A study of 5.6mn courses at nearly 4,000 higher education institutions by Open Syllabus, a non-profit group, shows just 0.08 per cent mention critical race theory (CRT), structural racism, systemic racism or diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI). The share is also very low for other sensitive topics including transgender issues, as well as for related textbooks. The figures cast doubt on the intensifying “anti-woke” criticism of US education by right-wing Republicans, etc
It’s almost like it was all a fabrication to manufacture outrage.
Speaking as a university student, this aligns with what I’ve experienced in an American university. Most classes, however, are about technical subjects completely unrelated to the social concepts in question.
However, I believe part of the reason people think universities are “woke” (and I use this term in its original meaning of “aware of social problems affecting others”) is because a greater proportion of the classes that everyone is required to take will mention and discuss those concepts. Where I’m studying, this is known as the baccalaureate core and everyone must take courses with certain attributes to graduate, which includes a large number of classes discussing systemic racism, difference, power and discrimination, and other similar topics.
It’s not a large percentage of the total number of classes offered by the university, but they are much more likely to be attended by students.
University tends to teach people critical thinking skills. This will often lead them to reject counterfactual claims made by radical ideologies. So obviously the people promoting those radical ideologies will not like that.
This was me. Not that I was racist in any way, but I was brought up with a father that absolutely did not (still does not) think that systemic racism existed, that wokeness was damaging, really that any issues the left focused on were mindless and stupid and damaging.
I went into my first sociology class with that kind of mindset, and the moment I actually started doing research for papers, I realized how wrong I was.
Really the only people who rail against “woke” education are the ones who haven’t gone to college (my dad) or those making money and power from the grift.
Oh dear, looks like you caught the woke mind virus! Because that is basically what it is.
That was not my experience. The classes I was required to take were technical in nature. While I was required to take electives, these could be pretty much anything from computer science to English to foreign policy. The only power dynamics I studied were between nation states.