Greg Abbott and Ron DeSantis are the two most vocal Republican governors who have declared war on “woke education.” Kevin McCarthy says that the nation can save lots of money by getting rid of wokeness in the military. He promises congressional investigations into how a woke agenda is making our military weaker. I guess being “woke” is a bad thing, right?

 woke“Woke” has become a favorite word among conservative politicians. However, it’s not clear they know what it means or what they mean when they use it. They do know it is a word that stokes anger and fear in their faithful followers who also likely do not know its meaning.

 “Woke” is an adjective derived from African American dialect meaning “alert to racial prejudice and discrimination.” Those leaders who use the word to stir up their base are asking them to be willfully uninformed about racial prejudice and discrimination. If we are to join the war on woke education, we are joining the ranks of those who wish to be purposefully ignorant about racism and other forms of discrimination.

 DeSantis has given us a perfect example of willful ignorance. He has blocked the teaching of an advanced placement high school course on African American studies. The course asks advanced high school students to explore, among other topics, the history of slavery and to think critically about the impact of slavery on our history, our government, and our economic system. Oh no!

 DeSantis sees this course as violating his ban on teaching Critical Race Theory (CRT). Of course, CRT is not taught in public schools. CRT is a legal theory that seeks to explore the way racism has shaped American legal systems and institutions. But the term has become a favorite of conservative leaders who wish to gin up fear and anger about any discussions of race, discrimination, and even diversity, DeSantis’ latest target for elimination in higher education in Florida.

 You know a governor is fearfully trying to score political points when he takes it upon himself to dictate school curriculum.

 This fear extends into information about sex and sexual orientation. Governors and parents have taken aim at educators who broach the subject of sexuality or sexual orientation in even educationally approved and age-appropriate ways. This controversy has trickled all the way to Abilene where parents have lectured school board members about books in the library.

 So, what underlies this fearful grasping for control? Why the sudden need to limit our understanding of history and social studies and human sexuality? Do our leaders want us to remain ignorant of such things? I suspect it’s bigger than that. Ignorance is not the goal. It is the means.

 Education is by nature a progressive endeavor. Education’s purpose is to move a student from one place in their understanding to another place, usually a place with more information, a broader perspective, and a greater ability to think creatively and critically. We would never send our kids to school with the demand, “You can learn new information, but no new ideas.”  Life in general should be a progressive endeavor. As we live, learn, and grow, our world and our perspective should grow as well.

 Education is about helping students acquire new information, but in the process, hopefully, they also learn to evaluate that information. They learn analytic and reasoning skills. They learn to think critically, about how the new information merges with or collides with their current ideas.

 Race and gender are the topics currently being targeted in this educational debate, but this is not really about race or gender. It is about perspective. It is about the fear of acknowledging the world is changing, and those who are waging war against being woke, against being aware and responsive, are fighting that change.

 We need to learn history from other perspectives. For more than 200 years, American history has been taught only through the narrow lens of white, heterosexual, Christian men. There’s not an educational discipline, business venture, political issue, or religious belief that wouldn’t be expanded and deepened by adding the perspective of women, people of color, and people of other backgrounds and sexual orientations.

 The anti-woke movement is promoted by people who are afraid, people who equate democracy with white male Christian heterosexual privilege. But that is changing. Sadly, many of our leaders have not gotten the memo.