Woke I’m a professor. I teach at a university. A little experiment: What comes to mind when you hear these terms? Professor. University. College Right now, neurons are connecting up with other neurons. Neural networks are being activated. You’re burping up all your background knowledge and experience. Professor. University. College. What comes to mind? What thoughts? Feelings? Do you have positive thoughts? Do you have negative thoughts? Based on what? What has been your experience? How do you know? Where did you get this knowledge? Personal experience? Anecdotal evidence? Can this be generalized to a larger population? That is, is your knowledge true of larger groups? How do you know? Now I’m going to give you another term: Woke – (as it relates to systemic racism) What comes to mind? What do you see? Who do you see? What do you think that term means? What do you know? How do you know? Where did you get this knowledge? How do you know it’s accurate? Full disclosure -- I’m an over-caffeinated bald, white professor, working at a public university, in teacher education. I’m woke. I’m really woke. I’m so woke it hurts sometimes. I’m uber work. I’m mega woke. I am super-duper, extra-special woke. That’s how woke I am. Every day that I wake up I’m woke. And I’m teaching at a public university preparing future teachers. How’s that? Do you have a sudden urge to write your state legislator? Do you want to see my syllabi? Do you want to email our University President (email included by the way). Do you want me to be quiet? Do you want to prevent me from saying stuff? Do you think I’m engaging in propaganda? Do you think I’m trying to brainwash students? Governor Ron DeSantis down in Florida, is so afraid of woke that he even made a law. Gov DeSantis introduced the Stop WOKE Act. “We don’t want any of that ‘woke’ crap,” they say. What do you mean by “woke” crap? “You know” they say. Yes, I do know, I say. But you don’t. And that’s a bit of a problem. The anti-wokers are bit like Don Quixote fighting windmills. Even when they come face-to-face with facts, they are unwilling to accept that they could be wrong. Anti-wokers like Gov DeSantis are data-resistant you see. They don’t let something as trivial as knowledge and facts get in the way of their coming to conclusions about things. They’ve been vaccinated. This is what I teach my students in all my classes at the publically funded university: If you’re against something someday, it’s always best if they know something about which they are against. Or else they could be against the wrong thing … or against nothing at all. I teach this in my classes. Is this wrong? Is this a bad thing? Does that mean I’m woke? Can I come to Florida and teach Gov DeSantis? What is Woke? So, what is this very horrible thing that is so very horrible that Gov DeSantis passed a law against it? What is ‘woke’ in terms of systemic racism? Woke. There is a point, after much reflection, reading, studying, listening, and conversation, where you begin to have another perspective. You see things differently than you once did, and you think a bit differently about things. Then you wonder, why you didn’t see those things all along. That’s woke. It’s a deeper understanding of things that you didn’t have before. But one of the problems with the term ‘woke’ is that it may give the impression that you just wake up one morning and you’re woke (in a non-sleepy sense). In other words, it is the misconception that you could listen to a bald professor at a University and get all woked up and you have a different understanding of things. Oh that I wish I was that powerful. Or you listen to a podcast or read a pamphlet and then you’re woke. ‘Wokeness” or a change of thinking doesn’t happen all of a sudden. There are very few road-to-Damascus experiences in life. Understanding and changes in understanding comes over time usually as a result of a lot of thinking and experiencing. Every year here at MSU we have an evangelist that comes to campus. He holds up a sign and shouts things at students as they walk by. What he shouts is not always very pleasant. Some students stop and try to argue with him. He shouts back. Students shout back … he shouts back … and there’s a whole lot of shouting back and forth – as each tries to ‘win’ the argument. There’s no wokeness going on here. At the end of the day, nobody has changed anybody’s mind about anything. There’s just a lot of shouting going back and forth. People go back and tell their people how good they were at saying pithy things to counter the argument – There’s no ‘woke’ going to happen here. The evangelist is never going to say, “You know, that’s a really good point. I think I’ll go home.” No student is ever going to say, “Hmmm, I never thought about that before. I guess I am going to burn in hell. I think I’ll go to church instead of going to class.” Do I think anybody will become ‘woke’ by this podcast? In my dreams. Nobody is going to fundamentally change their views on things based on this single podcast. At best, I’ll give shape to what people are already thinking or solidify their views on things. Nobody will listen to this and be convinced of anything … other than perhaps am a mouthy like no-nothing weasel. The term ‘woke’ has become a pejorative term used by some. “All that ‘woke’ crap,” they say. I used to wish that a term other than ‘woke’ would have been used to denote this new perspective point. Then I realized that no matter what term was used, it would have been turned into a pejorative term and used to diminish and discredit others without any real understanding of the term. It’s used to silence those who may have a perspective other than that of Gov. DeSantis. “We’re not going to have any of that woke crap in our classroom,” A press release from a group touting the Stop WOKE act in Florida: The Stop WOKE Act banned instruction in schools or mandatory training in workplaces that “suggest a person is privileged or oppressed because of their race, sex or national origin.” The term ‘woke’ has been obviously been abducted and repurposed for political purposes here. What is described here is not anything like how the term has been used to address an awareness of systematic racism within our various systems. And this sentence is a word salad filled with emotional buzz words. Un-pack-O-rating. … instruction in schools or mandatory training in workplaces that “suggest a person is privileged or oppressed because of their race, sex or national origin.” Mandatory training. This sounds like a re-education camp. Mandatory. Nobody likes being forced to do anything, and by the way, you train animals. You educate humans. But we have “mandatory training” in LETRS and other professional development. Is this different? Privileged. Notice how the word ‘privileged’ is smuggled in there. Nobody likes the thought of some people being privileged. Nobody should be privileged. That’s not fair. Oppressed. Oppressed is another negative buzzword. Nobody likes the thought that some might be oppressed. After all, this is America. Nobody gets oppressed in America. That only happens in foreign countries. Not in God-bless-America. Nobody likes the thought that others might be oppressed. Race, sex, or national origin. Sex. Would you disagree women’s wages are below that of men’s for doing the same job? Go ask a group of professional women. Ask them if they might have faced a hurdle or two based on their sex. According to Forbs: • Women earn an average of 16% less than men.[1] • For every dollar earned by men, women earned 84 cents.[1] • The controlled gender pay gap, which considers factors such as job title, experience, education, industry, job level and hours worked, is currently at 99 cents for every dollar men earn.[4] Race. This is the tough one isn’t it. And this is at the heart of the anti-woke hysteria. (3) Systemic racism is in all our systems My Woke – Before the public murder of George Floyd, I thought I was good on the race thing. I had a black roommate in college. Had lots of black friends. Never used inappropriate words. I was good. Didn’t really know what critical race theory was, but it could be good. Wasn’t needed. I didn’t really know what culturally response teacher or culturally response pedagogy was. I thought it was just a couple of strategies. What’s the big deal? The George Floyd murder happened just 70 miles from where I live. It prompted change with a lot of people. I wasn’t ‘woke’ after this incident, I was ‘alerted’ that perhaps I needed to know more. I’m in education, so I decided to stay in my own lane. For months, I read every academic book or article related to systemic racism in education and critical race theory. That’s what scholars do, you see. We study the world through scholarly books and articles. But I also engaged in conversations and a lot of listening and experiencing. I am by no means an expert. By I left my self-imposed I used to think I had a handle on it all. But then I realized the world was a bit different than I had thought. I think differently now. Systemic Racism Systemic racism is different from racist acts. ** . Racism - Derrick Bell defines racism as “individual, structural, political, economic, and social forces that serve to discriminate against and disadvantage people of color on the basis of their race for the purpose of maintaining White dominance and power” Derrick Bell, ‘Faces at the Bottom of the Well, 1992 Systemic racism is the policies, laws, regulations, and traditions that restrict or disadvantage people of color while promoting or creating advantage for those in power who are overwhelming members of the dominant white culture. Systematic racism is where resources and opportunities are diverted or hoarded policies, laws, regulation that divert or hoard resources and opportunities. - those in power, divert or hoard resources and opportunities (policies, laws, programs, guidelines) a. some schools get more; others less b. some communities get more; others less c. some health care systems get more; others less d. some get better jobs; others less e. some get better housing; others less. f. it is not a level playing field – A 3rd grade students in a suburban school in apple valley, MN has a much different school experience than a 4rd grade students in Blackwater AZ – one of the poorest communities in the US. Our current systems restrict and disadvantage some, advance and advantage others – based on race. Systemic racism is that which serves to disadvantage and restrict people in color in ways that advance the interests of those in power (who, by the way, are overwhelming white males). b. Whether implicit or explicit, intended or unintended, white racism creates and maintains a racial hierarchy that provides advantage to the white majority in terms of opportunities and resources (Kohli, Pizarro, & Nevarez, 2019). c. Specifically, there is a finger on the scale to ensure that the dominant class have continued access to better jobs, loans, housing, schools, teachers, and health care, and that they are treated differently by the criminal justice system. There are some inequities here. There is something in the way that makes it harder to have the same opportunities. By the way, equity is different from equality. Equity has to do with fairness and justice. Equality means the same. Race. What about race? Discipline – School-to-Prison Pipeline 1. Black students do not commit more disciplinable offenses than their white peers; yet, black students, Latinx students, and Native American students receive substantially more school discipline. Discipline tends to be harsher with longer punishments. 2. Students of color receiving SPED services more often receive harsher punishment vs. white students for the same offense. 3. Black students with disabilities receive higher rates of exclusionary discipline vs white students with disabilities. Exclusionary discipline means they are excluded from school or classroom, suspension or expulsion. A national average showed that black students lost 77 more instructional days vs. white students. You can’t learn if you are not in school. This, these higher rates of exclusionary discipline disrupts learning disproportionately. 4. High rates of exclusionary discipline negatively impact all student outcomes including lower student test scores (USCCR). It negatively impacts classroom engagement and cohesions. And, students are not given tools necessary to work through issues causing negative behaviors. 5. Excessive exclusionary discipline increases likelihood that students will a. be retained in grade b. drop out of school c. be placed in juvenile justice system. * Overuse of suspension and expulsion counterproductive 6. Black students are disproportionately identified for special education services related to learning disabilities and emotional/behavioral disorders. This is a result of implicit bias. Classroom teachers are the ones who make the initial referral. About 80% of the teacher workforce is white. Policing in Schools and Lack of Counselors According to a 2019 report by the US Commission on Civil Rights 1. School Resources officers (SROs) – (cops with guns or armed security guards) are not highly effective. They are expensive and lead to a prison atmosphere. And they take the attention away from things are causing disruptions in school: over-crowded classrooms, poverty, lack of nutrition and health care, lack of economic opportunities in the community. This is based on an I-think-ism. I think putting armed security guards in schools will help. a. lack of research to demonstrate they do anything to reduce school violence b. lack of research o demonstrate they do anything reduce school shootings c. hiring driven of SRO by school shootings – to prevent 2. In schools that use Law enforcement for SRO, arrests are often used for non-criminal behavior that used to be handled by administration 3. Black students represent 16% of the student populations, a. yet black students represent 27% of students referred to law enforcement b. black students represent 31% of students involved in a school-related arrest. (USCCR, 2019) 4. White students represent 51% of student population a. yet white students 41% of referrals to law enforcement b. white students represent 39% of students school-related arrest Lack of School Counselors (USCCR) 1. 2015-16 - 1.6 million students attend a school with a sworn law enforcement officer (cop) but no school counselor 2. There are more school resources officers (security) than social workers. a. 27,000 SROs b. 23,000 social workers 3. Latinx, Asian, and black students all more likely than white students to attend a school with an sworn law environment officer but no counselor 4. Schools with high poverty rates had highest percentage of police officers on campus 5. Students who attend a school with at least one police officer = almost 5 times more likely to face a criminal chart for disorderly conduct a. vs. students in school with no police officer. 6. Research has shows school counselors to improve school safety and increase student achievement. 7. The mental health needs of students who are facing crisis or emotional distress incidents –are better served by school counselors and mental health professionals, not security guards or law enforcement officials. Living with poverty and crime creates much more stress. Systemic Racism This is just some of the examples of systemic racism in our educational system. Racism infects all our systems – educational, economic, health care, social, law enforcement, judicial, and political a. systematic – a virus within the system that disadvantages, marginalize people of color while keeping the white majority in power. Let’s look at the Stop Woke Act The Stop WOKE Act banned instruction in schools or mandatory training in workplaces that “suggest a person is privileged or oppressed because of their race, sex or national origin.” There are conditions that tip the scale in favor of some groups and restrict or disadvantage others. There are communities, that seem to get the economic opportunities, good schools, the good teachers, health care, good nutrition, housing opportunities, small class sizes, community libraries, well-stocked school and classroom libraries … Go to a 3rd grade classroom in a poor, inner-city school, or poor rural district. Now go to a 3rd grade classroom in a weather suburb. It's like going to a different planet. Not everybody has the same opportunities. A person is privileged because of their environment and station in life. Communities that are predominantly white seem to have disproportionately more of these privileges and more opportunities. Communities that are predominantly black seem to have more restrictions and fewer opportunities. Other bills and regulations soon followed, targeting programs to promote diversity, equity and inclusion. For decades, DEI programs as they're known have worked to promote fair treatment of underrepresented groups.