MIAMI — When she visited Florida Polytechnic University with a group of girls from her middle school class last month, Sarah imagined herself in college learning how to use the beakers and Bunsen burners she saw while touring the chemistry lab.
As a sixth grader, Sarah was at the age when studies show girls first start to fall behind in fields of science and technology — a trend that continues into college and the workforce. The day her class spent on campus commemorating the International Day of Women and Girls in Science by building catapults out of plastic spoons was supposed to encourage the students to break the trend.
That mission earned the annual event a spot on a blacklist of university and college programs that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis describes as “discriminatory” efforts, which, he joked, have the same educational value as a degree in “Zombie Studies.”
