By Ron Paul, MD
“Woke” culture has become so prominent in the American education system that it would not be surprising to learn that schools were replacing the once popular rhyme “sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me” with “sticks and stones may break my bones but opinions I disagree with can make me feel unsafe so they must be silenced.”
Take the case of 12-year-old Liam Morrison, a student at Nichols Middle School in Middleborough, Massachusetts. This March, Liam was told to change his shirt or be sent home. School staff are reported to have said his shirt targeted a “protected class.” Liam says he was told his shirt was making some students feel unsafe. Did Liam’s shirt advocate violence? No, Liam’s shirt simply stated that there are only two genders.
A free society cannot exist where a substantial portion of its population demands and receives protection from exposure to opposing ideas. If the history of authoritarianism teaches us anything it is that those in positions of power are often willing to provide a frightened people with “security” as long as the people are willing to sacrifice their and their fellow citizens’ liberty.
Fighting the woke agenda is therefore not, as some libertarians claim, a culture war distraction from the pursuit of liberty; instead, fighting the woke agenda is crucial to restoring a free society. Of course, this means working to roll back government power by, for example, shutting down the unconstitutional Department of Education and getting Congress to pass legislation forbidding government officials from telling social media companies to censor certain American citizens. We must also resist joining those misguided conservatives who are calling on the right to seek to use government power to impose a right-wing version of wokeness on the American people.
The backlash against wokeness in schools is leading more parents to either become involved in their local school boards or to look for alternatives such as homeschooling. Parents who are interested in a homeschooling program that provides children with a well-rounded education that will help their child awake but not become “woke” should consider my homeschool curriculum.
The Ron Paul Curriculum provides students with a well-rounded education that includes rigorous programs in history, mathematics, and the physical and natural sciences. The curriculum also provides instruction in personal finance. Students can develop superior written and oral communication skills via intensive writing and public speaking courses. Another feature of my curriculum is that it provides students the opportunity to create and run their own Internet businesses.
The government and history sections of the curriculum emphasize Austrian economics, libertarian political theory, and the history of liberty. However, unlike government schools, my curriculum never puts ideological indoctrination ahead of education. Interactive forums allow students to engage with and learn from each other. The forums ensure students are actively engaged in their education as well as give them an opportunity to interact with their peers outside of a formal setting.
I encourage all parents looking at alternatives to government schools —alternatives that provide children with a well-rounded education that will allow them to learn about the history and ideas of liberty instead of pushing on them “wokeness” and the lies of the cultural Marxists — to go to RonPaulCurriculum.com for more information about my homeschooling program.
Dr. Ron Paul is a former member of Congress and Distinguished Counselor to the Mises Institute.
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