earlier this year, has sparked fears that its broad scope could be used to effectively block discussion of LGBT+ people, history and events from state schools, and threaten schools with potential lawsuits over perceived violations. “This politically motivated war on parents, students, and educators needs to stop,” said Jennifer Solomon with Equality Florida. “Our students deserve classrooms where all families are treated with the respect they deserve and all young people are welcomed,” she said in a statement. “Let parents be parents. Let educators be educators. And stop turning our kids’ classrooms into political battlefields to score cheap points.” The African American history curriculum advanced by the board does not fully adopt the recommendations from the African American History Task Force, which urged the board to consider “contemporary issues impacting Africans and African Americans”. Education Commissioner Manny Diaz defended the standards as an “in-depth, deep dive into African American history, which is clearly American history as Governor DeSantis has said, and what Florida has done is expand it.” Under the new standards, students will be taught to simply “identify” famous Black people, but it fails to add requirements for students to learn about their contributions, challenges and stories overall. “We must do better in offering a curriculum that is both age-appropriate and truthful,” according to Democratic state Rep Dianne Hart, chair of Florida’s Legislative Black Caucus. “Education is a critical part of an individual’s personal foundation and when you chose to build a foundation on falsehoods, lies, or by simply erasing history, you’ve laid a foundation that will ultimately fail,” she said in a statement. The board’s adoption of the standards follow the board’s decision to ban the teaching of Advanced Placement African American Studies in high schools, claiming that the course “significantly lacks educational value” and “inexplicably” contradicted Florida law. A letter dated 12 January from the Florida Department of Education to the College Board, which administers AP exams, said the board is welcome to return to the agency with “lawful, historically accurate content”. Read More DeSantis campaign video crossed a line for gay right-wing pundits despite governor’s record on LGBT+ rights Florida schools remove books by John Milton and Toni Morrison and restrict Shakespeare under DeSantis rules Jury awards Florida girl burned by McDonald's Chicken McNugget $800,000 in damages Florida rulings ease concerns about drag performers at Pride parades, drag queen story hours What are the 10 largest US lottery jackpots ever won?

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Google’s latest Pixel smartphone, unveiled on Wednesday, contains artificial intelligence that is “miles ahead” of its rivals, according to an executive at the company. The Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro use AI in everything from screening spam phone calls to improving the sound quality of calls – all driven by the new Tensor G3 processor. The unveiling of new AI capabilities comes after the tech giant consolidated its DeepMind and Google Brain research units into one division responsible for developing a “general AI”. Michiel van Eldik, Google vice president for devices and services in Europe, said the company’s AI innovations were how it could set itself apart from rivals, and that it gave them an advantage in the hardware business. “We have probably 15 or 20 years of experience in AI, and that’s where we can truly differentiate in the hardware business,” he said. “Our products are on par, if not better, than any other player out there. If you look at RAM, if you look at display, if you look at batteries, for example. So our story today is very much about artificial intelligence. “The message to the user is that we will give you services nobody else has. It’s not about hardware for us any more – it’s about bringing that great innovation that Google has, and the best of Google to the consumers out there.” Google also announced plans to add generative artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities to its virtual assistant, allowing it to do things like help people plan a trip or catch up on emails and then ask follow-up questions. The Alphabet subsidiary said during its hardware event in New York that it plans to add generative AI features from its Bard chatbot into Google’s version of a virtual assistant, that aims to provide personalized help with reasoning and generative capabilities on mobile devices. “(A) whole task is done through a couple of simple questions that you’re asking your assistant, which is, we think, a very, very powerful concept,” said Sissie Hsiao vice president, Google assistant and Bard. Google and other tech companies have been racing to build some form of generative AI into new or existing products. Meta, Amazon and Microsoft have all stepped up efforts this year. The new version of Google’s assistant will have access to a mobile phone’s camera and microphone, and let users input pictures or audio into the large language model to help answer questions, Hsiao said. It will not include revenue generating features, Hsiao said, because Google is still in the “learning phase” with generative AI. “We want to learn how to make a great experience out of this,” the Google vice president said. Google said the new software would be available to its trusted tester program “soon” but did not disclose a general release date. The company plans to release a version for Android and Apple’s mobile operating system, iOS. The unveiling of the Pixel 8 smartphone, seen as one of the main Android rivals to the recently released iPhone 15, comes amid overheating issues with Apple’s flagship phone. Additional reporting from agencies. Read More 10 ways AI will change the world – from curing cancer to wiping out humanity Google Pixel 8 camera will include ‘creepy’ face-changing AI Man drives off bridge ‘following Google Maps’ Google’s powerful ‘Bard’ AI can now get into your email

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