I cannot think of a single thing to add to this miserable analysis of a phenomenon that has turned into a dire social evil that must be fought off by any means, if that is the only way left to stop a contagion that is wrecking the lives and the culture of everyone it touches, including its deluded acolytes.
I too am a recovered Marxist from the 1960s, and like you, I have painfully been through the baloney that was and is 'progressive' education. I wish it had some redeeming pedagogical features, but alas, none exist.
The ideological nonsense I imbibed as a student teacher damaged my performance as a teacher in ways that I was never able to recover from. I learned more about instruction in the army (the weekend warriors) than I ever learned at uni.
If I had been an academic responsible for my performance in the education course that allowed me to practice as a teacher, I would have failed me. It was that bad.
Pedagogy has become a real mess, as has its capacity for the most elementary governance necessary to teach/learn anything. It is such a dreadful tragedy that it has come to this.
It is truly frightening what is happening in schools today and what has been happening for some time. All you have to do is look at the twenty-somethings who have no issues with transgender extremism, believing the entire white race is evil and racist, that the world is going to burn up due to climate change and it's because of the greedy west, and nothing to do with China or India's ongoing building of coal fired energy plants, and their complete and utter hatred of their own race and country. These are products of the first found of the 'new' education system. I fear what the next round will look like given they will likely be even greater zealots to all of ths, unless something is done to stop this insanity.
Thank you. I've been thinking more about a decline in the confidence in our own culture, as something not worth transmitting to the next generation.. i suppose its similar to national pride. This causes appreciation and gratitude to dwindle.
Dan Clemens is everything that K-12 education needs. I love his essay. I never realized before that Rousseau, Dewey, Freire we’re an evil triumvirate because they challenged the transformational value of education itself, without authoritarian or woke leaders who manipulate children for their own ends.
" ‘They’ never championed or openly fought for these changes to education in the public square, they just did them, hiding them in plain sight in postmodern/post structural academic jargon or feel-good slogans. They never made a public case for why we need to adopt DEI, or CRT, or SEL – never tried to persuade the public because a) they’re unpopular ideas and b) they know best. They’ll make these major changes, in secret, as the silent ascendancy of a new ethos (see below) aka institutional capture via the long march through the institutions. They don’t need to struggle to make changes in an open, adversarial and above-board policy debate by stating their vision and making their case because they have the inside track: direct access to the next generation(s)."
I will add to this point--that expertise and unearned authority was a big lever--that I think moral intimidation played a big role in the success of the SC approach. To defend TC against their hollow man marked you not only as a troglodyte, but a heretic, oblivious of the "harm" TC is said to cause.
Yes, 'knowing your stuff' as a teacher was deemphasized.. in one way this allowed for the rise in activism ("Change") over academics and therapeutics (love your students that's what counts) over discipline
My advice to parents today is remove your children from those schools and if you are unable to provide them with a private school education that does not teach those woke ideas then home school them. Protect your children from perverts and online literature that is from the lgbtq2spirits community and any library that carries pornographic material like that taught in schools today. Let common sense guide you in raising your children with good core values and strong skills in math reading & writing the sciences and understanding of History as it happened.
That will prepare them for adult life without interference from total strangers that do not have their best interest at heart.
This raises a different problem too for the woke, and speaks to their real commitments. Well off or well educated Parents can compensate for weak curricula, their kids will be ok. But its the lowest income or disadvantaged home who depend on public Ed to give them a fighting chance, and these new initiatives are done in their name while hurting them the most - lacking those tools to compensate for weak (or even obscene) public ed. And they have no way to pull their kids out and pay for private school.
Hello Dan: Overall this piece is important and useful as it presents an insiders view of the subversion of Western education. You do the reader the service of clearly identifying your former ideological persuasion when you subtitle the article "Insights from an international educator and recovered Marxist." You describe what is obviously a nakedly political and subversive (you say "silent" i.e. secretive) agenda in education instigated by such influential radical pedagogists as Paulo Friere. It is now only silent or secretive in that intellectuals repeated demur on the matter of naming the ideology involved, but it is hardly hidden anymore and if it is, it is hidden in plain sight - it is the dominant educational mode everywhere in the West now, as you know! Hence, you might bring further illumination to this issue by dropping your description of these actors as "they" and naming their ideology with the same clarity with which you name your own former ideology: they are Marxist educators. For convenience, one can simple reference Friere's wikipedia entry: "Paulo Freire contributed a philosophy of education which blended classical approaches stemming from Plato and modern Marxist, post-Marxist, and anti-colonialist thinkers." Or with more effort one can reference Gottesman's book "The Critical Turn in Education..." in which the author lovingly chronicles the subversion of Western education and gives pride of place to Friere. The problem with Marxist educational ideology, the greatest problem with it among many, many outrageous faults, is that it reimagines (and brings into being) the school as "site of struggle," that is, as a "space" in which to unleash one's illiberal political agenda into the impressionable minds of the liberated and free youth. Any reconceptualization of the school as political playground is a gross and intolerable enslavement of education, that should be obvious to even the casual observer. They (yes, the Marxists) move to pervert the youth because they cannot controvert the principled free West by any other means. The only shocking aspect of any of this is that we have been stupid enough to let it happen!
Great commentary and well taken advice. Thank you. I intend to address the problem/solution with more precision in future writings. Yes, to your past point we have been stupid. And I keep thinking about this as a modern problem and then a postmodern calamity. The lack of confidence in the value of our culture as it manifests in education and causes cultural decline while a more energetic (marxist) vanguard swoops in.
I cannot think of a single thing to add to this miserable analysis of a phenomenon that has turned into a dire social evil that must be fought off by any means, if that is the only way left to stop a contagion that is wrecking the lives and the culture of everyone it touches, including its deluded acolytes.
"The Dangerous Rise of Therapeutic Education," an apt title for the book that was referenced here. An acquaintance who worked as a noon hour supervisor relates this anecdotal tale: She summoned kids (about 9 yrs. old) playing out of bounds close to the main road "You boys need to be back in the schoolgrounds." One kid said "You're not supposed to call us boys." She said "Well, you are a boy." The kid told her "Well, maybe I'm not." This teacher went up to the kids, gestured to each one and said "You are a boy, and you are a boy, and you are a boy." She got them away from the road. The principal called her in the next day, not to praise her for having the boys move away from a dangerous situation, but to lecture her on why she should not use the terms "boy," and "girl" to describe students. He told her that they don't use those terms directly, they have to ask the person what "they" like to be called. The woman was very much taken aback, said she could not abide by "this craziness," and put in her resignation not long after. She was close to retirement, so she just bumped it up a ways. Informative article, Dan.
This to me has less room do with any legitimate gender concern and everything to do with mechanisms that allow for power reversals. The boys in your anecdote knew they could be the ones who get the grownup in trouble, and this is a real thrill. And the principal reinforced it. This is dysfunctional. Because it really only hurts these kids, by denying them a stable "maturer generation" of adults working together to maintain reasonable standards. Its an invitation to hooliganism
Thank you! Seeing the exact same phenomenon in blue state USA. I teach English as a second language so my students' families are recent immigrants and would not be on board with the woke agenda their kids are being taught in school, but they don't know because it's being snuck in under the guise of anti-racism and gay rights. Family empowerment was always a big focus of my role, but now the younger woke vanguard teachers see themselves as protecting students *from* their families and keeping secrets for them. It's absolutely indoctrination. Families are not aware because mainstream media lies, insisting like a mantra that CRT is not being taught. If I say anything I will be destroyed as a TERF, Karen, racist, Nazi. My union (NEA) is a big part of the problem and would not protect my freedom of speech. It's heartbreaking to see my profession discredited and to lose the trust of families who value education. Most have no other option but public schools. For now I'm biding my time and looking for an effective way to break through the nonsense without losing my livelihood. Thinking of a class action lawsuit against the union for misuse of our dues!
Yes. Don't let them destroy you. I don't know how,.specifically, but find the local and broader community who share your concern. And you can be a guide to others too. Educators against re-education need to have each other's backs.
Many interesting and important points. I wonder if you could expand on the meaning in “Much later did it occur to me that transferring or transmitting knowledge was the heart of education.” Many of us (including me) believe the most important knowledge to be transmitted is HOW to think, not what to think. In other words: critical thinking and analytical skills. So while there is much (true not false) information that needs to be learned, that’s not always the core of it. Could you clarify your thoughts on this.
That is a good point. I believe there must be a balance. Without a baseline of knowledge, it is difficult to think critically. A child needs guidance and boundaries. Their brains are not as developed for analytical and critical thinking until they become teenagers. As the child becomes older and gains more basic knowledge, the ability to think critically and analytically rises, and can be developed by a good teacher. The irony is that in current education practices, children ARE told what to think, for example, that there are no sexes and a person can identify either as a boy or girl or in between, that the people formerly known as pioneers were colonialist settlers, that Canada was a Garden of Eden before the arrival of the Europeans, that Indigenous wisdom is as valid as Scientific reasoning, etc.
My dear Dan, you have got it all in one.
I cannot think of a single thing to add to this miserable analysis of a phenomenon that has turned into a dire social evil that must be fought off by any means, if that is the only way left to stop a contagion that is wrecking the lives and the culture of everyone it touches, including its deluded acolytes.
I too am a recovered Marxist from the 1960s, and like you, I have painfully been through the baloney that was and is 'progressive' education. I wish it had some redeeming pedagogical features, but alas, none exist.
The ideological nonsense I imbibed as a student teacher damaged my performance as a teacher in ways that I was never able to recover from. I learned more about instruction in the army (the weekend warriors) than I ever learned at uni.
If I had been an academic responsible for my performance in the education course that allowed me to practice as a teacher, I would have failed me. It was that bad.
Pedagogy has become a real mess, as has its capacity for the most elementary governance necessary to teach/learn anything. It is such a dreadful tragedy that it has come to this.
Thanks for the truth telling Dan.
Mutual admiration sir, you too have got it all in one whereby I cannot think of a single thing to add!
It is truly frightening what is happening in schools today and what has been happening for some time. All you have to do is look at the twenty-somethings who have no issues with transgender extremism, believing the entire white race is evil and racist, that the world is going to burn up due to climate change and it's because of the greedy west, and nothing to do with China or India's ongoing building of coal fired energy plants, and their complete and utter hatred of their own race and country. These are products of the first found of the 'new' education system. I fear what the next round will look like given they will likely be even greater zealots to all of ths, unless something is done to stop this insanity.
Thank you. I've been thinking more about a decline in the confidence in our own culture, as something not worth transmitting to the next generation.. i suppose its similar to national pride. This causes appreciation and gratitude to dwindle.
Dan Clemens is everything that K-12 education needs. I love his essay. I never realized before that Rousseau, Dewey, Freire we’re an evil triumvirate because they challenged the transformational value of education itself, without authoritarian or woke leaders who manipulate children for their own ends.
Thanks so much for your kind words sir. More writing to come!
Excellent piece, Dan.
" ‘They’ never championed or openly fought for these changes to education in the public square, they just did them, hiding them in plain sight in postmodern/post structural academic jargon or feel-good slogans. They never made a public case for why we need to adopt DEI, or CRT, or SEL – never tried to persuade the public because a) they’re unpopular ideas and b) they know best. They’ll make these major changes, in secret, as the silent ascendancy of a new ethos (see below) aka institutional capture via the long march through the institutions. They don’t need to struggle to make changes in an open, adversarial and above-board policy debate by stating their vision and making their case because they have the inside track: direct access to the next generation(s)."
I will add to this point--that expertise and unearned authority was a big lever--that I think moral intimidation played a big role in the success of the SC approach. To defend TC against their hollow man marked you not only as a troglodyte, but a heretic, oblivious of the "harm" TC is said to cause.
Yes, 'knowing your stuff' as a teacher was deemphasized.. in one way this allowed for the rise in activism ("Change") over academics and therapeutics (love your students that's what counts) over discipline
My advice to parents today is remove your children from those schools and if you are unable to provide them with a private school education that does not teach those woke ideas then home school them. Protect your children from perverts and online literature that is from the lgbtq2spirits community and any library that carries pornographic material like that taught in schools today. Let common sense guide you in raising your children with good core values and strong skills in math reading & writing the sciences and understanding of History as it happened.
That will prepare them for adult life without interference from total strangers that do not have their best interest at heart.
This raises a different problem too for the woke, and speaks to their real commitments. Well off or well educated Parents can compensate for weak curricula, their kids will be ok. But its the lowest income or disadvantaged home who depend on public Ed to give them a fighting chance, and these new initiatives are done in their name while hurting them the most - lacking those tools to compensate for weak (or even obscene) public ed. And they have no way to pull their kids out and pay for private school.
Hello Dan: Overall this piece is important and useful as it presents an insiders view of the subversion of Western education. You do the reader the service of clearly identifying your former ideological persuasion when you subtitle the article "Insights from an international educator and recovered Marxist." You describe what is obviously a nakedly political and subversive (you say "silent" i.e. secretive) agenda in education instigated by such influential radical pedagogists as Paulo Friere. It is now only silent or secretive in that intellectuals repeated demur on the matter of naming the ideology involved, but it is hardly hidden anymore and if it is, it is hidden in plain sight - it is the dominant educational mode everywhere in the West now, as you know! Hence, you might bring further illumination to this issue by dropping your description of these actors as "they" and naming their ideology with the same clarity with which you name your own former ideology: they are Marxist educators. For convenience, one can simple reference Friere's wikipedia entry: "Paulo Freire contributed a philosophy of education which blended classical approaches stemming from Plato and modern Marxist, post-Marxist, and anti-colonialist thinkers." Or with more effort one can reference Gottesman's book "The Critical Turn in Education..." in which the author lovingly chronicles the subversion of Western education and gives pride of place to Friere. The problem with Marxist educational ideology, the greatest problem with it among many, many outrageous faults, is that it reimagines (and brings into being) the school as "site of struggle," that is, as a "space" in which to unleash one's illiberal political agenda into the impressionable minds of the liberated and free youth. Any reconceptualization of the school as political playground is a gross and intolerable enslavement of education, that should be obvious to even the casual observer. They (yes, the Marxists) move to pervert the youth because they cannot controvert the principled free West by any other means. The only shocking aspect of any of this is that we have been stupid enough to let it happen!
Great commentary and well taken advice. Thank you. I intend to address the problem/solution with more precision in future writings. Yes, to your past point we have been stupid. And I keep thinking about this as a modern problem and then a postmodern calamity. The lack of confidence in the value of our culture as it manifests in education and causes cultural decline while a more energetic (marxist) vanguard swoops in.
My dear Dan, you have got it all in one.
I cannot think of a single thing to add to this miserable analysis of a phenomenon that has turned into a dire social evil that must be fought off by any means, if that is the only way left to stop a contagion that is wrecking the lives and the culture of everyone it touches, including its deluded acolytes.
"The Dangerous Rise of Therapeutic Education," an apt title for the book that was referenced here. An acquaintance who worked as a noon hour supervisor relates this anecdotal tale: She summoned kids (about 9 yrs. old) playing out of bounds close to the main road "You boys need to be back in the schoolgrounds." One kid said "You're not supposed to call us boys." She said "Well, you are a boy." The kid told her "Well, maybe I'm not." This teacher went up to the kids, gestured to each one and said "You are a boy, and you are a boy, and you are a boy." She got them away from the road. The principal called her in the next day, not to praise her for having the boys move away from a dangerous situation, but to lecture her on why she should not use the terms "boy," and "girl" to describe students. He told her that they don't use those terms directly, they have to ask the person what "they" like to be called. The woman was very much taken aback, said she could not abide by "this craziness," and put in her resignation not long after. She was close to retirement, so she just bumped it up a ways. Informative article, Dan.
This to me has less room do with any legitimate gender concern and everything to do with mechanisms that allow for power reversals. The boys in your anecdote knew they could be the ones who get the grownup in trouble, and this is a real thrill. And the principal reinforced it. This is dysfunctional. Because it really only hurts these kids, by denying them a stable "maturer generation" of adults working together to maintain reasonable standards. Its an invitation to hooliganism
Thank you! Seeing the exact same phenomenon in blue state USA. I teach English as a second language so my students' families are recent immigrants and would not be on board with the woke agenda their kids are being taught in school, but they don't know because it's being snuck in under the guise of anti-racism and gay rights. Family empowerment was always a big focus of my role, but now the younger woke vanguard teachers see themselves as protecting students *from* their families and keeping secrets for them. It's absolutely indoctrination. Families are not aware because mainstream media lies, insisting like a mantra that CRT is not being taught. If I say anything I will be destroyed as a TERF, Karen, racist, Nazi. My union (NEA) is a big part of the problem and would not protect my freedom of speech. It's heartbreaking to see my profession discredited and to lose the trust of families who value education. Most have no other option but public schools. For now I'm biding my time and looking for an effective way to break through the nonsense without losing my livelihood. Thinking of a class action lawsuit against the union for misuse of our dues!
Yes. Don't let them destroy you. I don't know how,.specifically, but find the local and broader community who share your concern. And you can be a guide to others too. Educators against re-education need to have each other's backs.
Jack if you're on Twitter plz add me @Rieffian
I agree those less fortunate will suffer the most.
Many interesting and important points. I wonder if you could expand on the meaning in “Much later did it occur to me that transferring or transmitting knowledge was the heart of education.” Many of us (including me) believe the most important knowledge to be transmitted is HOW to think, not what to think. In other words: critical thinking and analytical skills. So while there is much (true not false) information that needs to be learned, that’s not always the core of it. Could you clarify your thoughts on this.
That is a good point. I believe there must be a balance. Without a baseline of knowledge, it is difficult to think critically. A child needs guidance and boundaries. Their brains are not as developed for analytical and critical thinking until they become teenagers. As the child becomes older and gains more basic knowledge, the ability to think critically and analytically rises, and can be developed by a good teacher. The irony is that in current education practices, children ARE told what to think, for example, that there are no sexes and a person can identify either as a boy or girl or in between, that the people formerly known as pioneers were colonialist settlers, that Canada was a Garden of Eden before the arrival of the Europeans, that Indigenous wisdom is as valid as Scientific reasoning, etc.
https://unchanging.substack.com/p/the-critical-thinking-swindle?sd=pf
Well put
finally did! https://unchanging.substack.com/p/the-critical-thinking-swindle?sd=pf
I seriously hope you're willing to read at least 5000 words on the subject. And that you're not the lone reader.