Brooks: ‘Overwhelmingly Progressive’ Teacher Training Helps Spread Inaccurate History, But Use of ‘Woke’ Is ‘Offensive’

On Friday’s “PBS NewsHour,” New York Times columnist David Brooks stated that he finds “the use of the word ‘woke’ offensive” but “the educational schools where teachers go to get trained are overwhelmingly progressive, unrepresentative of the country, and they’re spreading curriculums that are probably unrepresentative of the country” and are spreading an inaccurate version of American history.

Brooks said, “I hate…the way that the word ‘woke’ has stood in for all of this. If you do want to say the educational schools where teachers go to get trained are overwhelmingly progressive, unrepresentative of the country, and they’re spreading curriculums that are probably unrepresentative of the country that a lot of conservative and moderate families find uncomfortable, then I would agree with that. And that would be a way to say that they are spreading a version of American history which is elementally and exclusively between oppressor and oppressed groups. Now, I think part of American history is between oppressor and oppressed groups, but there are a lot of different stories of American history that I would want to see represented.”

He continued, “Now, that speech I just gave, if I gave it on the presidential stump, everyone would fall asleep, so. But I find the use of the word ‘woke’ offensive. But if they want to say there’s something wrong with the way education has evolved in this country, then I think that’s actually a reasonable argument.”

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett