Guest column: It’s time to put ‘woke schools’ myth to bed; address real issues instead

Recently, the 54th annual PDK Poll of the Public’s Attitudes Toward the Public Schools was released. This report, which has spanned several decades now, details findings on how adults across the nation perceive their local schools, teachers and the education profession, among other things. Over the years, most adults have given high marks to their local schools and their local teachers; most people are happy with the schools where they live.

More interestingly, this year’s report contains results that raise some serious questions about the current attack on public schools and public school teachers. This year’s report states, “… the public gives high ratings to their local public schools and teachers … ratings for the public school in their communities are at a five-decade high.”

In short, according to this well-respected poll, adults in our country are more pleased with public schools today than in any other time in the past 50 years.

However, in the recent Republican primary runoff election for the state schools superintendent, some of the major talking points focused on schools being places of “liberal indoctrination” and “woke teachers.” In fact, the winner of the Republican primary, Ryan Walters, has used this language at great length and has accused districts and district superintendents of being proactive in promoting “liberal ideology.”

This raises a serious conundrum. If Walters is correct and our schools are “indoctrinating” students with liberal ideology, that means a majority of adults are PLEASED that this is occurring. In fact, if Walters' perceptions on “woke teachers” are true, based on the KDP poll it sounds like parents prefer this over what they have been experiencing in the past.

However, most professional educators and those inside schools know what is really going on in classrooms. We know teachers are NOT out to indoctrinate students; there are NOT scores of “woke teachers” waiting to push liberal agendas in the classroom, particularly here in one of the reddest states in the Union. Adults know this, too, as can be seen by the KDP poll. Parents are happy with their local schools. Parents don’t fear the schools they know, which is probably true of Walters and the schools he experiences firsthand.

It is time for elected leaders in our state to deal with the real issues in education. “Woke teachers” are mythical figures created to instill fear in residents and to capture votes; they are not the issue. Let’s rally around the real needs of educators and kids in our state. Let’s work collectively to bring respect to the profession; let’s find ways to better compensate teachers; let’s explore ways to address the teacher shortage.

In short, let’s put to bed the myth of “Woke Schools” in Oklahoma and work together on addressing the real issues in education.

Dan Vincent, Ph.D., is a public school advocate and professor of education.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Ryan Walters’ accusations against Oklahoma schools should rest