GOP attack on K-State ‘DEI indoctrination’ is really an attack on learning | Opinion
What’s the point of a college education?
For Kansas Republicans, it seems to be this: Don’t learn anything new, don’t think anything new, don’t stretch yourself — just pay tens of thousands of dollars to get your fancy diploma at the end of four years.
That’s the attitude they revealed in a hearing this week, at least, in which legislative Republicans contemplated cracking down on woke elements in state university curricula.
“In order for (Kansas college students) to have an English degree,” fretted state Rep. Kristey Williams of Augusta, “they’re going to have to face all types of DEI indoctrination.”
And it’s kind of true.
One of the materials that legislators pointed to — an English 100 textbook authored by a group of instructors at Kansas State University — really does delve into the kinds of gender and race issues that give conservatives the heebie-jeebies. In fact, that’s the point.
But the book also does a great job of explaining why it takes on those issues.
“At the heart of education is the act of contemplating new information, often information that might not immediately support those ideas we’ve already formed,” the authors write. “But it’s important to be able to consider new perspectives and recognize that not everyone sees the world as you do.”
Seems elemental, doesn’t it?
‘Understanding human difference’
It’s actually easy to see why the textbook raised the alarm of GOP legislators who want to put an end to all mentions of diversity, equity and inclusion in Kansas higher education. The 2021 book — called “(Re)Writing Communities and Identities,” written for K-State’s Expository Writing program — straight-up declares to students they’ll be grappling with “gender, race, and socioeconomic class” on their educational journey.
“You might be wondering why we’re discussing such topics in a writing class,” the authors write.
One reason, they say, is that understanding those issues reflects “K-State’s commitment to diversity.”
K-State, of course, removed diversity from its mission statement earlier this year to comply with a new anti-DEI state law — the same rule that forced University of Kansas faculty and staff to remove pronouns from their email signatures over the summer.
But the justification for discussing those topics doesn’t end with the now-defunct university mandate. “Understanding human difference,” the K-Staters write, “is crucial to the act of writing itself.”
Here, it’s worth quoting the textbook at length:
“Writing, as an act of communication, is, itself, an attempt to reach out across differences — differences in viewpoint, attitude, knowledge, experience, and values—and these differences are often influenced by gender, race, class, sexual orientation, ethnicity, age, size, religion, ability, degree of able-bodiedness, and even geographical location.”
Understanding all those different perspectives, the authors say, “helps us all to communicate with those who might differ or disagree with us.”
That’s a good argument not just for DEI, but for the fundamental mission of a public university.
What good is higher education if it doesn’t broaden a student’s understanding of the world? What good is a degree if graduates still think they’re the center of the universe?
Education isn’t indoctrination
Learning about different perspectives doesn’t mean K-State students must necessarily change their own thinking.
Education doesn’t have to be indoctrination.
Students don’t “need to change your views,” say the authors of “(Re)Writing Communities and Identities.” “Instead, you need only be open to considering alternative viewpoints as potentially valid.”
That’s a long way from ordering conservative students to, say, affirm transgender identities. But it’s still too far for some GOP legislators.
It’s “problematic” to make students use a textbook focused on “political ideology,” said state Rep. Bob Lewis of Garden City.
Which sounds like common sense, perhaps, until you realize erasing classroom references to all the different ways that people think about gender and race — and class — would be a supremely ideological act.
That’s what Kansas Republicans seem intent on achieving, however. If they work at it hard enough, Kansas students won’t ever have to learn anything new at all ever again. That’ll make getting a university degree a lot easier.
