Read on Twitter
1/
One way that woke activists were able to take over the education system and get away with it was to make the claim, phrased in various different ways, that education is and always has been utterly political.
Woke activists politicizing education,
A thread 🧵
One way that woke activists were able to take over the education system and get away with it was to make the claim, phrased in various different ways, that education is and always has been utterly political.
Woke activists politicizing education,
A thread 🧵
2/
They claim education is always political. This is why you often see articles in academic journals dedicated to education that say thing like: “education is inherently political,” “education was always already political,” “teaching is a political act,” and so on and so fourth.
They claim education is always political. This is why you often see articles in academic journals dedicated to education that say thing like: “education is inherently political,” “education was always already political,” “teaching is a political act,” and so on and so fourth.
3/
As such. Critical Social Justice activists in education set about developing a theory of teaching in which the values, goal, agenda, perspective, worldview, and ideology of Critical Social Justice/wokeness are built into the fabric of how teaching is done.
As such. Critical Social Justice activists in education set about developing a theory of teaching in which the values, goal, agenda, perspective, worldview, and ideology of Critical Social Justice/wokeness are built into the fabric of how teaching is done.
4/
This idea is deeply flawed, but it persists because the woke theorists in education do what woke theorists always do: marry the truth to a lie. So we must pull out the kernal of truth that they have, and divorce it from the lie that they have weaved into their argument.
This idea is deeply flawed, but it persists because the woke theorists in education do what woke theorists always do: marry the truth to a lie. So we must pull out the kernal of truth that they have, and divorce it from the lie that they have weaved into their argument.
5/
in wokeness, “political” does not just refer to things that go on in the political realm, but in fact refers to anything that has an impact on politics, social order, social hierarchies, or who has social power. Anything that has any impact on society is thus “political.”
in wokeness, “political” does not just refer to things that go on in the political realm, but in fact refers to anything that has an impact on politics, social order, social hierarchies, or who has social power. Anything that has any impact on society is thus “political.”
6/
Armed with this view of the world, the woke think that the goal of education is teaching students how to view the world through the lens of Critical Social Justice/wokeness.
Armed with this view of the world, the woke think that the goal of education is teaching students how to view the world through the lens of Critical Social Justice/wokeness.
7/
The woke theorists have reasoned that if all education is political, then it is a perfectly good move to use the education system to create political activists who will agitate for the preferred political outcomes of the woke left.
The woke theorists have reasoned that if all education is political, then it is a perfectly good move to use the education system to create political activists who will agitate for the preferred political outcomes of the woke left.
8/
Woke education theorists believe that k-12 classroom is and ought to be the "site of political struggle." They believe that the k-12 classroom is and ought to be a battlefield where the political war over the mind of children ought to occur.
Woke education theorists believe that k-12 classroom is and ought to be the "site of political struggle." They believe that the k-12 classroom is and ought to be a battlefield where the political war over the mind of children ought to occur.
9/
They think that children ought to be taught the woke political worldview right from the get go. There is a reason why Ibram X. Kendi wrote a book called “Anti-Racist Baby”; because even babies are not to young to be socialized into woke ideology.
They think that children ought to be taught the woke political worldview right from the get go. There is a reason why Ibram X. Kendi wrote a book called “Anti-Racist Baby”; because even babies are not to young to be socialized into woke ideology.
10/
they believe it is appropriate to get children to accept and internalize woke ideology. For this reason one criteria for successful teaching according to wokeness is the degree to which they succeed in using the classroom to create the political change they want.
they believe it is appropriate to get children to accept and internalize woke ideology. For this reason one criteria for successful teaching according to wokeness is the degree to which they succeed in using the classroom to create the political change they want.
11/
the reason this argument has gotten traction in spite of it falseness is that The Critical Social Justice scholars are trading on an ambiguity in the word political. There is a legitimate way ( in a benign and obvious sense) in which education is in a way political:
the reason this argument has gotten traction in spite of it falseness is that The Critical Social Justice scholars are trading on an ambiguity in the word political. There is a legitimate way ( in a benign and obvious sense) in which education is in a way political:
12/
We have to choose what will be taught is school, how it will be funded, how it schools will be set up, ets. In the sense of “education decisions are made by elected official which we can throw out of office if we don’t like their decisions,” education is political.
We have to choose what will be taught is school, how it will be funded, how it schools will be set up, ets. In the sense of “education decisions are made by elected official which we can throw out of office if we don’t like their decisions,” education is political.
13/
This is not how the woke see education. They see education as a place of political struggle and political battlefield where they are entitled to try to advance their political ideology by indoctrinating their students into wokeness.
This is not how education should be done.
This is not how the woke see education. They see education as a place of political struggle and political battlefield where they are entitled to try to advance their political ideology by indoctrinating their students into wokeness.
This is not how education should be done.
14/
Most people see education as the place where children are taught the skills required to make it in the larger world. The goal of the teacher is to teach children reading, writing, arithmetic, critical thinking, and civics (how our liberal democracy is supposed to function).
Most people see education as the place where children are taught the skills required to make it in the larger world. The goal of the teacher is to teach children reading, writing, arithmetic, critical thinking, and civics (how our liberal democracy is supposed to function).
15/
With all that on the table we can highlight some of the problems with the woke view of education.
The first objection to woke education theory comes to us (again) from John Searle who wrote this about the challenges to the liberal vision of education:
With all that on the table we can highlight some of the problems with the woke view of education.
The first objection to woke education theory comes to us (again) from John Searle who wrote this about the challenges to the liberal vision of education:
16/
This is exactly correct. It does not follow from the fact that everything might have unintended political consequences that the criteria for education assessment is political. Politicizing educations turns university classrooms into factories of political indoctrination.
This is exactly correct. It does not follow from the fact that everything might have unintended political consequences that the criteria for education assessment is political. Politicizing educations turns university classrooms into factories of political indoctrination.
17/
Even if I accepted everything was political in the way they say it is, they still need to provide an argument for why woke politics ought to be the politics taught to children. But the woke can’t make an objective argument in favor of injecting their politics into classrooms
Even if I accepted everything was political in the way they say it is, they still need to provide an argument for why woke politics ought to be the politics taught to children. But the woke can’t make an objective argument in favor of injecting their politics into classrooms
18/
The woke have accepted a postmodern view of the world which makes nearly everything about power and self-interest. If everything is really mask for political power, self-interest, cultural biases, hidden agendas, power-seeking, and clout chasing, then any argument the woke… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…
The woke have accepted a postmodern view of the world which makes nearly everything about power and self-interest. If everything is really mask for political power, self-interest, cultural biases, hidden agendas, power-seeking, and clout chasing, then any argument the woke… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…
19/
A second problem that arises for woke theorists comes from their adoption of postmodernism. One of the most radical Critical Theorists of education, Henry Giroux, writes this in speaking about his friend and mentor, the Marxist critical theorist Paulo Freire:
A second problem that arises for woke theorists comes from their adoption of postmodernism. One of the most radical Critical Theorists of education, Henry Giroux, writes this in speaking about his friend and mentor, the Marxist critical theorist Paulo Freire:
20/
Giroux highlights three things that are very important in the work of Freire:
1. No transcendent ethics
2. No epistemological foundations
3. No political teleology.
Giroux highlights three things that are very important in the work of Freire:
1. No transcendent ethics
2. No epistemological foundations
3. No political teleology.
21.
The problem with having no transcendent ethics is that if there is no transcendent standard of right and wrong Freire has no objective reason why we should accept his moral prescriptions. By what standard does Freire make his moral judgements, and should we accept them?
The problem with having no transcendent ethics is that if there is no transcendent standard of right and wrong Freire has no objective reason why we should accept his moral prescriptions. By what standard does Freire make his moral judgements, and should we accept them?
22/
If Freire accepts that there are no epistemic foundations which anchor knowledge claims then we have no reason to accept Freire’s claims about education, society, truth, knowledge, democracy, or anything else. Put simply, Freire is making a number of truth claim while denying… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…
If Freire accepts that there are no epistemic foundations which anchor knowledge claims then we have no reason to accept Freire’s claims about education, society, truth, knowledge, democracy, or anything else. Put simply, Freire is making a number of truth claim while denying… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…
23/
Freire has his own political program with its own goals and ends, and he asks that we all participate in achieving these goal and ends. He then tells us that there are no transcendant ethics, no epistemological foundations and no political teleology.
Freire has his own political program with its own goals and ends, and he asks that we all participate in achieving these goal and ends. He then tells us that there are no transcendant ethics, no epistemological foundations and no political teleology.
24/
If that’s that case then Freire can provide no objective reason for us to accept his political program, and all the only motivations for accepting his program is subjective moral convictions, naked self-interest, or the pursuit of political power.
If that’s that case then Freire can provide no objective reason for us to accept his political program, and all the only motivations for accepting his program is subjective moral convictions, naked self-interest, or the pursuit of political power.
25/
The objections that Critical Social Justice launches against the liberal vision of education can also be turned back on the woke vision for education. The arguments they use to undermine the liberal vision for education also undermines their own.
The objections that Critical Social Justice launches against the liberal vision of education can also be turned back on the woke vision for education. The arguments they use to undermine the liberal vision for education also undermines their own.
26/
Given that absolute neutrality in the sense of giving every idea and every view equal time is not possible (here are too many ideas and not enough time in a day, or in a lifetime, to give every single idea full and proper treatment) what are we to do?
Given that absolute neutrality in the sense of giving every idea and every view equal time is not possible (here are too many ideas and not enough time in a day, or in a lifetime, to give every single idea full and proper treatment) what are we to do?
27/
We ought to do is give children the skills needed to think about the world and to engage the world thoughfully and carefully with an eye to truth. We want to create a system that incentivizes the search for truth and rewards those who do the best job of pursuing the truth.
We ought to do is give children the skills needed to think about the world and to engage the world thoughfully and carefully with an eye to truth. We want to create a system that incentivizes the search for truth and rewards those who do the best job of pursuing the truth.
28/
We do not want to accept the relativistic and nihilistic claim that all ideas are equally valid and that saying some ideas are better than others is nothing more then a mask for power. What we want to put together the best possible ideas that we can.
We do not want to accept the relativistic and nihilistic claim that all ideas are equally valid and that saying some ideas are better than others is nothing more then a mask for power. What we want to put together the best possible ideas that we can.
29/
If you have given up on saying that some things are better then others, and some things are worse, if you have given up on which work has the quality and which work does not have the quality then you have given up on the whole idea of education.
If you have given up on saying that some things are better then others, and some things are worse, if you have given up on which work has the quality and which work does not have the quality then you have given up on the whole idea of education.
30/
The woke argument for politicizing the classroom rests on the idea that all education is political right to it’s core, and that therefore the primary goal of education is to teach politics. As we have seen, this idea rests on a number of bad and self-refuting arguments.
The woke argument for politicizing the classroom rests on the idea that all education is political right to it’s core, and that therefore the primary goal of education is to teach politics. As we have seen, this idea rests on a number of bad and self-refuting arguments.
31/
The goal is to teach students how to think critically and clearly so they can become competent, thoughtful, productive members of society. Only once they have those skills are they capable of freely engaging in political thought and action in a thoughtful and careful way
The goal is to teach students how to think critically and clearly so they can become competent, thoughtful, productive members of society. Only once they have those skills are they capable of freely engaging in political thought and action in a thoughtful and careful way
32/
The woke have it exactly backwards, truth is not political…Politics is downstream of truth.
The woke have it exactly backwards, truth is not political…Politics is downstream of truth.
33/
I wrote a more detailed version of this essay on Sub/stack, complete with sources!
Please have a read, and support me with a free or paid subscription. I sincerely appreciate it.
Thank you for reading😀😀😀
https://t.co/zF5XJeYX4uopen.substack.com/pub/wokaldista…
I wrote a more detailed version of this essay on Sub/stack, complete with sources!
Please have a read, and support me with a free or paid subscription. I sincerely appreciate it.
Thank you for reading😀😀😀
https://t.co/zF5XJeYX4uopen.substack.com/pub/wokaldista…
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
