What I Learned Teaching DEI and Woke Content in My Education Courses

Inside the classroom: A professor's candid take on the culture wars that have shaped higher ed.

Desks arranged for group work. Group work, or cooperative learning includes woke concepts. Photo by Matthew Bamberg

As I begin my retirement from university teaching, I write about my experiences teaching Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) as it is implemented in education. The definitions and descriptions of DEI concepts are based upon database research.

Introduction

Most politicians are not educators. If they were they would be aware of conscientization: The action or process of making others aware of political and social conditions, especially as a precursor to challenging inequalities of treatment or opportunity; the fact of being aware of these conditions.

University courses that teach about conscientization are directly related to the idea of critical race theory and are vital for new teachers to understand at-risk students, students from lower socioeconomic classes of all races, and English Language Learners. These students are often the focus of teacher-training university c…