Civics education will be expanded in Florida, including instruction about communist and totalitarian governments, and state universities will be prevented from quashing conservative ideology under bills Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed Tuesday. DeSantis signed three bills at a Lee County middle school, two of which dealt with civics education, the other guaranteeing the freedom of expression at state universities.

DeSantis said students need to be taught that communist and totalitarian governments are evil. “Why would somebody flee across shark infested waters, say leaving from Cuba, to come to southern Florida? Why would somebody leave a place like Vietnam? Why would people leave these countries and risk their life to be able to come here? DeSantis said. ”It’s important that students understand that.”

The new law will require the development of a K-12 civics curriculum that, among other things, would include “portraits in patriotism” that tell the personal stories of civic-mindedness. Among those stories will be “first-person accounts of victims of other nations’ governing philosophies who can compare those philosophies with those of the United States.”