Wokeness now pervades our societal structures. With its close relative cancel culture, wokeness is now worn as a badge of honor among those who wish to be thought of as politically correct.
Woke people and woke organizations are represented as being more concerned about social and racial justice than anyone else. (It's not true, but it's what they'd like everyone to believe). The in-your-face way in which this is being pushed almost demands a response from those who disagree.
Find presented here ways to protect children from wokeness, lessons on social identity, emotional learning, critical race theory, cultural competency, or whatever the nom du jour...
From a New York Post article:"The woke hold that our society is fundamentally unjust and that we must always strive for greater justice. In practice, it translates into abject foolishness, such as the charge that math is racist."
Wait. What? Math? 1 + 1? Is racist? You're kidding, right?
On Wokeness and Social Emotional Learning
In an excellent article published in the Daily Signal, author Nicole Solas explains a bit about the wokeness that has crept into today's classrooms, and what parents can do to protect their kids from it.
Can you imagine having to talk about your sex life at work to establish workplace collegiality? Divulging personal information should not be a prerequisite to learning history. School is for academic instruction, not group therapy.
But that's exactly what social and emotional learning facilitates -- a navel-gazing, emotional environment that pretends to enhance learning when really it distracts from it.
Some approaches to social and emotional learning seem to focus on helping children manage their emotions and make important decisions, but children primarily look to their parents for these important life skills, rather than government employees.
Social and emotional learning and critical race theory programs claim to make children "feel safe," but often these pedagogies make children feel vulnerable and disoriented so that the child will cling to whatever the teacher prescribes to extinguish the social anxiety created by social and emotional learning in the first place. The result is inappropriate emotional bonds forged in place of healthy professional relationships and academic pursuits.
To combat this, teach your child that his personal information is private and he is not allowed to share it in formal instruction at school. If asked about his identity, instruct your child to give one response, "I feel unsafe talking about that." Also, any survey with invasive questions given without parental consent is a violation of the Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment and you should file a complaint here.
Opt your child out of surveys and submit public records requests for all surveys and critical race theory/social and emotional learning materials. Here is an example request.
Talk to your child about his identity before government employees do. View the social and emotional learning program at school to understand the anti-parent rhetoric you must counter at home.
These programs are not compatible with religions that believe the most important identity comes from God and is greater than any immutable characteristic. Talk to teachers about your religion to preempt problems in the classroom.
If you feel that your school is attempting to indoctrinate your child about his social identity, you are not alone. And you have options.
You can invoke opt-out laws if they exist in your state, report your concern to the school board, or contact a public-interest legal group for free legal advice.
Remember that public school is the government, which cannot compel speech, invade privacy, violate your religion, or discriminate. Legal action is the only effective way to stop school indoctrination.
You can also unenroll your child from the offending school. Many parents have already made the difficult choice to disenroll from woke public schools and either homeschool, pay for private school, or use an education freedom program to cover education expenses. [Editors note: there is no school choice program in California that would help to cover education expenses. Refer to the California School Choice Roadmap for information abou educational options in California.] The takeover of many public schools by left-wing interests demonstrates more than ever the importance of school choice.
If you don't insulate your child against woke indoctrination, public school will insulate them against your values instead.
Parents, please take that warning to heart. Remember, you have the ultimate say over what your children are exposed to in the classroom. If you don't like some political ideology that is being taught as "the norm", do not sit idely by. Make a call to the school. Make some noise. Take it up with the schoolboard. The power is yours, so please make use of it.