Faith in the Institutions
There is a new faith in our institutions. Not the “I believe they will perform as intended” type of faith but a religious type of faith. Not the religion that gets coaches fired for leading a prayer at half time, it’s a new one – and it’s called Woke. Woke is a gnostic faith, meaning that the faithful have obtained special knowledge - they see what others do not. In the case of Woke, this special knowledge is that the United States is systemically racist. To the faithful, disparate outcome by race in any number of circumstances (e.g. academic achievement, professional status, incarceration, household income, etc.) is the proof. Because of this, American ideals of self-determination and meritocracy must be replaced with equity. Equity is a word that sounds like equality but means something else entirely. It is the process of reconstructing systems to achieve a utopian notion of equal outcome. The tools it uses are never officially disclosed, but mostly involve discrimination against the “advantaged” and the lowering of achievement standards altogether.
And this gnostic faith is showing up everywhere in our Nevada County institutions.
You will find it in Goal 3 of the 2021/2022 Nevada Joint Union High School District Local Control and Accountability Plan (LCAP): “Our district prioritizes equity, promoting an inclusive and safe school culture and climate, free from bias…”.
The County Board of Supervisors notes in their Newsflash web page that: “The Nevada County Behavioral Health Director…. was recently among 21 behavioral health professionals from across the country who completed the first-ever Equity-Grounded Leadership (EGL) Fellow Program, an 11-month course to develop skills centered on diversity, equity, and inclusion.”
If you are not particularly fervent in the faith, the institutions will train you to absorb and promote it. In 2023, two NJUHSD Board Members and the Superintendent attended training by the California School Board Association to “collaborate and build capacity to govern through the lens of equity that will lead to improved opportunities and outcomes for historically and marginalized students”.
These Faith-based initiatives permeate the School system. If you attend your local school board meeting, you are far more likely to hear about safe environments, re-imagining discipline, toxic mental stress, stopping micro-aggressions or social emotional learning than you are to hear about advancing academic achievement or reversing the learning loss of the last several years. Social emotional learning? Where did that slick name come from and what lies beneath its murky surface?
If our education system leaders and teachers are taught to see all things through the lens of equity, what belief system will be inculcated in their students?
I saw an enchanting dance performance last week from a local youth dance company (my daughter being one of the dancers). They rented the Bear River Amphitheater to perform an interpretation of “Alice in Wonderland”. As I sat in the High School amphitheater and watched the beautiful and graceful young Alice follow the White Rabbit down into the well, I couldn’t help but think of the children of Nevada County innocently following Woke into the abyss.
