Woke Education Is Going Strong, Even in Middle America

Schools in Wauwatosa, Wis., embrace far-left fads from ‘gender identity’ to ‘restorative justice.’

By Daniel Buck. He is a senior visiting fellow at the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty. Excerpts:

"Examination of a typical American school district in a typical American town reveals that the progressive mismanagement of school districts extends beyond the dark-blue borders of San Francisco and Portland, Ore."

"auwatosa, Wis., a suburb of Milwaukee, is about as average as it gets."

"In 2022 the Wauwatosa school board approved a new sex-education curriculum. Among other things, it expects sixth-graders to define different types of sexual intercourse. Kindergartners learn about genitalia with the help of cartoon drawings and third-graders are informed that, no matter their body parts, they may feel like another “gender.” Notably, the newly adopted units are based on the National Sex Education Standards, which encourage teaching third-graders about puberty blockers, sixth-graders about abortion and students as young as kindergarten about “gender identity.”"

"Wauwatosa is one of thousands of districts to have adopted a “restorative justice” policy. This is an alternative to traditional discipline structures that emphasizes dialogue over punishment and focuses on revising school policy rather than changing student behavior."

"disruptive students received treats “in the form of food and beverages” and a chance to play games in the office instead of a standard detention."

"Wauwatosa schools have developed a reputation for permissive discipline and frequent fights. The chaos that results from leniency has led to more expulsion notices than is typical."

"The board voted last month to close a high-performing STEM school in the district"

"at least 37% of American students learn about gender ideology at school." 

"cities across the country . . . are axing their advanced curricular offerings."