The anti-racism curricula increasingly adopted by America’s K-12 schools contain so much misinformation that the growing backlash against them has predictably focused on course content. Teaching children that the U.S. Constitution was designed by whites to enslave minorities, that modern scientific concepts are tainted by racism, that “right” math answers are a slight to people of color, and that the classics of Western literature should be replaced by social justice theory is not how most parents think their children ought to be educated.
Unfortunately, the outrage over subject matter has led even thoughtful observers to overlook the fact that woke curricula involve much more than warped views of history, the scientific method, and social relations — they also employ instructional methods that have been shown to inflict serious psychological harm completely independent of what is being taught. These include the frequent use of shaming, forced public confessions of so-called “privilege,” the acceptance of one’s socioeconomic background as an excuse for not achieving, and the promotion of ideological conformity as the best way to deal with social conflict.
Read Full Article »