Recently we have heard about partisans running in Wentzville and Rockwood schools with the purpose of getting a majority of like-minded members on the school boards. A school board campaign to address the local concerns of parents and teachers is consistent with the best democratic traditions. It is only when the language of the candidates sounds like the dog whistles of national campaigns that the autonomy of school boards may be threatened.
According to the National School Board Association:
- The school board represents the community’s voice in public education, providing citizen governance and knowledge of the community’s resources and needs, and board members are the policy-makers closest to the student.
Local autonomy of schools is threatened by national candidates trying to influence policy by a culture-war campaign style. We have seen this style of national intervention from the campaigns of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, Senator Joshua Hawley (R- MO), and Senator J.D. Vance (R- OH) because they don’t trust local citizens to follow their personal political agenda.
Federal officials and candidates for federal office are least equipped to know the needs of local communities, because they don’t live in those communities, and they may not have the interests of those communities at heart. They should not be allowed to dictate the issues and policies that belong to the local school board. Sometimes we recognize their influence by the language used by local candidates.
Language matters: in political campaigns, it doesn’t matter what a word means, but whom it incites to anger. We should expect to hear a lot about “woke” people in upcoming political campaigns, both local and national.
The term “woke” has respectable origins. According to an ABC News article
the term was originally coined by progressive Black Americans and was used in racial justice movements in the early to mid-1900s, including its use in a historical recording of the protest song, “Scottsboro Boys” by Lead Belly. In that recording, it was used as a term about staying aware of the potential for racist violence as a Black person in America.
After decades the term has been popularized by Governor Ron DeSantis as condemnation of progressive politics of any form, but especially those involving gender and racial identity. The problem with all such labels is that they lose their power to describe anyone once they become a term of derision. DeSantis has rolled out the term to attack citizens of Florida who want to defend books and curricula that exhibit LGBTQ identities, so the term has evolved from racial consciousness to describe gender activism.
If the “woke” terminology of Governor DeSantis appears in a local school board election, then we know somebody’s campaign has been orchestrated by dog whistles from above– a national agenda trying to dictate the choices that local voters should make for themselves. The tactic of using national or state politics to meddle with local issues should be resisted. Local voters do not need to be manipulated by national campaigns.
The word “indoctrinate” has become a buzzword for some candidates for describing how the history of race is taught in public schools. The Encyclopedia Britannica gives a lucid definition of “indoctrinate:” : to teach (someone) to fully accept the ideas, opinions, and beliefs of a particular group and to not consider other ideas, opinions, and beliefs
The word “indoctrinate” describes what national politicians and campaigners do when they lay that claim against teachers. They ask their listeners “to not consider other ideas and beliefs” while they are accusing teachers of doing the same.
Meanwhile the Missouri State Social Studies Standards take great pains to require a process of study that includes students thinking for themselves, not to indoctrinate, but to tell students to
•Ask questions: Why? Why there? Why then? What is the impact of…? What is the real story of…? What is the significance of…?•Develop compelling questions and research the past.•Anticipate and utilize the most useful sources to address their questions.•Develop and test claims and counter-claims to address their questions.•Take informed action based on their learning.
Another national theme is the attack on school curricula that might make students feel “uncomfortable.” A regional example:
In October 2021, Republican state Rep. Matt Krause sent a letter to school districts detailing a list of 850 books that he believed “might make students feel discomfort, guilt, anguish, or any other form of psychological distress because of their race or sex.”
Much of the recent state of Missouri legislation about public school curricula declares that students should not feel “uncomfortable” about what they learn. Yet “discomfort” is a goal for learning in many disciplines, especially literature and American history.
Teachers are not trying to avoid “discomfort,” when they teach Huckleberry Finn, but to incite it. Otherwise why would they allow students to read a novel where the N__ word is used in dozens of instances? Should not students feel discomfort when they read that? Isn’t it necessary for the impact of the book? Hemingway says of this novel: All modern American literature comes from one book by Mark Twain called Huckleberry Finn…. All American writing comes from that. There was nothing before. There has been nothing as good since. And yet to read Huckleberry Finn is to be uncomfortable.
The litany against “making students uncomfortable” is a national campaign dog whistle that may not apply to every school district in Missouri. How this applies to the specific curricula of a local school district does not matter in a national debate. Local voters should not be hypnotized into believing that a national campaign applies to their school districts.
Let’s not be manipulated by terminology like “woke” or “indoctrination,” which no longer have any local meaning, other than “you should be angry at anyone who comes under my curse.” It is ignorant speech, and I don’t mean contemptible, but speech lacking thoughtful consideration. When I hear very smart people like Governor DeSantis and Rep.Krause blowing on these whistles, I know they mean nothing but “pile on.” Join the mob. Let’s get these “woke” people. That is not constructive discourse.
By all means, consider all reasonable accusations against any organization or party using language to inflame people. Have no respect for those who want to arouse the base on either end of the political spectrum. The equal opportunity offenders should stop acting like the “woke” people their opponents name them to be.
Above all, let’s keep education under local control and resist the dog whistles of some national agenda.