De-woke schooling: Send the DEI trainers on a one-way 'privilege walk'

Pennsylvania educators will not have to affirm their belief in microaggressions, implicit bias or the illegitimacy of "economic, political, and social power structures." To settle a lawsuit, the state education department has rescinded its "culturally relevant and sustaining" guidelines.

First issued in November 2022, the guidelines required allegiance to "highly ideological beliefs about contentious social and political issues," argued the Thomas More Society, which sued on behalf of three school districts and a group of parents and students. The settlement is a victory against "woke" activism, said Thomas Breth, special counsel for the society.

Credit: Sheboygan County Patriot Parents Association

Americans are pushing back against "progressive nostrums regarding racial identity, diversity, equity, social justice, gender, and inclusion," writes Rick Hess in Education Week.

It's not a right-wing culture war. It's the Revolt of the Normies. They want public schools to reflect community values.

Many teachers, school leaders and even some professors reject progressive dogmas, but are afraid to say so, writes Hess. They don't agree that the slogan “work hard, be nice” is a product of white supremacy culture, that race-segregated affinity groups are a way to promote inclusion, or that schools advance equity by eliminating honors classes or graduation requirements."

Average Americans of all races and ethnicities don't agree with the views and values promoted by DEI trainers, Hess writes.

"Ordinary Americans are tired of being called racist, sexist, and transphobic," wrote Brianna Wu of the progressive Rebellion PAC, in bemoaning Trump's victory.

The way forward, writes Hess, is for schools to rebuild trust with parents and other community members. (He doesn't say this exactly, but "fire all the DEI consultants" would be a great first step. I envision a one-way "privilege walk" to oblivion.)

"When parents express concerns about inappropriate materials in a middle school library or one’s daughter being at risk when playing field hockey," they should be treated as concerned parents, Hess writes, not "dismissed as book banners or transphobes."

"Most Americans think their nation is a grand place and that most Americans are good people," he writes. That includes 90 percent of white conservatives, 70 percent of Latinos, and nearly 60 percent of Black respondents -- but only 30 percent of white progressives -- who say the United States is the greatest country in the world.

But DEI trainers and "equity" lessons promote "a mindset that regards pride in the American story as evidence of ignorance and simple-mindedness," he writes. “America sucks” has "the luster of sophistication." Perhaps that's "why less than a third of U.S. high school seniors think their nation is the best country in the world," writes Hess. America's public schools should "honor the shared views and values" of Americans.