1 00:00:17,600 --> 00:00:20,399 Speaker 1: And we are back with another edition of the Federalist 2 00:00:20,480 --> 00:00:24,719 Radio Hour. I'm Matt Kittle's senior elections correspondent at the Federalist. 3 00:00:25,280 --> 00:00:30,160 At your experience, Shirpa on today's quest for Knowledge. As always, 4 00:00:30,199 --> 00:00:33,240 you can email the show at radio at the Federalist 5 00:00:33,320 --> 00:00:37,840 dot com, follow us on exit FDR LST. Make sure 6 00:00:37,880 --> 00:00:41,159 to subscribe wherever you download your podcast, and of course 7 00:00:41,200 --> 00:00:44,479 to the premium version of our website as well. Our 8 00:00:44,479 --> 00:00:48,200 guest today is Priscilla West, education researcher with the Government 9 00:00:48,200 --> 00:00:52,399 Accountability Institute an author of the compelling new book The 10 00:00:52,439 --> 00:00:57,320 Face of Woke Education. Priscilla, thank you so much for 11 00:00:57,399 --> 00:00:59,640 joining us in this edition of the Federalist Radio Hour. 12 00:01:00,200 --> 00:01:01,960 Speaker 2: Good morning, Matt, thank you for having me. 13 00:01:02,880 --> 00:01:06,200 Speaker 1: This is a very compelling book because I think you know, 14 00:01:06,280 --> 00:01:10,560 those who follow the issue particularly a public education and 15 00:01:11,159 --> 00:01:14,760 really the failure of public education on so many fronts. 16 00:01:15,239 --> 00:01:21,079 You know, we all understand equity, diversity, equity and inclusion. 17 00:01:22,439 --> 00:01:26,120 We've been bombarded with that from the left. We've been 18 00:01:26,200 --> 00:01:34,560 bombarded with, you know, anti racism, We've been bombarded with 19 00:01:34,840 --> 00:01:40,400 critical race theory, all of these concepts. Now for some 20 00:01:40,640 --> 00:01:44,680 time we've also been hearing about social emotional learning, and 21 00:01:44,719 --> 00:01:46,879 that's what your book is truly all about. But let's 22 00:01:46,879 --> 00:01:51,200 begin there. What is social emotional learning and is it 23 00:01:51,400 --> 00:01:56,599 just one of these latest terms from the left to 24 00:01:56,640 --> 00:02:04,040 try to disguise indoctrination with a you know, a social 25 00:02:04,120 --> 00:02:07,599 emotional learning style terminology. 26 00:02:08,919 --> 00:02:13,159 Speaker 2: Right. Yes, it is the method by which a lot 27 00:02:13,199 --> 00:02:18,400 of this indoctrination is taking place. It is meant to 28 00:02:18,520 --> 00:02:24,080 teach emotional management. You hear a lot about empathy and 29 00:02:24,240 --> 00:02:30,479 kindness here in Florida. It's resilience education. So all of 30 00:02:30,479 --> 00:02:35,599 these fall under an umbrella of social emotional learning, which 31 00:02:35,759 --> 00:02:38,520 we like to joke in the office that the name 32 00:02:38,759 --> 00:02:43,680 the acronym was clinically designed to lull people into a 33 00:02:43,719 --> 00:02:47,319 deep sleep. It doesn't sound very exciting at all social 34 00:02:47,319 --> 00:02:52,479 emotional learning, but it is everywhere. When I came to 35 00:02:52,520 --> 00:02:59,080 work for Peter Schweitzer, I expected to be doing working 36 00:02:59,080 --> 00:03:04,199 on an expose about Schweitzer style cronyism and corruption around 37 00:03:04,360 --> 00:03:09,120 ed tech. And while there is plenty of that, as 38 00:03:09,199 --> 00:03:14,240 we dug into the mountains of education, literature and academic 39 00:03:14,360 --> 00:03:18,719 research and meeting minutes, what we found to me was 40 00:03:18,759 --> 00:03:24,800 even more shocking than standard corruption. It's that psychology was 41 00:03:24,919 --> 00:03:32,360 embedded into everything children do in education these days, So 42 00:03:32,919 --> 00:03:38,639 it wasn't a focus on test scores or proficiencies. It's 43 00:03:38,680 --> 00:03:46,039 more about monitoring their viewpoints and world views. And it's 44 00:03:46,080 --> 00:03:47,120 not what's up. 45 00:03:47,199 --> 00:03:49,000 Speaker 1: I was going to say, Is this the same kind 46 00:03:49,039 --> 00:03:51,800 of thing or is it from the same tree as 47 00:03:52,400 --> 00:03:59,479 trauma informed care, trauma informed education that kind of thing? 48 00:04:00,120 --> 00:04:02,919 Speaker 2: Yes, exactly, these are these are all branches of the 49 00:04:02,960 --> 00:04:09,919 same vine. It's it's less about emotional management and more 50 00:04:10,000 --> 00:04:12,000 about enforcing conformity. 51 00:04:13,599 --> 00:04:17,000 Speaker 1: Yeah, this all like everything else that the left and 52 00:04:17,079 --> 00:04:22,519 doctrination camp has brought American education over the last few decades. 53 00:04:22,560 --> 00:04:26,720 In particular, it all has a very big brother feel 54 00:04:26,759 --> 00:04:32,040 to it. You mentioned the notion of social emotional learning, 55 00:04:32,120 --> 00:04:34,639 you know that just kind of passes over the ear 56 00:04:34,879 --> 00:04:38,800 pass right, passes over the brain. But I think the 57 00:04:39,839 --> 00:04:42,959 I find it interesting that the acronym for it is sell. 58 00:04:44,079 --> 00:04:48,439 Which is this from your book and from everything that 59 00:04:48,519 --> 00:04:51,079 I know about it, this looks like a huge cell 60 00:04:51,360 --> 00:04:58,000 job by the leftist you know, educational industrial complex. 61 00:04:58,920 --> 00:05:02,800 Speaker 2: It is. They've been it for over thirty years. The 62 00:05:03,920 --> 00:05:07,560 NGO that got it launched and got it into our 63 00:05:07,600 --> 00:05:12,800 schools is one called CASTLE, which is the collaborative for Academic, Social, 64 00:05:12,839 --> 00:05:16,600 and Emotional Learning. It started at the Yale Child Study 65 00:05:16,639 --> 00:05:21,639 Center and it is now headquartered in Chicago. But they 66 00:05:21,680 --> 00:05:26,120 have managed to make it what they call systemic. They 67 00:05:26,160 --> 00:05:29,519 openly call for it to be systemic. It's in schools, 68 00:05:29,600 --> 00:05:32,920 it's in the curricula, it's in the extracurriculars, it's in 69 00:05:32,959 --> 00:05:36,279 the clubs. If you go to the YMCA, you're probably 70 00:05:36,319 --> 00:05:38,399 going to get a little SEL in your summer camp. 71 00:05:39,680 --> 00:05:42,879 It is absolutely everywhere. So I like to think of 72 00:05:43,040 --> 00:05:49,560 SEL as an operating system and the apps are all 73 00:05:49,639 --> 00:05:51,720 of the things that the parents are in an uproar 74 00:05:51,839 --> 00:05:56,160 about the critical race theory, the gender ideology, the anti fascism. 75 00:05:57,720 --> 00:06:02,399 You could plug whatever ideology you wanted into this system, 76 00:06:02,480 --> 00:06:05,720 but it is overwhelmingly collectivist. 77 00:06:08,319 --> 00:06:13,639 Speaker 1: It's amazing to me that we haven't had and I know, 78 00:06:13,720 --> 00:06:16,360 over the last few years in this country we've kind 79 00:06:16,399 --> 00:06:20,519 of had a you know, a pushback at a lot 80 00:06:20,560 --> 00:06:24,240 of different levels. But as you know, this thing remains 81 00:06:24,399 --> 00:06:30,279 in what forty eight forty nine states. I'm curious what 82 00:06:30,399 --> 00:06:34,480 state has rejected this so far. And we're talking about 83 00:06:34,519 --> 00:06:37,639 a lot of money. The taxpayers are pouring into this thing, 84 00:06:37,639 --> 00:06:38,079 are we not? 85 00:06:39,040 --> 00:06:43,399 Speaker 2: It is billions if you really go back and look 86 00:06:43,439 --> 00:06:47,560 at where it started. It is built into common Core. 87 00:06:48,439 --> 00:06:53,160 It's built into the learning standards, the benchmarks and common 88 00:06:53,199 --> 00:06:56,800 Core in a very subtle manner. And it's also built 89 00:06:56,839 --> 00:07:00,800 into the education data systems if you go back that 90 00:07:01,040 --> 00:07:04,800 far with it, the two the two really were developed 91 00:07:04,800 --> 00:07:13,959 in parallel. Common Core nationalized the testing, and SEL embedded 92 00:07:14,120 --> 00:07:19,800 the psychology into the testing so as well into the billions. 93 00:07:20,399 --> 00:07:28,800 And it basically launders ideology into academics, I guess is 94 00:07:28,800 --> 00:07:33,160 a good way of putting it. It's tracking the kids' 95 00:07:33,240 --> 00:07:38,079 psychological traits alongside their academics, their attendance, and their behavior. 96 00:07:39,879 --> 00:07:44,319 Speaker 1: It sounds so nefarious, it sounds so Clockwork Orange style. 97 00:07:44,839 --> 00:07:47,759 If you will, I mean too. There are a few 98 00:07:47,800 --> 00:07:50,759 books that you can enter into this, few classic novels, 99 00:07:50,800 --> 00:07:54,639 including Orwell's Brave New World. That's what immediately comes to mind. 100 00:07:54,720 --> 00:08:00,160 Clockwork Orange, the re engineering of the individual, and a 101 00:08:00,199 --> 00:08:03,360 Brave New World, of course from Eldus Huxley comes to mind. 102 00:08:03,720 --> 00:08:07,120 You mentioned in your book or You described this as 103 00:08:07,279 --> 00:08:14,279 a toxic brew of psychology and sustainability promoted by an 104 00:08:14,279 --> 00:08:19,720 alliance of billionaires, politicians, and consultants at the expense of 105 00:08:19,839 --> 00:08:25,879 true education. I guess let's start with the billionaires promoting this. 106 00:08:26,040 --> 00:08:31,519 Who's involved and why did they decide to get involved? 107 00:08:33,840 --> 00:08:39,799 Speaker 2: Well, the usual cast of characters. It's Carnegie, Rockefeller, and 108 00:08:39,960 --> 00:08:45,320 Bill Gates, among many others. But Warren Buffett was a 109 00:08:45,360 --> 00:08:49,919 big player, particularly his son Peter Buffett and his wife Jennifer. 110 00:08:50,399 --> 00:08:54,480 They were very involved with early Castle, getting it into 111 00:08:54,679 --> 00:08:59,600 major city school districts Boston, Chicago as they came in. 112 00:09:00,080 --> 00:09:04,639 Jennifer Buffett's foundation, called the Novo Foundation, was writing big 113 00:09:04,720 --> 00:09:10,720 checks to districts to sign on to implement SEL. But 114 00:09:10,840 --> 00:09:15,279 it's funny you mentioned Huxley. I could have this wrong, 115 00:09:15,440 --> 00:09:18,000 but when you said that, it reminded me. I believe 116 00:09:18,080 --> 00:09:24,120 Huxley was an original head of UNESCO. Is that right? 117 00:09:25,159 --> 00:09:28,039 Speaker 1: I'm not sure about that, but that's interesting to me. Yes, 118 00:09:28,080 --> 00:09:28,639 he or. 119 00:09:28,600 --> 00:09:32,960 Speaker 2: His brother possibly, I've forgotten the exact connection. But and 120 00:09:33,080 --> 00:09:38,039 an avowed eugenicist, so interesting, interesting person to head up UNESCO. 121 00:09:38,600 --> 00:09:44,399 Speaker 1: Yeah, a guy who certainly enjoyed LSD too, as I 122 00:09:44,519 --> 00:09:47,320 understand it, took it on his deathbed. So that's the 123 00:09:47,919 --> 00:09:51,440 that's the kind of perhaps that's the kind of you 124 00:09:51,480 --> 00:09:53,759 know thinking that's involved in all of this. And you 125 00:09:53,799 --> 00:09:59,679 look at this, uh you know, Smorgas Board of Socialism 126 00:09:59,720 --> 00:10:03,440 collect Activism, and that's it makes you wonder exactly who's 127 00:10:03,559 --> 00:10:09,120 thinking this stuff up. You say, this goes back thirty 128 00:10:09,240 --> 00:10:13,679 years or so. I'm curious how much the whole battle 129 00:10:13,759 --> 00:10:18,120 over education during George W. Bush's time in office, the 130 00:10:18,360 --> 00:10:22,679 no Child Left Behind mantra that was going on, Then 131 00:10:22,799 --> 00:10:26,919 how much did that create the pathways for broad and 132 00:10:27,080 --> 00:10:31,960 common Core and then ultimately Social Emotional Learning and all 133 00:10:32,000 --> 00:10:33,039 of this stuff. 134 00:10:34,000 --> 00:10:37,759 Speaker 2: Yeah, each administration has done its part to lay the 135 00:10:37,799 --> 00:10:43,159 groundwork here. It definitely does not fall along partisan lines. 136 00:10:45,279 --> 00:10:49,039 I believe No Child Left Behind took the testing to 137 00:10:49,080 --> 00:10:52,200 the state level, and then common Core came in with 138 00:10:52,240 --> 00:10:53,480 Obama and took it up to. 139 00:10:53,480 --> 00:10:56,399 Speaker 1: The national level. 140 00:10:56,679 --> 00:11:01,399 Speaker 2: But yeah, there's really no interruption in the trajector. It's 141 00:11:01,480 --> 00:11:04,759 been one hundred years. If you really want to go 142 00:11:04,840 --> 00:11:09,200 back to the beginning of what social emotional learning is accomplishing, 143 00:11:09,320 --> 00:11:14,159 it actually goes back much further and has some origins 144 00:11:14,200 --> 00:11:17,559 in the New Age and the occult believe it or not. 145 00:11:18,480 --> 00:11:21,200 But we didn't want to go that far with the book, 146 00:11:21,240 --> 00:11:24,279 we took it back to thirty years with the more 147 00:11:24,360 --> 00:11:27,200 recent history and the rise of SEL, because this is 148 00:11:28,000 --> 00:11:32,679 really turbocharged what they're doing, particularly with the introduction of 149 00:11:32,720 --> 00:11:34,960 the cloud based education technology. 150 00:11:36,120 --> 00:11:40,639 Speaker 1: Yeah, let's talk about that. What is the cloud based technology? 151 00:11:41,879 --> 00:11:45,679 You know, this this apparatus for I think they call 152 00:11:45,720 --> 00:11:51,000 it values transmission. Ah, yes, what is all of that? 153 00:11:52,600 --> 00:11:56,720 Speaker 2: Well, much of education these days is taking place on screens, 154 00:11:56,960 --> 00:12:00,799 as you know, and as much as parents may complain 155 00:12:00,879 --> 00:12:04,080 and wish their kids weren't on screens, quite as much 156 00:12:04,240 --> 00:12:10,159 we're always warned to limit screen time for many reasons, 157 00:12:10,159 --> 00:12:15,799 many well studied and proven reasons. Nonetheless, the schools continue 158 00:12:15,840 --> 00:12:19,039 to place laptops into the hands of small children and 159 00:12:20,080 --> 00:12:25,080 base all of the lessons on cloud based software. So 160 00:12:26,559 --> 00:12:32,919 it differs a lot. In a really red areas, it'll 161 00:12:32,960 --> 00:12:37,159 be a little more subtle the SCL how it's built 162 00:12:37,159 --> 00:12:39,799 into the software. But in blue areas you'll have very 163 00:12:39,840 --> 00:12:46,799 explicit promotion of the SCL software SEL coursework, sl activities. 164 00:12:48,200 --> 00:12:52,320 But the major publishers, all of the major publishers say 165 00:12:52,399 --> 00:12:55,519 quite openly that they have built SEL into everything they 166 00:12:55,559 --> 00:13:00,759 do so and they all produce cloud based learn software 167 00:13:00,840 --> 00:13:08,039 which is quote unquote personalized learning. So you've you've got 168 00:13:08,519 --> 00:13:15,720 major corporations, global corporations assessing children to track their progress 169 00:13:15,799 --> 00:13:20,120 along these learning frameworks. This is kind of what led 170 00:13:20,159 --> 00:13:23,960 me down this path was looking at learning frameworks. I 171 00:13:23,960 --> 00:13:26,480 started to notice that every single one of them had 172 00:13:27,120 --> 00:13:32,120 psychological measures built in alongside with the academics. I found 173 00:13:32,159 --> 00:13:36,039 that a little strange. I started looking at which NGOs 174 00:13:36,240 --> 00:13:42,879 created the learning frameworks and which public private partnerships that 175 00:13:43,440 --> 00:13:48,080 these NGOs are part of. So you have you have 176 00:13:48,200 --> 00:13:54,840 the private corporations influencing learning frameworks, embedding the things that 177 00:13:54,879 --> 00:14:01,279 they want to know about their future workers essentially and 178 00:14:01,639 --> 00:14:05,279 transmitting it straight to children's eyeballs. I don't even think 179 00:14:05,320 --> 00:14:08,559 a lot of teachers know that the SEL is embedded 180 00:14:08,600 --> 00:14:16,360 in there, say their social studies curriculum, but it's there. 181 00:14:16,480 --> 00:14:20,159 It's embedded into everything. It's hard to find an education 182 00:14:20,240 --> 00:14:24,360 option or framework that does not include the social emotional 183 00:14:24,440 --> 00:14:26,360 learning surveillance. 184 00:14:28,320 --> 00:14:33,639 Speaker 1: It is a circular bit of business, isn't it. Because 185 00:14:33,919 --> 00:14:40,679 you have these tech companies very much invested in social 186 00:14:40,759 --> 00:14:44,200 emotional learning and these frameworks that you talk about, But 187 00:14:44,279 --> 00:14:46,039 at the end of the day, aren't they making a 188 00:14:46,039 --> 00:14:51,120 good deal of money off of the next generation education 189 00:14:51,279 --> 00:14:53,919 with all of these screens, all of this technology. 190 00:14:54,799 --> 00:14:58,840 Speaker 2: They're making money selling the software, they're making money selling 191 00:14:59,000 --> 00:15:05,399 the hardware. They're making money using the student data to 192 00:15:05,600 --> 00:15:09,159 train their AI models. That is that is a big 193 00:15:09,240 --> 00:15:16,120 part of this. So without students consent, they are using 194 00:15:16,200 --> 00:15:20,279 everything students do every clique to learn how kids think, 195 00:15:21,279 --> 00:15:25,759 what they think, and that can be good. Obviously, you know, 196 00:15:26,120 --> 00:15:32,480 using the fact that little Johnny loves baseball to taylor 197 00:15:32,559 --> 00:15:36,480 his algebra lesson, it's great, right, I don't think anybody 198 00:15:36,480 --> 00:15:40,519 would I would disagree with that, but using it to 199 00:15:40,600 --> 00:15:45,879 tailor his character education in ways that parents can't see. 200 00:15:46,360 --> 00:15:49,279 It's a little different. The adaptive feedback. You're feeding back 201 00:15:49,320 --> 00:15:53,360 everything the children do into the algorithm, into the software, 202 00:15:54,000 --> 00:15:57,679 and it's affecting what the child sees next. So even 203 00:15:57,799 --> 00:16:01,159 even in testing in a lot of places, assessments are 204 00:16:01,200 --> 00:16:05,320 also adaptive. So just being able to say, look at 205 00:16:05,320 --> 00:16:08,480 your child's test, what was the test, what questions were asked, 206 00:16:08,759 --> 00:16:12,679 how did you do you? You can't even look at that 207 00:16:12,720 --> 00:16:17,120 anymore because even assessments in some places are adaptive. 208 00:16:19,919 --> 00:16:24,360 Speaker 3: Should social media influencers register like lobbyists the Watchdout on 209 00:16:24,440 --> 00:16:27,480 Wall Street podcast with Chris Markowski. Every day Chris helps 210 00:16:27,600 --> 00:16:30,200 unpack the connection between politics and the economy and how 211 00:16:30,240 --> 00:16:33,080 it affects your wallet. Some in Congress are proposing that 212 00:16:33,159 --> 00:16:38,559 paid social media influencers publicly disclose who they represent, especially 213 00:16:38,600 --> 00:16:41,639 if they're being paid by foreign countries for their causes. 214 00:16:41,720 --> 00:16:43,799 Whether it's happening in DC or down on Wall Street, 215 00:16:43,799 --> 00:16:45,000 it's affecting you financially. 216 00:16:45,039 --> 00:16:45,600 Speaker 1: Be informed. 217 00:16:45,679 --> 00:16:47,519 Speaker 3: Check out the watch Dot on Wall Street podcast with 218 00:16:47,600 --> 00:16:50,879 Chris Markowski on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. 219 00:16:53,840 --> 00:16:58,240 Speaker 1: Well, first and foremost, you know, as you note, this 220 00:16:58,480 --> 00:17:03,320 is really an evasive thing that is going on, and 221 00:17:03,399 --> 00:17:07,839 at the very least parents should have the ability as 222 00:17:07,880 --> 00:17:11,079 they used to have, to be able to monitor what's 223 00:17:11,119 --> 00:17:14,440 going on, you know, in the classroom. I think that's 224 00:17:14,599 --> 00:17:19,839 why we had ultimately the rejection of a lot of 225 00:17:19,880 --> 00:17:24,359 this stuff in our schools and the backlash that came. 226 00:17:24,440 --> 00:17:29,440 It came out of COVID when everything was remote learning 227 00:17:29,559 --> 00:17:32,640 at that point in so many places, and certainly in 228 00:17:32,640 --> 00:17:36,319 the early portions of the pandemic, that's what we saw. 229 00:17:36,880 --> 00:17:41,119 But parents had the opportunity to stand over the shoulder 230 00:17:41,240 --> 00:17:46,119 of their kids while teachers were teaching this stuff to them. 231 00:17:47,079 --> 00:17:50,680 How much did that set the groundwork? And what did 232 00:17:51,799 --> 00:17:59,599 these industries, this educational industrial complex tied to social emotional learning. 233 00:17:59,640 --> 00:18:01,799 How much did they respond to all of that? 234 00:18:03,759 --> 00:18:08,519 Speaker 2: Right, Well, the corporate software is not getting informed consent. 235 00:18:08,640 --> 00:18:12,920 The parents don't know that these these aren't just learning platforms, 236 00:18:12,960 --> 00:18:18,000 they are data mining systems. So the parents during COVID 237 00:18:18,039 --> 00:18:21,279 they got to see a little bit, but in general, yeah, 238 00:18:21,319 --> 00:18:24,000 they don't know what's being tracked or how it is 239 00:18:24,079 --> 00:18:27,480 a cessed. You know, some of the frameworks talk about 240 00:18:27,559 --> 00:18:32,599 grit measuring grit. I remember when my kids were in school, 241 00:18:33,359 --> 00:18:36,519 their elementary school had a big campaign about you can't 242 00:18:36,559 --> 00:18:38,759 have the grit, you can't have the pearl without the grit, 243 00:18:39,119 --> 00:18:42,200 which sounded great. I didn't think much about it. Come 244 00:18:42,240 --> 00:18:44,920 to find out all these years later, that was social 245 00:18:45,000 --> 00:18:50,160 emotional learning. And now you have people like Zuckerberg, I 246 00:18:50,240 --> 00:18:53,799 believe it was his learning framework at his charter schools. 247 00:18:54,319 --> 00:18:59,119 They measure something called zest, the child's zest. Yeah, I mean, 248 00:18:59,519 --> 00:19:03,440 what data do you gather from a child to determine 249 00:19:03,480 --> 00:19:05,440 their zest level? Right? 250 00:19:05,880 --> 00:19:06,200 Speaker 1: Yes? 251 00:19:06,440 --> 00:19:09,400 Speaker 2: And all of this data is stored in corporate servers, 252 00:19:09,920 --> 00:19:15,119 they're academics. There's psychometrics, they're biometrics. Sometimes there's what's called 253 00:19:15,240 --> 00:19:20,599 affective data, how they feel while they're reading it. It's 254 00:19:20,759 --> 00:19:24,359 really bottomless. And yes, I don't think parents have any idea. 255 00:19:24,440 --> 00:19:27,480 I know I didn't when. 256 00:19:27,000 --> 00:19:30,000 Speaker 1: You Yeah, when I think about these terms of course 257 00:19:30,000 --> 00:19:34,400 that are is the zest and grit, grit in particular, 258 00:19:34,559 --> 00:19:36,960 is that the kind of thing that I remember. You know, 259 00:19:37,000 --> 00:19:41,480 I'm old enough to remember a great show on CBS 260 00:19:41,920 --> 00:19:45,319 sitcom many many years ago, the Mary Tyler Moore Show. 261 00:19:46,359 --> 00:19:49,799 And in the Mary Tyler Moore Show, when she comes 262 00:19:49,799 --> 00:19:52,039 in to apply for the job as a young woman, 263 00:19:52,559 --> 00:19:55,440 she has to apply for the job Lou Grant, the 264 00:19:57,079 --> 00:20:01,839 producer of the w j N News, this local news 265 00:20:01,880 --> 00:20:06,079 station in Minneapolis, and uh, you know, she's she's quiet 266 00:20:06,200 --> 00:20:09,279 at first, and then she starts to assert herself. And 267 00:20:09,319 --> 00:20:15,480 at the end of this kind of speech, then Lou 268 00:20:15,559 --> 00:20:20,799 Grant played by Ed Asner, says, you've got grit, and 269 00:20:20,839 --> 00:20:26,799 then he says, I hate grit. So it makes me 270 00:20:26,960 --> 00:20:31,319 wonder how grit is defined. How do we know how grit, 271 00:20:31,720 --> 00:20:38,759 how zella's or zest is is defined in these systems 272 00:20:39,359 --> 00:20:39,720 I don't. 273 00:20:39,759 --> 00:20:43,039 Speaker 2: I don't exactly know how grit is defined. No, I 274 00:20:43,079 --> 00:20:46,200 do know how where they where? They snuck it in 275 00:20:46,200 --> 00:20:51,000 in the common the original common Core state standards. It 276 00:20:51,240 --> 00:20:55,640 was a part of the Math standard that opened children 277 00:20:55,720 --> 00:21:02,119 up to psychometric testing and assessment with the use of 278 00:21:02,160 --> 00:21:06,079 a little word persevere. Persevere it said. The Math standard 279 00:21:06,079 --> 00:21:08,680 said the students should be able to solve questions and 280 00:21:09,640 --> 00:21:13,880 persevere What was it, something about persevere in solving them 281 00:21:14,960 --> 00:21:18,279 And you know, it went by largely unnoticed. It seemed like, oh, 282 00:21:18,319 --> 00:21:20,920 we're just talking a little bit about soft skills. But 283 00:21:21,039 --> 00:21:25,599 that little word included in that National Learning Standard open 284 00:21:25,720 --> 00:21:28,119 children up to all of this. Hmm. 285 00:21:28,559 --> 00:21:32,720 Speaker 1: Interesting. Our guest today is Priscilla West, education researcher with 286 00:21:32,799 --> 00:21:37,319 the Government Accountability Institute and author of the compelling new book, 287 00:21:37,480 --> 00:21:43,920 The New Face of Woke Education. That New Face is, well, 288 00:21:44,440 --> 00:21:50,440 it's all about social emotional learning. As innocuous as that sounds, 289 00:21:50,519 --> 00:21:56,279 there is something very nefarious tied into that. These things 290 00:21:56,319 --> 00:22:01,680 are so embedded, are they not, Priscilla, in in everything 291 00:22:01,799 --> 00:22:05,000 that we do in modern education. And a lot of 292 00:22:05,079 --> 00:22:07,839 private schools have this stuff too, and it's not just 293 00:22:07,960 --> 00:22:13,160 the public schools. How would you ever go about removing 294 00:22:13,880 --> 00:22:17,279 this indoctrination from our schools? 295 00:22:18,519 --> 00:22:22,480 Speaker 2: You're right, it is absolutely pervasive. It's in just about 296 00:22:22,480 --> 00:22:26,960 every type of education. We think we have all these choices, 297 00:22:27,039 --> 00:22:31,319 but sel is really woven throughout most of them. I 298 00:22:31,319 --> 00:22:33,519 don't have all the answers about how we get rid 299 00:22:33,519 --> 00:22:37,960 of it, but it certainly involves parents being able to 300 00:22:38,039 --> 00:22:42,160 recognize what's happening. So that is why I wrote the 301 00:22:42,200 --> 00:22:46,599 book to equip not just parents, but educators themselves. Teachers 302 00:22:46,599 --> 00:22:52,279 often don't know that it's embedded, and legislators, especially if 303 00:22:52,279 --> 00:22:56,839 it's if your child's education sounds a lot like kindness 304 00:22:56,880 --> 00:23:02,440 and resiliency. If graduation rates are ninety nine percent, but 305 00:23:02,920 --> 00:23:08,480 reading proficiency rates are forty percent. Dig deeper and what 306 00:23:08,680 --> 00:23:12,480 where are the resources going? Where is the energy going? 307 00:23:13,119 --> 00:23:16,359 And can you even define it? Are they measuring things 308 00:23:16,440 --> 00:23:21,079 like grit and zest? Is it all about quote unquote 309 00:23:21,119 --> 00:23:25,960 school climate or can the children? Are the children actually 310 00:23:26,000 --> 00:23:27,440 gaining academic skills? 311 00:23:28,880 --> 00:23:30,559 Speaker 1: Yeah, that's a that's a good question. I want to 312 00:23:30,559 --> 00:23:32,799 get to that in just a moment. But you mentioned 313 00:23:32,799 --> 00:23:35,680 all of these catch terms, and of course they catch 314 00:23:35,759 --> 00:23:38,000 the heart of the parent that wants the very best 315 00:23:38,119 --> 00:23:41,279 for their child. They want their child to be in 316 00:23:41,599 --> 00:23:46,160 you know, these so called safe environments. They want them 317 00:23:46,240 --> 00:23:49,400 to be places. This is the language of the left, 318 00:23:49,440 --> 00:23:52,480 of course, they want them to be places of belonging, 319 00:23:53,079 --> 00:23:57,519 all of these sorts of words kindness. And let me 320 00:23:57,559 --> 00:24:00,799 give you another example of that. Talking to you from 321 00:24:00,839 --> 00:24:04,200 the des Moines metro area, des Moines, Isle. A couple 322 00:24:04,240 --> 00:24:06,880 of months ago, it was learned that the Des Moines 323 00:24:07,160 --> 00:24:13,400 Public School System had hired now two years ago, not 324 00:24:13,480 --> 00:24:17,160 only in a legal immigrant to serve as their superintendent 325 00:24:17,359 --> 00:24:22,200 of education, but an illegal immigrant who had a long 326 00:24:22,440 --> 00:24:27,799 rap sheet and criminal convictions for some very serious crimes. 327 00:24:28,680 --> 00:24:32,440 That was truly a black eye on the des Moines 328 00:24:33,160 --> 00:24:38,160 School System and the people that hired this individual. But 329 00:24:38,240 --> 00:24:42,119 I think it exposed something else. It exposed this push, 330 00:24:42,559 --> 00:24:48,480 particularly in inner city school districts, to be full representative 331 00:24:48,640 --> 00:24:55,079 of the DEI diversity, equity inclusion marketplace and to bring 332 00:24:55,279 --> 00:25:00,400 those people in to serve the people who pushed this stuff, 333 00:25:00,519 --> 00:25:07,119 to serve their school districts where emotional learning and inclusive 334 00:25:07,319 --> 00:25:13,240 and equitable learning become a priority to actual learning to 335 00:25:13,400 --> 00:25:18,839 be you know, productive citizens and good citizens in our society. 336 00:25:19,680 --> 00:25:22,599 Moving forward. And I remember one of the terms that 337 00:25:22,799 --> 00:25:25,359 came out of that when it was first announced that 338 00:25:25,400 --> 00:25:29,119 Ice had arrested this guy. His name was, his name 339 00:25:29,240 --> 00:25:33,799 is Ian Roberts. He is facing deportation. Yeah. And at 340 00:25:33,839 --> 00:25:39,279 the time, the school board president a chairwoman who was 341 00:25:39,400 --> 00:25:43,240 running for Senate as a pretty far left Democrat. I 342 00:25:43,240 --> 00:25:48,119 think she was an assistant for Michelle Obama at one point. 343 00:25:49,519 --> 00:25:53,039 I remember her saying, listen, we don't know everything why 344 00:25:53,160 --> 00:25:56,279 this happened, but I think we should take a cue 345 00:25:56,359 --> 00:26:01,480 from Ian Roberts, our superintendent, who has in books and 346 00:26:02,240 --> 00:26:07,759 led a whole educational philosophy on what he called radical empathy. 347 00:26:08,640 --> 00:26:11,480 And I thought to myself at the time, these folks 348 00:26:11,519 --> 00:26:16,240 are absolutely captured, and they are captured at the absolute 349 00:26:16,400 --> 00:26:19,839 detriment of school children. And it's not just des Moines, 350 00:26:19,880 --> 00:26:24,519 it's across the country. What do you think as these 351 00:26:24,640 --> 00:26:28,359 kinds of stories play out, and not necessarily as dramatic 352 00:26:28,400 --> 00:26:30,839 as Ice picking up your superintendent for being an a 353 00:26:30,920 --> 00:26:34,240 legal immigrant with the you know, as an ex con, 354 00:26:35,359 --> 00:26:43,839 but you know, this sort of educational leader leading our children, 355 00:26:44,119 --> 00:26:45,559 our teachers, our schools. 356 00:26:48,319 --> 00:26:51,759 Speaker 2: Yeah, so much of this in education is coming from 357 00:26:51,920 --> 00:26:57,839 or founded by these funded by rather these foundations and 358 00:26:57,960 --> 00:27:01,960 these NGOs, and they are all steam ahead on equity. 359 00:27:03,079 --> 00:27:07,559 DEI might be dead on the surface layers, but it 360 00:27:07,680 --> 00:27:10,759 is fully embedded in all of this. This is how 361 00:27:10,880 --> 00:27:17,119 DEI goes underground, particularly again with software, but it's it 362 00:27:17,240 --> 00:27:20,480 is in. I believe eighty three percent of the schools 363 00:27:21,440 --> 00:27:25,720 and ninety percent of our students are affected by SEL. 364 00:27:26,400 --> 00:27:26,799 Speaker 1: Wow. 365 00:27:26,960 --> 00:27:29,160 Speaker 2: And I think you said forty nine states, but all 366 00:27:29,200 --> 00:27:33,480 fifty states have at least an SEL statewide standard for 367 00:27:33,680 --> 00:27:39,559 pre K. So but you know, I'm a chapter chair 368 00:27:39,599 --> 00:27:43,160 in Moms for Liberty, and when I got involved in this, 369 00:27:44,359 --> 00:27:48,640 it felt like whack a mole. We've got were grassroots organization, 370 00:27:49,640 --> 00:27:51,839 and all of our chapters all over the country are 371 00:27:51,920 --> 00:27:54,079 kind of doing their own thing. All we all have 372 00:27:54,160 --> 00:27:57,599 parental rights as the focus. But it really felt like 373 00:27:57,640 --> 00:28:00,839 whack a mole. One chapter would be fighting this particular 374 00:28:00,920 --> 00:28:04,720 curriculum or trying to get this resource out of their school, 375 00:28:04,799 --> 00:28:07,079 or this poster that this teacher used, and it was, 376 00:28:07,240 --> 00:28:09,920 you know, every time, a year long fight or more 377 00:28:10,039 --> 00:28:13,200 to get rid of this textbook or that program, and 378 00:28:13,240 --> 00:28:15,720 then another one would pop up right behind it with 379 00:28:15,839 --> 00:28:20,319 the same sorts of things. Embedded. So all of this 380 00:28:20,519 --> 00:28:25,680 just keeps rebranding and it keeps parents off guard, and 381 00:28:25,720 --> 00:28:29,599 we're always playing defense. So it just started to seem 382 00:28:29,680 --> 00:28:32,640 to me that we've got to step back and learn 383 00:28:32,680 --> 00:28:37,759 to recognize just the broader patterns all of this psychology 384 00:28:37,960 --> 00:28:42,559 embedded in what should be academics and overall, where's it 385 00:28:42,599 --> 00:28:48,160 coming from. It's all tied to the UN. Basically, it's global. 386 00:28:49,799 --> 00:28:54,119 So as long as the UN and the World Economic 387 00:28:54,680 --> 00:29:00,000 Forum corporations which are partnered are all pushing sustainable development 388 00:29:01,559 --> 00:29:06,480 and essentially collectivism, that is where that has really become 389 00:29:06,480 --> 00:29:08,799 the root of all this. It started in the US 390 00:29:08,799 --> 00:29:12,200 with Castle, but it has gone global, and all of 391 00:29:12,240 --> 00:29:15,880 the corporations involved in providing the software and the learning 392 00:29:15,960 --> 00:29:19,559 materials for our kids are one hundred percent bought in. 393 00:29:21,119 --> 00:29:25,400 Speaker 1: It sounds like we are, through our schools, raising and 394 00:29:25,640 --> 00:29:30,960 educating the next generation of people who will ultimately enslave us. 395 00:29:32,119 --> 00:29:36,119 That is to say, they will have this kind of 396 00:29:37,839 --> 00:29:43,599 indoctrinated leftist learning and all of the things that we 397 00:29:43,720 --> 00:29:48,640 have really taken for granted in our republic will go. 398 00:29:49,119 --> 00:29:52,359 And it won't be you know, a battle in the street. 399 00:29:53,359 --> 00:29:59,279 It will go without resistance because that's where the left 400 00:29:59,400 --> 00:30:04,200 has I think smartly understood for a long time. And 401 00:30:04,279 --> 00:30:06,880 if you're going to win long term, you're going to 402 00:30:06,960 --> 00:30:10,720 have to change the system of education in America. 403 00:30:12,279 --> 00:30:15,880 Speaker 2: That is correct. They came to us with empathy and 404 00:30:15,920 --> 00:30:21,160 self awareness lessons, they embedded them into everything, and then 405 00:30:21,200 --> 00:30:26,119 they changed, moved the goalposts, they politicized everything, and now 406 00:30:26,160 --> 00:30:32,960 it's all about power and oppression, critical theory, identity politics. 407 00:30:33,400 --> 00:30:38,720 And yes, they are creating a generation raised this way 408 00:30:38,839 --> 00:30:43,200 and often their parents, the parents don't even know. It's 409 00:30:43,240 --> 00:30:45,720 a wedge between the children and the parents are creating 410 00:30:46,240 --> 00:30:47,000 a red guard. 411 00:30:48,039 --> 00:30:51,799 Speaker 1: Mm hmm. Well, social emotional learning and all of this 412 00:30:51,880 --> 00:30:56,240 stuff was sold to us. Cell was sold to us 413 00:30:57,119 --> 00:31:03,240 as a way to ring up, you know, test scores, 414 00:31:03,440 --> 00:31:07,839 to bring up academic accomplishments, because at the time there 415 00:31:07,920 --> 00:31:11,720 was grave concern, as it still remains today, that we 416 00:31:11,720 --> 00:31:15,519 were falling way behind the industrialized world in terms of 417 00:31:15,519 --> 00:31:20,400 our academic skills in our kids, and so this was 418 00:31:20,440 --> 00:31:26,920 sold as a way to lift up the bar. It 419 00:31:26,960 --> 00:31:29,519 has failed to do that. As we take a look 420 00:31:29,559 --> 00:31:33,319 at the National report Card and the Nation's report Card, 421 00:31:33,440 --> 00:31:36,160 all of these by every measure, it seems to me. 422 00:31:37,359 --> 00:31:42,160 If it was designed to lift academic achievement, it has 423 00:31:42,319 --> 00:31:45,920 abjectly failed. Is that what you found in your research? 424 00:31:46,960 --> 00:31:50,200 Speaker 2: It has? I think it's just redirected to focus. You know, 425 00:31:50,279 --> 00:31:54,359 everything has an opportunity cost. If you spend what should 426 00:31:54,359 --> 00:31:58,880 be academic time in circle time sharing about your feelings 427 00:31:58,920 --> 00:32:02,200 and who might have marginalized to you. You are not 428 00:32:02,960 --> 00:32:03,880 studying algebra. 429 00:32:06,279 --> 00:32:09,559 Speaker 1: Yeah, you definitely, you definitely are not. Here's a I 430 00:32:09,599 --> 00:32:13,960 think an interesting part of this, as has been noted 431 00:32:13,960 --> 00:32:16,759 in your book and and those who are you know 432 00:32:17,359 --> 00:32:22,599 like you tracking this s e l slips into classrooms 433 00:32:22,880 --> 00:32:26,359 with confusing tools and routines you just mentioned it, like 434 00:32:26,599 --> 00:32:36,039 circle time confessions, resilient circles, feelings check ins, and goal 435 00:32:36,200 --> 00:32:40,680 setting sessions that sound warm and wholesome but are more 436 00:32:40,799 --> 00:32:46,359 therapy than education. What is this garbage? Circle time confessions? 437 00:32:46,440 --> 00:32:48,960 Why are the why do the kids have to confess 438 00:32:49,160 --> 00:32:52,519 anything in a circle, let alone in a school? 439 00:32:53,200 --> 00:32:56,599 Speaker 2: Oh? Yes, that the you in the UN says that 440 00:32:56,720 --> 00:33:01,039 circle time must be confidential for for the sharing to 441 00:33:01,079 --> 00:33:06,960 be more authentic. Yeah, so teachers. Teachers are essentially being 442 00:33:07,000 --> 00:33:10,920 asked to act as therapists, which they are not trained 443 00:33:11,039 --> 00:33:13,839 to do. And in the case is where it's only 444 00:33:13,880 --> 00:33:17,119 happening through software and not the teachers, then there is 445 00:33:17,160 --> 00:33:24,000 no informed consent children children's data should not be pulled 446 00:33:24,039 --> 00:33:28,599 by corporate software. And no matter how much a school says, oh, 447 00:33:28,640 --> 00:33:34,640 we are FURBA compliant, that's meaningless because FERBA was amended 448 00:33:34,680 --> 00:33:39,599 in twenty eleven to essentially undermine parents. Parents can no 449 00:33:39,680 --> 00:33:44,440 longer protect their children's data from any company, any private 450 00:33:44,480 --> 00:33:50,160 company that is designated as an authorized representative of the school. 451 00:33:50,839 --> 00:33:53,480 Speaker 1: Why is that? That is astounding? And I think that 452 00:33:53,480 --> 00:33:56,640 would be astounding to most Americans. Why do they have 453 00:33:57,039 --> 00:34:01,119 that level of protection to be this invasive in the 454 00:34:01,160 --> 00:34:03,160 lives of our children and our families. 455 00:34:04,599 --> 00:34:08,360 Speaker 2: It's interesting. And when that happened in twenty eleven, there 456 00:34:08,360 --> 00:34:12,920 were lawsuits. The ACLU was screaming about it, alarms were raised, 457 00:34:13,639 --> 00:34:19,719 but the Department of Education actually amended FURPA, which it 458 00:34:19,800 --> 00:34:23,639 is argued that they don't have the authority to do. 459 00:34:24,559 --> 00:34:28,079 But the lawsuit was dismissed, not on merits, but on standing. 460 00:34:30,119 --> 00:34:35,320 Speaker 1: On standing. Yeah, so that's the first and foremost thing. 461 00:34:35,360 --> 00:34:38,920 You mentioned the how and you have provided the light 462 00:34:39,159 --> 00:34:42,119 on this subject. I should say that the section I 463 00:34:42,159 --> 00:34:47,519 read about the circle time confessions and resilient circles and 464 00:34:47,559 --> 00:34:51,159 all that stuff is from a great op ed about 465 00:34:51,199 --> 00:34:56,280 this book in particular and about sel in general that 466 00:34:56,719 --> 00:35:01,119 was published just maybe a week or so ago in 467 00:35:01,159 --> 00:35:06,320 the New York Post. You can find it there. But yeah, 468 00:35:07,199 --> 00:35:11,760 I think the first step has to be consent of 469 00:35:12,400 --> 00:35:16,000 the parents of the guardians. They need to know what 470 00:35:16,239 --> 00:35:18,679 is going on. They need to have the ability to 471 00:35:18,719 --> 00:35:21,159 audit this stuff, and they need to have the ability 472 00:35:21,199 --> 00:35:24,320 to say no. So I'm curious, are there any is 473 00:35:24,360 --> 00:35:29,400 there a legal movement out there? If this was based 474 00:35:29,440 --> 00:35:33,239 on standing, it must mean that there have to be 475 00:35:34,079 --> 00:35:38,559 actual victims of this, and of course there are victims 476 00:35:38,599 --> 00:35:44,159 across the country of this. If a parent influenced or 477 00:35:45,039 --> 00:35:48,679 affected by this, if they would take a lawsuit, you 478 00:35:48,679 --> 00:35:51,840 think that would change the dynamic in the litigation. 479 00:35:53,000 --> 00:35:55,800 Speaker 2: I would certainly love to see a lawsuit over this. 480 00:35:56,360 --> 00:35:59,840 There was a recent case. I might get the name wrong. 481 00:35:59,880 --> 00:36:04,559 It think it was my mood the tailor. Sure, so 482 00:36:04,760 --> 00:36:08,800 that that one, you know, I wonder if that couldn't 483 00:36:08,800 --> 00:36:12,719 be applied here. If you there really is a strong 484 00:36:12,880 --> 00:36:17,199 case there's a religious thread running through social emotional learning. 485 00:36:17,760 --> 00:36:20,239 So I'm not sure how directly it could be applied, 486 00:36:21,440 --> 00:36:27,559 but the early Buddhist origins, the New Age spiritualism built in, 487 00:36:29,039 --> 00:36:32,039 perhaps perhaps there's something there. I'm not I'm not a lawyer, 488 00:36:33,199 --> 00:36:39,480 but parents definitely need to be given the opportunity to 489 00:36:39,800 --> 00:36:41,719 I would say it should be an opt in. Actually 490 00:36:41,760 --> 00:36:44,159 I was about to say give the opportunity to opt out, 491 00:36:44,960 --> 00:36:47,320 but this should really be an opt in. You should 492 00:36:47,360 --> 00:36:50,199 be fully informed of what these what data these systems 493 00:36:50,199 --> 00:36:53,760 are collecting, and what's being done with the data, any 494 00:36:53,800 --> 00:36:56,960 possible harms that could come from these systems using your 495 00:36:57,000 --> 00:37:00,360 child's data. There's many opportunity to out. 496 00:37:00,719 --> 00:37:03,000 Speaker 1: Yeah, it's amazing to me, Priscilla, that we have that 497 00:37:03,119 --> 00:37:07,400 opt out option in so many things in our lives, 498 00:37:07,440 --> 00:37:12,679 from you know, being bombarded with ads and messages from 499 00:37:13,079 --> 00:37:17,079 some cell phone company, you know, a smartphone company, to 500 00:37:17,679 --> 00:37:24,079 our health networks. Yet this is about as basic a 501 00:37:24,239 --> 00:37:29,360 need for opting out that you can imagine, and we 502 00:37:29,559 --> 00:37:36,760 have had politicians, lawmakers who won't allow that. That's just 503 00:37:36,840 --> 00:37:37,639 amazing to me. 504 00:37:38,519 --> 00:37:41,239 Speaker 2: That's right. It's kind of you've got the combination of 505 00:37:41,280 --> 00:37:46,960 these public private partnerships in education, which the private partners 506 00:37:47,079 --> 00:37:49,639 get all of this done. And then the public partners 507 00:37:49,679 --> 00:37:54,599 come in and fund it and mandate it. With that, 508 00:37:54,679 --> 00:37:58,760 combined with the opacity of it all and Furba being 509 00:37:59,000 --> 00:38:03,599 essentially gutted, there really isn't a lot of recourse, and 510 00:38:03,639 --> 00:38:07,039 you've got a captive audience. Children have to use all 511 00:38:07,079 --> 00:38:10,000 of this software, and they have to do the SEL 512 00:38:10,119 --> 00:38:13,639 lessons whatever their teacher puts in front of them, and 513 00:38:13,760 --> 00:38:17,519 they're told to keep it in the circle M So 514 00:38:17,719 --> 00:38:18,639 parents are in the dark. 515 00:38:20,000 --> 00:38:23,840 Speaker 1: It's interesting to me. There was a story recently, some 516 00:38:24,199 --> 00:38:28,920 good reporting, I must say, in Wisconsin where they had 517 00:38:29,000 --> 00:38:34,159 found teachers being able to keep their licenses. We're talking 518 00:38:34,199 --> 00:38:40,880 about hundreds of teachers involved in either sexual assault, sexual 519 00:38:40,880 --> 00:38:45,760 abuses of children, or grooming. All of this stuff has 520 00:38:45,840 --> 00:38:53,239 really raised the concern of groomers and pedophiles in our 521 00:38:53,360 --> 00:38:59,960 school systems. Do you believe that this social emotional learn 522 00:39:00,119 --> 00:39:05,880 name the whole inclusion doctrine. Do you think that has 523 00:39:06,760 --> 00:39:12,480 raised not just the academic dangers, but the psychological and 524 00:39:12,719 --> 00:39:14,480 physical dangers to our children. 525 00:39:15,719 --> 00:39:18,760 Speaker 2: I do. I think it really lays the groundwork all 526 00:39:18,800 --> 00:39:24,280 of this. I call it weaponized empathy. If a child 527 00:39:24,440 --> 00:39:30,800 is told repeatedly that words are being non inclusive can 528 00:39:30,880 --> 00:39:35,519 cause harm. So you know, you end up with the 529 00:39:35,559 --> 00:39:39,800 furries in the bathroom, or you end up with biological 530 00:39:39,840 --> 00:39:43,000 males in the girl's bathroom because the child is told 531 00:39:43,079 --> 00:39:47,119 not to say anything that would be harmful. So certainly 532 00:39:47,800 --> 00:39:53,360 we have seen that. And if speech, we've seen a 533 00:39:53,480 --> 00:39:57,760 rise in violence. If speech is seen as harm or 534 00:39:57,800 --> 00:40:03,800 as violence, then you know, you could actually justify your 535 00:40:03,880 --> 00:40:07,679 violence as self defense. And I think that's the mindset 536 00:40:07,719 --> 00:40:10,800 that's getting into a lot of these kids. 537 00:40:12,079 --> 00:40:14,480 Speaker 1: Yes, it's getting into a lot of society. That's what 538 00:40:14,559 --> 00:40:18,679 we have seen from I think from the leftist Marxist 539 00:40:18,760 --> 00:40:23,559 movement in America in assassination culture. Have some very interesting 540 00:40:23,679 --> 00:40:29,119 studies from Rutgers in partnership with a research firm earlier 541 00:40:29,199 --> 00:40:32,079 this year showing that fifty five percent of those who 542 00:40:32,119 --> 00:40:35,880 identify as left leaning believe that some level it's justifiable 543 00:40:35,960 --> 00:40:42,920 to assassinate the president, President Trump or cabinet members and 544 00:40:42,960 --> 00:40:44,000 those sorts of things. 545 00:40:44,320 --> 00:40:48,440 Speaker 2: Well, you had in twenty nineteen, Castle, the organization that 546 00:40:48,599 --> 00:40:52,679 defined sel that invented it from whole cloth and defined it. 547 00:40:53,840 --> 00:40:58,280 They changed the definition in twenty nineteen to explicitly push 548 00:40:58,800 --> 00:41:03,159 identity politics activism. So you know, and you've got you 549 00:41:03,280 --> 00:41:08,360 in publications about social justice. Sel for Social Justice, so 550 00:41:09,920 --> 00:41:11,840 it's they're not hiding it. 551 00:41:13,599 --> 00:41:17,519 Speaker 1: So final question, and I often ask it as we 552 00:41:17,840 --> 00:41:22,719 end these conversations about important topics, the question is where 553 00:41:22,719 --> 00:41:24,159 do we go from here? 554 00:41:27,280 --> 00:41:31,159 Speaker 2: Well, I don't have the answers, but as I said, 555 00:41:31,239 --> 00:41:34,639 I wrote the book to inform parents and to open 556 00:41:34,679 --> 00:41:38,440 eyes about what's really happening. I think that is that's 557 00:41:38,480 --> 00:41:43,599 the first step, is equipping parents and educators to dig deeper. 558 00:41:44,559 --> 00:41:49,559 We kept it really short, concise, because we want this knowledge, 559 00:41:49,639 --> 00:41:56,320 this understanding, this bigger picture to really be widespread. So 560 00:41:57,440 --> 00:41:59,559 we want you to read it, stay awake while you're 561 00:41:59,599 --> 00:42:03,199 reading it. Very short, so buy it, share it, and 562 00:42:03,280 --> 00:42:06,400 give a copy to your favorite teacher or school board member, 563 00:42:07,480 --> 00:42:10,880 even give it to your legislator, because this has got 564 00:42:10,920 --> 00:42:18,280 to be tackled en mass. 565 00:42:16,360 --> 00:42:19,519 Speaker 1: Nothing more important, obviously than the future of our children, 566 00:42:19,719 --> 00:42:22,719 which is the future of this republic. Thanks to my 567 00:42:22,760 --> 00:42:27,480 guest today, Briscilla West, education researcher with the Government Accountability 568 00:42:27,519 --> 00:42:31,199 Institute and author of the New Face of Woke Education, 569 00:42:32,039 --> 00:42:34,960 you've been listening to another edition of the Federalist Radio Hour. 570 00:42:35,119 --> 00:42:39,159 I'm Matt Kittle, Senior Elections correspondent at The Federalist. We'll 571 00:42:39,199 --> 00:42:43,760 be back soon with more. Until then, stay lovers of freedom, 572 00:42:43,800 --> 00:42:58,280 anxious for the fray.