Critical Theory and Education

James Lindsay discusses how critical theory has infiltrated education, particularly in K-12 schools. He explains the history of this infiltration and its impact on children's education.

The Long March Through the Institutions

• The phrase "the long march through the institutions" was coined by communist Rudy Deutschke in 1966.

• In the early 1970s, there was a concerted effort to infiltrate education with Marxist thinking.

• The goal was to capture Educational Theory, then colleges of Education, then teachers.

Impact on Children's Education

• James Lindsay's book "The Markification of Education" details how Marxist thinking has infiltrated children's education over the last 70 years.

• Woke ideology is now prevalent in many classrooms, redefining words like democracy and phrases like social emotional learning.

• Parents can easily spot woke ideology in their children's classrooms.

The Cult of Critical Pedagogy

• Critical theory is not just a set of ideas but a cult indoctrination.

• There is no open debate or marketplace of ideas for seven-year-olds who are being taught by authority figures.

• James Lindsay co-authored "Cynical Theories" which explains how activist scholarship made everything about race, gender, and identity and why this harms everybody.

The Critical Turn in Education

In this section, the speaker discusses how Marxist educator Isaac Gottesman's book "The Critical Turn in Education" explains that by 1992, Paulo Freire's work had become dominant in colleges of education. The goal was to change the educational system from within by altering the content, curriculum and pedagogy.

Implementation of Freire's Educational Theory

• For over 30 years, colleges of education have been under Marxist control.

• Changes were made slowly from within the educational system.

• Legal changes occurred in 2015 with the Every Student Succeeds Act which allowed for a rapid shift towards radical education theory.

Understanding Freire's Educational Theory

• True education is political education according to Freire.

• Academic material is used as an excuse to have political conversations with students.

• The conversation is done using a particular method called consientization which aims to awaken a consciousness of real-life conditions politically.

• The ultimate goal is to bring students to a critical Marxist consciousness.

Critique of Freire's Educational Theory

• While it may be true that all education has political implications, Freire goes further by suggesting that his Marxist politics should replace existing politics.

• This technique is called dialectical inversion where he claims that both sides have politics but only his side knows where the other side went wrong.

Political Thought and Conscientization

In this section, the speaker discusses political thought and conscientization. He explains that there are different layers of political thought, and that conscientization is a process by which individuals are awakened to the political undercurrents in their lives.

Layers of Political Thought

• There are different layers of political thought.

• Political means more than one thing.

• There are basic assumptions about what it means to be human, how the world works, how we interact with the world, and what kind of political organization our society has.

Conscientization

• Conscientization is the awakening of occult consciousness through critical Marxism or critical theory.

• It involves using a mediator such as a math lesson to provide political knowledge.

• The process includes codification decodification, reading phase, problematizing it, personalizing it or making it concrete to radicalize them.

• The idea is to awaken an awareness that there's a political undercurrent to everything.

How Critical Theory Succeeds

In this section, the speaker talks about why critical theory was able to succeed in American institutions. He explains that classical liberalism's emphasis on free speech allowed for critical theorists to use their tools to destroy classical liberalism itself.

Critique and Criticism

• American mind is typically open to critique and criticism.

• Classical liberalism's emphasis on free speech allows for critical theorists to use their tools of critical theory against classical liberalism itself.

Collapse of Institutions

• Institutions collapsed quickly from 60s to 80s.

• The speaker believes that institutions collapsed because they were unable to withstand the onslaught of critical theory.

The Danger of Being Too Open-Minded

In this section, the speaker discusses how being too open-minded can lead to a lack of critical thinking and allow radical ideas to infiltrate academic institutions.

The Problem with Being Overly Open-Minded

• When individuals are too open-minded, they may let their guard down and allow radicals to come in without arguing in good faith.

• Academic institutions often create departments such as African-American studies or women's studies that emerge from feminist circles within English departments. These departments are created to appear progressive, but no one dares say no because they fear being accused of racism or sexism.

• Liberal academics tend not to be very discerning and take arguments at face value rather than adopting a critical attitude. They miss the ulterior motives and double meanings used by Marxist writers since Marx.

The Trap of Appearing Progressive

• Academics fall into the trap of appearing progressive by letting radical ideas into academic institutions. Once these ideas get in, it is virtually impossible to get them out.

• Academics had so much faith in the system during the 60s because they were running it. However, when people came in and accused them of taking part in a flawed system, instead of defending it as flawed but fixable, they dissociated themselves from it.

Seeking Approval from Elites

• People across society today seek approval from those who understand that approval is a weapon. Elites understand this more than anyone else because for so long many of their lifestyles and viewpoints were not approved by society.

• The Elites in our society are now seeking approval from those who were once fighting for their approval.

The Challenge of the Moral Authority

In this section, the speaker discusses how moral and intellectual authority are being undermined simultaneously. He also talks about how critical theory is used to manipulate people in academia.

Two-Dimensional Characters

• The idea is that you have these little two-dimensional characters and one discovers the third dimension kind of jump over the flat land right it goes into a different dimension he can move and do different things a different degree of freedom to be you know kind of.

Critical Theory

• Herbert Marcus's one-dimensional man was the most influential book in critical theory in the 1960s.

• The existing society makes you one-dimensional we need to be two-dimensional.

• Critical theory challenges both moral and intellectual authority.

Academia Manipulation

• Very smart people who are desperate to prove how smart they are that's literally their job in Academia.

• They have theorists telling them they don't understand what they wrote, which is often written basically in coded language.

• Intellectual Authority and moral Authority are used to manipulate people in academia.

Direct Action Part

In this section, the speaker talks about how activists use direct action to infiltrate institutions like colleges of education.

Henry Giroux

• Henry Giroux was an outright communist who was trying to figure out how to solve the problem of reproduction by doing all these innovative progressive things in his classroom teaching in Rhode Island.

• He read Paulo Ferrari's Pedagogy of the Oppressed and had an ecstatic religious experience.

• He went to colleges of Education around North America and got at least 100 professors tenured in those colleges.

Co-conspirators

• Activists and consultants from different woke organizations are going to schools and recruiting a small percentage of teachers in the school system as co-conspirators.

• They get a few people in there who will do the thing to get the ideology in, so then when Paulo Ferrari's next book comes out, say in this case in 1984, you have colleges of Education with moles literally inside who are eagerly going to champion that book.

Prospective Element

• Once you have about three percent of people who will become it's called renormalization who are absolutely intolerant the entire kind of go along to get along institution bends around that intolerance.

• There's a very long-range generational strategy that is used by activists to infiltrate institutions like colleges of education.

The Legal Changes in Education

In this section, the speaker discusses the legal changes that have occurred in education over the past five to ten years.

Changes in Accountability Standards

• The federal government has mandated accountability standards for schools if they want to receive federal funding.

• No Child Left Behind and Common Core were two major pushes towards accountability standards.

• Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), passed in 2015, requires reporting on non-academic competencies such as social and cultural competence.

Teacher Pipeline and Accreditation Pipeline

• There is a slowly metastasizing problem in the teacher pipeline, low licensure pipeline, and accreditation pipeline where institutions related to education are being taken over by activists who are doing their so-called Praxis.

• More teachers are learning about these changes through colleges of education.

• Teachers on the ground reported that paperwork quadrupled due to reporting requirements for schools to qualify for funding under ESSA.

Social Emotional Learning

• Social emotional learning is currently a hot topic in education.

• Collaborative for Academic Social Emotional Learning (CASEL), founded in 1994, helped lobby for ESSA and ensured that provisions were included.

The Sinister Side of Social Emotional Learning

In this section, the speaker discusses how social emotional learning is a brainwashing program that comes in a nice package. He explains how it is used to turn every academic subject into a social emotional subject and then taught through an equity lens, inclusion lens or sustainability lens.

Social Emotional Learning

• Classic setup where the federal bureaucracy requires something and then have the product ready to fill the gap and capture the whole market.

• Social emotional learning is a focus on teaching social and emotional skills with five core competency areas - self-awareness, self-management, responsible decision making, relationship skills, and social awareness.

• Castle uses false advertising by saying they have research showing that kids with better social emotional skills get better grades but never actually established that their program improves those.

• Linda darling Hammond is one of the architects of SEL who worked with Obama's and Biden's education transition team. She wrote the forward to the book called "The Handbook of Social Emotional Learning in Research and Praxis" back in 2015.

Brainwashing Tool

• Social emotional learning is a brainwashing program used as an entry point to turn every academic subject into a social emotional subject.

• They use academic material like math to teach relationship skills or self-management. Then they use that as an excuse to start having political conversations about what it means to manage yourself in awoke or sustainable or whatever buzzword of political references of the day.

• UNESCO has been writing about sustainable development goals for a few years in very creepy ways. The NEA has started to write about it explicitly and deliver model curriculum to teach children from K-12 to achieve the sustainable development goals in social emotional learning is the tool by which they're being taught to do it.

Teachers' Awareness

• It's unclear how conscious teachers are of what they're implementing or if it's mostly good-hearted third-grade teachers who go into school.

Understanding Cults and SEL

In this section, the speaker discusses their second-hand accounts of Castle, a cult-like organization. They explain how cults work and how they can be subtle in their approach to indoctrination. The speaker also gives an example of how social-emotional learning (SEL) can be used to generate political conversations in a math lesson.

How Cults Work

• The speaker has second-hand accounts from individuals who have had meetings with Castle.

• There is an inner circle within any given cult that knows what's really going on.

• Outside of the inner circle, there are those who are fully committed and those who have studied relevant doctrine.

• Most people involved in the cult are being exploited and don't know what's really going on.

Subtle Approach to Indoctrination

• Doubts about the cult are often turned into convincing members that they're not committed enough or that their doubts are part of the problem.

• Some teachers may be uncomfortable with the situation but others think it's just a job or a good thing.

• Social-emotional learning (SEL) can be used subtly to generate political conversations in lessons such as math.

Example of SEL in Math Lesson

• A word problem about driving to an amusement park is used as a generative theme for political conversations about socialism, redistribution, parental authority, feminism, sexuality, equity framing or sustainability framing dialogue.

The Importance of Traditional Education

In this section, the speaker discusses the importance of traditional education and how it is being hijacked by non-educational topics.

Hijacking Math Lessons

• The speaker argues that math lessons are being hijacked by non-educational topics such as feminism.

• He gives an example of a college in Florida that has been taken over by conservatives who want to teach traditional ideas about the United States, American history, and economics without any critical race theory or equity teachings.

Libertarian vs. Traditionalist Conservative Right

• The speaker talks about the battle between the libertarian right and traditionalist conservative right on how to fight against these non-educational topics.

• Some people believe that institutions should be open to all with critical pedagogy teachings while others believe that people who want to destroy the institution should not be allowed in.

Critical Theory as Cult Indoctrination

• The speaker argues that critical theory is not just a bunch of ideas but rather a cult indoctrination.

• He believes that people who do not want to be part of the game but rather break it have to be removed from their position of power.

Teaching Critical Race Theory in K-12 Education

• The speaker argues against teaching critical race theory in K-12 education because there is not enough time, children cannot think like adults, and they need boundaries to grow up within.

The Problem with Ideological Grooming in K-12 Schools

In this section, the speaker discusses the issue of ideological grooming in K-12 schools and how it can lead to inappropriate behavior towards children.

The Definition of Ideological Grooming

• Critical pedagogy is a teaching approach where the teacher and student learn from each other reciprocally.

• Ideological grooming is when an adult breaks down the boundary of authority between themselves and a child, which must be maintained even through adolescence. This leads to blurring boundaries between adults and children.

• When an adult suggests that parents won't understand or are not the people to go back to, they are using a blatant political lens through which to interpret the entire world. This is ideological grooming.

Screening for Sexual Misconduct

• If you can't tell if the whole game is to break down boundaries between adults and children, how are you going to screen for sexual misconduct?

• Without proper screening mechanisms, people will go into professions where they have access to children, leading to incidents of sexual misconduct.

• While college students may also be vulnerable adults for ideological capture, talking about children in this context makes no sense whatsoever.

The Flaws of Critical Race Theory

In this section, the speaker discusses critical race theory as a practice rather than a theory and how it's inherently unstable due to its focus on intentions rather than intellectual arguments.

The Practice of Critical Race Theory

• Critical race theory is a practice, not a theory of how the world works. It's not possible to critique the theory or say that it has errors.

• The only way to attack critical race theory is to point to the intentions of the people who are promoting it, which is inherently unstable.

• Critical race theorists claim that the system in the United States is motivated by evil, while those who respond say that they are motivated by good. This leads to an argument about motivation rather than an intellectual argument.

The Debate Over "Groomer"

In this section, the speaker discusses how the term "groomer" was originally used as a meme and how it has been misinterpreted by some on the left.

The Origin of "Groomer"

• The term "groomer" was originally used as a meme in response to people on the left recruiting kids into particular ideologies.

• The core of that meme was always about teachers attempting to groom kids for sex but in an ideological way.

• When asked to substantiate their use of the term "groomer," people were being asked for cases of teachers attempting to groom kids for sex, which was never what anyone meant by it.

Drag Pedagogy

In this section, the speaker discusses an academic paper called "Drag Pedagogy" written by a trans educator and a drag queen. The paper argues that drag is a generative practice that introduces children to queer ways of living and being.

Introduction to Drag Pedagogy

• The presence of drag queens in classrooms is seen as a generative practice that introduces children to queer ways of living and being.

• The goal is not to sanitize drag from its gnarly roots but rather to bring it into kindergarten as an initiation into alternate modes of kinship.

• Drag is considered family-friendly in the sense of the queer family found on the street.

Queer Ways of Living and Being

• The goal is to induce children into strategic defiance and rule-breaking with adults dressed as provocative drag queens.

• The GSA Club after school provides affirmation for those with questions about gender constructs.

• Children are groomed into an ideological cult through confusing and upsetting things placed in front of them.

Transgressivism vs Progressivism

• Progressivism has been rebranded as transgressivism where all rules must be transgressed for true authenticity.

• Ideologically grooming small children liberates them from boundaries set by parents, placing the burden of proof on parents defending traditional norms.

• Dialectical inversion technique shifts the burden of proof onto those who argue against breaking systems.

The Marxist Takeover of Education

In this section, James Lindsay discusses how the Marxist takeover of education began and how it has evolved over time.

The Origins of the Marxist Takeover

• Rudy Deutschke coined the phrase "the long march through the institutions" in the 60s and 70s to describe the effort to infiltrate education with Marxist ideology.

• Paulo Freire's Educational Theory is a key component of Marxist thinking in education. It emphasizes that true education involves political indoctrination and consciousness-raising.

• By capturing educational theory, colleges of education, and teachers, Marxists have been able to hijack the educational system and use it to reproduce their ideology.

How Marxists Have Taken Over Education

• Brazilian Marxist educator Paulo Freire implemented his ideas at Iowa State University in the 1990s. Since then, his ideas have spread throughout colleges of education across America.

• Critical Race Theory (CRT), which emerged from legal studies in the 1980s, has become a popular tool for promoting Marxism in education.

• The rise of social justice movements like Black Lives Matter has given new life to CRT and other forms of radical education theory.

The Goals of Marxist Education

• According to Freire's Educational Theory, true education involves using academic material as an excuse to indoctrinate students with political knowledge.

• Marxists argue that all education is political because it assumes a theory of man in the world. However, they claim that their politics are superior because they are based on Marxist ideology.

• Marxists use a technique called dialectical inversion to argue that their politics are not only present in education but also necessary for true education.

Conclusion

In this section, James Lindsay concludes his discussion of the Marxist takeover of education and its implications for society.

• The Marxist takeover of education has serious implications for society because it promotes an ideology that is fundamentally at odds with American values.

• It is important to recognize the Marxist influence in education and to push back against it by promoting alternative ideas and values.

Political Thought and Conscientization

In this section, the speaker discusses political thought and conscientization. He explains that political means more than one thing and there are layers of political thought. The speaker defines conscientization as the awakening of critical consciousness through a process of codification, decodification, reading, problematizing, and personalizing.

Political Thought

• Political means more than one thing.

• There are layers of political thought.

• Substrate assumptions about what it means to be human and how the world works.

• There is a specific political program imposed on society.

Conscientization

• Conscientization is the awakening of critical consciousness.

• It involves codification, decodification, reading, problematizing, and personalizing.

• Codification involves showing a codified version of the political context abstractly.

• Reading phase involves reading the political content behind an image or idea.

• Problematizing points out why it's problematic politically.

• Personalizing makes it concrete to radicalize learners.

Critical Theory's Success in America

In this section, the speaker talks about why critical theory was able to succeed in America. He explains that classical liberalism allows for critique and criticism but also allows for people to use tools like critical theory to destroy classical liberalism itself.

Critique of Classical Liberalism

• Nationalist conservatives criticize classical liberalism for being too free speech-oriented.

• People can use tools like critical theory to destroy classical liberalism itself.

Success of Critical Theory in America

• Institutions collapsed quickly from 60s to 80s due to critical theory's success in America.

• People used critical theory as a tool to examine all sins of classical liberals, but not their own.

• Critical theory was able to succeed in America due to the openness of American minds to critique and criticism.

Open-Mindedness and Critical Theory

In this section, the speaker discusses the concept of open-mindedness and how critical theory challenges existing societal norms.

Open-Mindedness

• The speaker mentions that being open-minded is important but warns against being too open-minded to the point where one's brain falls out.

Critical Theory

• The speaker explains that critical theory challenges existing societal norms by introducing a third dimension to two-dimensional characters. This allows for greater freedom and movement.

• Herbert Marcus's book "One-Dimensional Man" is mentioned as an influential book in critical theory. It argues that society makes individuals one-dimensional and that they need to become two-dimensional.

• The speaker notes that critical theory challenges both moral authority and intellectual authority simultaneously, making it difficult for individuals to resist its influence.

• Very smart people are often drawn to critical theory because they want to prove their intelligence. However, the language used in critical theory can be difficult to understand, leading individuals to fold under intellectual and moral manipulations.

Manipulation of Institutions through Critical Theory

In this section, the speaker discusses how institutions are manipulated through critical theory.

Henry Giroux's Praxis

• Henry Giroux was a Canadian-American who was frustrated with his principal for not allowing him to teach progressive ideas in his classroom. He discovered Paulo Ferrari's "Pedagogy of the Oppressed" and became ecstatic after reading it in one night.

• Giroux went on to recruit at least 100 tenured professors in colleges of education around North America to champion Ferrari's book and other critical theory ideas.

Manipulation of Institutions

• The language used by woke organizations is discussed, including the recruitment of a small percentage of teachers as co-conspirators who help bring in the ideology even though it is against the law.

• Colleges of education with moles inside eagerly champion critical theory books and manipulate institutions until they become part of the curriculum.

• A few percent of people becoming intolerant can cause an entire institution to bend around that intolerance. This, combined with a long-range generational strategy, creates a perfect storm for manipulation.

Legalizing Social Emotional Learning

In this section, the speaker discusses how social emotional learning (SEL) is being implemented in schools across the country and how it is a brainwashing program based on Marxist ideology.

The Setup for SEL

• Consultants and worksheets are being used to implement SEL in schools across the country.

• The federal bureaucracy requires non-academic competency reporting, which creates a need for SEL programs.

• Castle is the biggest organization that provides SEL programs and products to schools.

• Schools are slow to change, so once they start implementing an SEL program, they get stuck with it.

What is Social Emotional Learning?

• Castle's focus on teaching social and emotional skills through five core competencies: self-awareness, self-management, responsible decision-making, relationship skills, and social awareness.

• Social emotional learning is a brainwashing program based on Marxist ideology that uses academic material to teach political conversations about equity, inclusion or sustainability.

Linda Darling-Hammond's Role in SEL

• Linda Darling-Hammond was one of the architects of SEL who worked with Obama's and Biden's education transition team.

• She wrote the forward to "The Handbook of Social Emotional Learning in Research and Praxis" back in 2015 where she stated that socially and emotionally competent schools are in line with Ferrari's project of transformation and humanization.

• Using social emotional learning as an entry point turns every academic subject into a social emotional subject taught through an equity lens or inclusion lens or sustainability lens.

Do Teachers Know About Emotions?

In this section, the speaker questions whether teachers are aware of emotions and their impact on students.

Teachers' Awareness of Emotions

• The speaker questions whether teachers know about emotions and how they affect students.

• The speaker discusses how education schools teach teachers to use equity framing or sustainability framing in math lessons, which can lead to hijacking a math lesson for unrelated discussions.

• The speaker explains that the sales pitch for using real-life contexts in math lessons is that it will make students more interested in learning math, but it can actually take away from valuable practice time.

• The speaker argues that critical pedagogy is cult indoctrination and must be removed from positions of power.

Best Way to Fight Against Critical Pedagogy

In this section, the speaker discusses different approaches to fighting against critical pedagogy.

Approaches to Fighting Against Critical Pedagogy

• The speaker describes a battle between the libertarian right and traditionalist conservative right regarding how to fight against critical pedagogy.

• The example of New College is given as an institution being taken over by conservatives who want to teach traditional ideas about the United States without any critical race theory or equity teachings.

• Some people on the libertarian right believe in having institutions open to all with critical pedagogy teachings, while others are critical of these teachings altogether.

• The speaker argues that critical pedagogy is cult indoctrination and must be removed from positions of power.

• The speaker explains that children do not think the same way as adults, and it is not feasible to teach them critical race theory in addition to other subjects.

The Importance of Boundaries

In this section, the speaker emphasizes the importance of growing up within boundaries.

Growing Up Within Boundaries

• Children need to grow up within boundaries to become functional adults who can navigate reality and truth.

Dialectical Inversion Technique

In this section, the speaker discusses the dialectical inversion technique used by activists in education.

Dialectical Inversion Technique

• Activists use the dialectical inversion technique to manipulate people strategically.

• Breaking rules is seen as becoming more autonomous rather than growing into a mature autonomy.

• Activists aim to transmute society into something different by transmuting the economic structure and people simultaneously.

• Corporations are going woke because they want to hire individuals with woke competencies as their main academic credentials.

Removing Co-Conspirators from Education

In this section, the speaker discusses how co-conspirators in education must be removed for change to occur.

Removing Co-Conspirators from Education

• Activists and administrators who abuse their positions of power must be removed from education.

• It is well within society's rights to remove those who have betrayed their sacred responsibility in education.