Peggy Noonan’s column Saturday argued that the Democrats need to face down the “Woke.” She refers to the woke education agenda and the woke regime. She claims that her bias is that there should be “two strong parties duking it out.” She does not refer in this column to the departure from support of democracy by the Republicans. The Merriam Webster dictionary defines woke as aware of and actively attentive to important facts and issues (especially issues of racial and social justice). But Noonan defines it differently and claims that the teachers unions and the school boards (who she says are stacked with candidates backed by teachers) adhere to her characterization of woke:
- According to her the woke regime primarily stems from a charge that racial evil was systematically and deliberately embedded long ago by the white patriarchy, in the heart of all American life. Comment: The first part of the sentence surely applies to slavery, not to mention segregation in the south and north (see the work of historian Leon Litwack). Comment 2 “All of American life” Who teaches this?
- “This ugliness thrives undiminished, which justifies all present attempts at eradication.” Comment: Undiminished? “All present attempts” Who teaches this?
- “We are not persons with souls. We are part of identity groups marked by specific traits. We hate each other and must fight each other.’’ [Soul is probably meant by her as a religious term. If so, the denial of a soul cannot constitutionally be taught in the schools because of the Establishment Clause. Shiffrin, The Religious Left and Church/State Relations. It would be the very rare teacher who taught that we do not have souls whatever their personal beliefs. As to the last sentence of the quotation, does she seriously believe this is taught in the public schools? Does she seriously believe that a Democratic politician would have the slightest trouble condemning this as she intimates later in her column.
Noonan leaps over a number of other unilluminating characterizations to this piece of (sorry to say it) ignorance. She says that public-education is a cartel. But there are 50 states and 13 thousand public school districts! American public education is not standardized. Of course, some things are taught everywhere (e.g., don’t take drugs, alas too many students pay little attention), but New York city education is not upstate New York education and both are internally and wildly diverse. Yes, some stupid things about race have been said in and out of schools. Anyone who thinks Lincoln’s statue should be taken down is unworthy of public office and the Democrats should say so. But Noonan’s column suggesting that woke education (as she defines it) dominates the teacher unions or the school boards is as specious as the claim (which she would not make) that the last election was stolen.
For too many years, the Republicans have found an issue that appeals to those with racial prejudice. The Democrats need to publicly acknowledge that the education of our children is a vital and controversial issue. They also need to condemn the Republican emphasis on a specious form of woke education: both its inaccuracy and its motivation. In our public education, decisions are put in the hands of school boards. I was President of the Ithaca City School District Board. Parents appeared before our Board at every meeting. We responded as we thought best: sometimes parents disagreed, but we listened and learned.
I was initially told not to run because (“It’s a thankless job”). It is not. Scores of parents stopped me in the grocery store (this was pre-pandemic) to thank me and to argue in a civil way on behalf of their children. I knew many at Cornell, but few off the east hill (where Cornell sits). That all changed when I joined the school board. Our Board was politically divided in a number of ways. It was not always sunny, but I would encourage people to run for a school board.
Peggy Noonan is certainly not a racist. And her separationist argument is surely right that the Democrats should have no part the kind of woke education she describes. Of course, the Democrats should fight against racial injustice.
Nonetheless, it is shocking to read her fictional account of unions and school boards. A major problem with public education is underfunding; the problem with the teaching of history is not woke education as she defines it; it is the failure to teach history at all in so many districts across the country. In many districts, the teaching of reading and writing is very poor. I would encourage Noonan to focus on the real problems of education or to beat a drum about the threat to the two party system and to our shared values presented by her party, the party that threatens democracy.
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