A disillusioned leftist teacher recently recounted two stories from faculty meetings at his public school that are so outrageously woke they sound like they’re made up.
SO WHAT
“Yes, things are really as bad as you’ve heard,” said the anonymous teacher, who goes by Moonlit Piglet on Twitter.
THE STORIES
Writer Wesley Yang published the anonymous blogger’s anecdotes in his Substack newsletter last week, saying that he had independently verified their authenticity.
Here are excerpts:
STORY ONE: “I once attended a meeting where we brainstormed strategies to increase AP enrollment. When we moved to discuss the gap in enrollment between Black and white students, a senior teacher said that trying to register more children of color for AP classes is inherently racist and that putting greater value on AP classes at all is an expression of white supremacy,” Moonlit Piglet wrote.
STORY TWO: “I once attended another meeting — lots of meetings when you’re a teacher! — where we were working to approve a new weekly schedule for students. When I said I was concerned that it would require leaving some sections of the curriculum untaught, a colleague said that might actually be a good thing, because most of our students are white and their test scores dropping slightly would help shrink the racial achievement gap in our state.”
In both instances, Moonlit Piglet clarified, he was not offering his interpretation of what his colleagues said.
- They “literally spoke the words” in question, he emphasized.
THE THROAT CLEAR
“In my short career as an educator, I’ve had countless experiences like this – encounters with colleagues and administrators so surreal that even close friends chided me for exaggerating or ‘playing into right-wing tropes’ when I repeat them,” Moonlit Piglet wrote.
- “Like I said before, I’m a leftist myself,” he added later. “I’m writing about these issues because I want to grab anyone who might listen and tell them yes, things really are as bad as you’ve heard, even if the people you heard it from can be absolutely nuts. These stories sound crazy because they are crazy.”
THE BIG PICTURE
A number of high-profile controversies over woke education have sparked what some pundits have dubbed a “parents’ revolt” extending deep into liberal strongholds.
- In February, San Francisco voters recalled all three members of the city’s school board — which spent the pandemic trying to rename schools and scrap merit-based admissions in the name of anti-racism, rather than resuming in-person instruction.
- In 2021, Ballotpedia counted a record 93 school board recalls cross the country, citing COVID-19 policies and critical race theory as key issues.
- So far, the site has tallied 43 such recalls this year.
It’s not just parents who want teachers to get back to teaching, as a May poll commissioned by the left-leaning American Federation of Teachers found.
- 60% of likely voters in seven battleground states say they are dissatisfied with how students are taught about racial issues.
- 58% say they are dissatisfied with the way sexuality and gender identity is taught.
MEANWHILE: A Gallup poll conducted in June found that just 28% of Americans, and 14% of Republicans, have a great deal of confidence in public schools, down sharply from an average 40% from 1989-2006.
