Merged $25,000 Spent on programes that made things worse./Woke kindergarten

[Roger Ramjets]

This thread is about Woke: the very real progressive ideology and epistemology, that is ahistorical, anti-science, an extremely bigoted.

No, it isn't. It only pretends to be.

Woke

Woke is an adjective derived from African-American Vernacular English (AAVE) meaning "alert to racial prejudice and discrimination". Beginning in the 2010s, it came to encompass a broader awareness of social inequalities such as racial injustice, sexism, and denial of LGBT rights. Woke has also been used as shorthand for some ideas of the American Left involving identity politics and social justice, such as white privilege and reparations for slavery in the United States.

The phrase stay woke has been present in AAVE since the 1930s. In some contexts, it referred to an awareness of social and political issues affecting African Americans. The phrase was uttered in recordings from the mid-20th century by Lead Belly and, post-millennium, by Erykah Badu.

2015–2019: Broadening usage

While the term woke initially pertained to issues of racial prejudice and discrimination impacting African Americans, it came to be used by other activist groups with different causes. While there is no single agreed-upon definition of the term, it came to be primarily associated with ideas that involve identity and race and which are promoted by progressives, such as the notion of white privilege or slavery reparations for African Americans. Vox's Aja Romano writes that woke evolved into a "single-word summation of leftist political ideology, centered on social justice politics and critical race theory"...

2019–present: as a pejorative
By 2019, opponents of progressive social movements were often using the term mockingly or sarcastically, implying that "wokeness" was an insincere form of performative activism. British journalist Steven Poole comments that the term is used to mock "overrighteous liberalism". In this pejorative sense, woke means "following an intolerant and moralising ideology".

This pejorative use of the word 'woke' (note: not capitalized) is exactly what we see in this thread. Don't believe me? Check out this post by someone we know:-

I for one am interested to see the City of San Francisco's documented history of doing ~$385,000 worth of oppression per year, to any black person living in the city between 1946 and 2008.

What's the dollar amount of how much the Chinese people were oppressed per year, over the same period? What about Mexicans? Russians? Poor whites? Women?

Also, what changed in 1995 (2008?)? Is that the year San Francisco elected its first woke mayor, and stopped oppressing black people to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars per year?

You ask how much groups other than Blacks have been systematically oppressed throughout the history of the US, as if somehow African Americans are insincerely claiming to have been uniquely harmed. This is exactly what conservatives are claiming 'wokeness' is. But the historical record shows that Blacks have indeed been uniquely harmed, and the effects of this harm continue today.

That's not to say that Chinese, Mexicans, Russians, poor whites or women have not been harmed. But wokeness is not limited to descendants of Black slaves - it applies to all people who have been discriminated against by race or gender.

Considering that two-thirds of the students at Glassbrook Elementary are English learners and more than 80% are Hispanic/Latino, it's pretty much a given they are targets of racial discrimination. Therefore a program that helps teachers deal with it is a good idea, especially with poor attendance levels and falling rolls. That the outfit they hired did a poor job of it is not an indictment of the principle. Rolls were already falling for a reason, and it wasn't that the teachers and staff were 'woke'.

 

[Roger Ramjets]

The other common misconception is that our schools funding is very different depending on where you live. Not really true as most school funding comes from the states and is based on the number of students. There's also federal funding based on the number of students. Local properties taxes make up the rest and its not a big difference anymore.

You ignore local factors that may affect funding.

Heywood Unified School District Budget 2022-2023

Despite the current population growth in the city of Hayward and program enhancements, enrollment continues to decline. Based on an analysis in 2020 and 2021, the decline we are experiencing is different from the declines experienced in the 1970’s. Essentially, 1/3rd of families are staying in Alameda County, but are choosing different educational options, such as local charter schools, privates schools, or neighboring school districts...

For school districts and charter schools, the LCFF establishes base, supplemental, and concentration grants... Each student who is designated as a Low-income, English Learner, or Foster Youth student would generate a “Supplemental” grant of funding. School districts that have “high concentrations” of students designated as a Low-income, English Learner, or Foster Youth student (over 55%) would receive a “Concentration” grant of funding to provide additional supports. As part of the 2021-22 Budget, the State increased the level of Concentration grant funding from 50% of the Base grant for each applicable student, to 65% of the Base grant.

Sounds good, right?

But,

Due to the pandemic, the State was projecting a $54B shortfall in May 2020, proposed a 10% reduction to Education funding, and deferred $12B in cash payments to schools. One year later, the State is now projecting a $100B surplus...

The difficulty is that the State is still funding schools on a per student (per average daily attendance) basis. Therefore, because Hayward USD is experiencing a decline in enrollment, the level of funding we receive is lower than if enrollment remained flat.

But wait, there's more! More debt, that is...

State Pension Costs

The District is being severely impacted by the State’s solution in
2013 to fund the California Public Employees Retirement System (PERS) and State Teachers Retirement System (STRS). The solution, as noted below, requires Districts to contribute continued escalating rates towards the two retirement systems. The costs are significant and ongoing...

2014 6% of budget
2018 10% of budget
2021 14% of budget

The result of the additional $22 million annually, in ongoing retirement costs, means an ever increasing portion of our budget is spent on pensions and puts further constraints on an underfunded education system.

 

[ahhell]

I was already of the opinion that "woke" was bull ****, but this thread has convinced me that "woke" is bull **** no matter who is using the word, and whether they think it's a good thing or not.

It's a poisoned word. Every person who uses it unironically, bar none, has something up their ****.

I basically agree with this.

This is the thing with moral panics, they are often based on real things.

Red Scare, there were actually commie spies all over america
Satanic panic, there were actually pedofiles.
Woke/CRT: there are actually crazy wokesters trying to indoctrinate kids.

None of that justifies the reaction, a reaction sure, but banning books, blacklisting or what not, not so much.

 

[arthwollipot]

You're spouting nonsense. The progressive ideology and epistemology, proudly called woke by progressives, is real. It's real bull ****. When conservatives denounce "woke" it's this real bull **** that they're denouncing. The idea that conservatives are talking about some boogeyman of their own invention is gaslighting from the actual wokesters.

I didn't say that it wasn't real, I said that it was bull ****. People really are using the word unironically. In my opinion, those who do are idiots.

 

[Thermal]

Woke is bull ****, as a term. It was a perfectly sound idea, that people should wake up to just what the black experience is really all about, and how pervasive racism is and how deeply ingrained it is, and how it permeates into corners that many hadn't realized. But then it's advocates adopted the dumbest-sounding possible term as a descriptor, and made the idea sound like a joke. Then its advocates jumped the self-righteous shark and the whole thing has now pretty much run out of credibility, largely over branding. If you choose a branding that makes you sound like an illiterate nitwit, that's how you'll get perceived.

 

[gabeygoat]

They say it is more, but we sat outside the school on the day of the official count and there were 33.

Odd way to spend a day

 

[Trausti]

No, it isn't. It only pretends to be.

Woke
This pejorative use of the word 'woke' (note: not capitalized) is exactly what we see in this thread. Don't believe me? Check out this post by someone we know:-

You ask how much groups other than Blacks have been systematically oppressed throughout the history of the US, as if somehow African Americans are insincerely claiming to have been uniquely harmed. This is exactly what conservatives are claiming 'wokeness' is. But the historical record shows that Blacks have indeed been uniquely harmed, and the effects of this harm continue today.

That's not to say that Chinese, Mexicans, Russians, poor whites or women have not been harmed. But wokeness is not limited to descendants of Black slaves - it applies to all people who have been discriminated against by race or gender.

Considering that two-thirds of the students at Glassbrook Elementary are English learners and more than 80% are Hispanic/Latino, it's pretty much a given they are targets of racial discrimination. Therefore a program that helps teachers deal with it is a good idea, especially with poor attendance levels and falling rolls. That the outfit they hired did a poor job of it is not an indictment of the principle. Rolls were already falling for a reason, and it wasn't that the teachers and staff were 'woke'.

Ugh, you know that ideology that promotes racial identitarianism, sexualization of children, and lowering standards for "equity." That ideology? Being humpty-dumpty about word meaning doesn't change what it is.

 

[theprestige]

No, it isn't. It only pretends to be.

Woke
This pejorative use of the word 'woke' (note: not capitalized) is exactly what we see in this thread. Don't believe me? Check out this post by someone we know:-

"Woke" is legitimately used as a pejorative, to denote the very real, anti-social progressive ideology and epistemology that calls itself "woke".

 

[Trausti]

You ignore local factors that may affect funding.

Heywood Unified School District Budget 2022-2023Sounds good, right?

But,



But wait, there's more! More debt, that is...

How is it that Utah, which has the lowest per-student spending (~$9K), has a massively higher high school graduation rate than the City of Baltimore, which spends significantly more (~$22,000)?

At 13 Baltimore City high schools, zero students tested proficient on 2023 state math exam

It's not a money issue.

 

[ahhell]

You ignore local factors that may affect funding.

Heywood Unified School District Budget 2022-2023Sounds good, right?

But,



But wait, there's more! More debt, that is...

Meh, not really significant as my point still stands because even with those challenges, hayard still beats the OECD aver per pupil spending.

Hayward spends about 15k per kid vs the OECD average 12.5k per kid. Granted cost of living and what not and CA does tend so spend less per pupil than than the national average.

I was generally just responding the wide spread with that the US underfunds education. If we do then so does everyone else except maybe Luxemburg.

 

[Brainster]

Woke is bull ****, as a term. It was a perfectly sound idea, that people should wake up to just what the black experience is really all about, and how pervasive racism is and how deeply ingrained it is, and how it permeates into corners that many hadn't realized. But then it's advocates adopted the dumbest-sounding possible term as a descriptor, and made the idea sound like a joke. Then its advocates jumped the self-righteous shark and the whole thing has now pretty much run out of credibility, largely over branding. If you choose a branding that makes you sound like an illiterate nitwit, that's how you'll get perceived.

Judging from the posters at Woke Kindergarten, woke basically means "in alignment with the policies of the Democrats."

 

[Brainster]

How is it that Utah, which has the lowest per-student spending (~$9K), has a massively higher high school graduation rate than the City of Baltimore, which spends significantly more (~$22,000)?

At 13 Baltimore City high schools, zero students tested proficient on 2023 state math exam

It's not a money issue.

I remember a state-by state scorecard on education issues that noted Arizona finished middle of the pack in achievement, but they dinged us for spending less than average. Silly me, I thought average results with below average cost was something to be proud of.

 

[theprestige]

I remember a state-by state scorecard on education issues that noted Arizona finished middle of the pack in achievement, but they dinged us for spending less than average. Silly me, I thought average results with below average cost was something to be proud of.

Clearly you need to take a Remedial Woke Math class.

 

[arthwollipot]

Woke is bull ****, as a term. It was a perfectly sound idea, that people should wake up to just what the black experience is really all about, and how pervasive racism is and how deeply ingrained it is, and how it permeates into corners that many hadn't realized. But then it's advocates adopted the dumbest-sounding possible term as a descriptor, and made the idea sound like a joke. Then its advocates jumped the self-righteous shark and the whole thing has now pretty much run out of credibility, largely over branding. If you choose a branding that makes you sound like an illiterate nitwit, that's how you'll get perceived.

Exactly.

"Woke" is legitimately used as a pejorative, to denote the very real, anti-social progressive ideology and epistemology that calls itself "woke".

Case in point.

 

[Roger Ramjets]

Ugh, you know that ideology that promotes racial identitarianism, sexualization of children, and lowering standards for "equity." That ideology? Being humpty-dumpty about word meaning doesn't change what it is.

Says the person inventing his own meanings for words. Humpty Dumpty indeed.

 

[Roger Ramjets]

Hayward spends about 15k per kid vs the OECD average 12.5k per kid. Granted cost of living and what not and CA does tend so spend less per pupil than than the national average.

Amazing. You read the financial report and still don't get it. Averages are meaningless. Haywood gets extra funding to deal with non-English speaking pupils. They should get more - a lot more.

I was generally just responding the wide spread with that the US underfunds education. If we do then so does everyone else except maybe Luxemburg.

Then it was off-topic. This thread isn't about education in the US overall, it's about one school.

Well actually it's not really about the school - it's about 'woke', that trigger word that has all the dogs salivating.

 

[ahhell]

Amazing. You read the financial report and still don't get it. Averages are meaningless. Haywood gets extra funding to deal with non-English speaking pupils. They should get more - a lot more.

Then it was off-topic. This thread isn't about education in the US overall, it's about one school.

Well actually it's not really about the school - it's about 'woke', that trigger word that has all the dogs salivating.

I didn't start that, I was responding to a misconception being propagated. I will stop doing so.

On topic, that makes this tremendous waste of money on blatant propagandization of children especially bad. I loved some of the quotes by the folks in favor of it. "We tried something new, I'm not ashamed of that" Give the kids drugs and booze would be new too.

 

[Roboramma]

I didn't say that it wasn't real, I said that it was bull ****. People really are using the word unironically. In my opinion, those who do are idiots.

Some people, like the Woke Kindergarten people, use the word unironically. And they are promulgating BS. So far, it seems we agree. Am I also promulgating BS by unironically pointing out the facts of the first two sentences in this post?

 

[theprestige]

Says the person inventing his own meanings for words. Humpty Dumpty indeed.

You haven't actually looked at what the Woke Kindergarten program was trying to do, have you?

 

[Thermal]

I didn't start that, I was responding to a misconception being propagated. I will stop doing so.

On topic, that makes this tremendous waste of money on blatant propagandization of children especially bad. I loved some of the quotes by the folks in favor of it. "We tried something new, I'm not ashamed of that" Give the kids drugs and booze would be new too.

This is the part I'm not totally clear on. Wokey Kindergarten doesn't seem to claim on it's website that they offer some kind of academic score improvements by utilizing their resources. They seem to say it's more of an inclusive way if looking at the world (being generous here). Soooo... what exactly gave the Frisco school board the idea that Wokey Kindergarten was going to make their students score higher academically? The site also says that it runs on donations, because they think Wokiness should be free public access or something. So where did this quarter million dollar package come from? Is this going to be one of those things where one of WK's directors was banging someone on the BoE and scored themselves a little sweetheart deal?