Concerned About Woke Ideology at College? Here’s What Your Student Needs.

Concerns about woke ideology at a college or university are not unfounded. Many schools have become more interested in squashing dissent than encouraging free thought and debate.

But critical thinking has never been more essential. While many colleges and universities want students to accept their teachings as indisputable fact, the need for critical thinking and analysis is at an all time high. 

Artificial intelligence (AI) has brought with it a technological revolution that is poised to reshape culture in big ways. The way stories are told and ideas are expressed and spread is changing. The ability to trust what we see online is fading quickly.

QEMCI

We’ve said for a while that the most important academic skill your student needs to have is the ability to quickly and effectively master complicated information. (We’ve affectionately labeled this “QEMCI”.) In a world where information is available at your fingertips, it’s not about how much information you can retain inside your head, it’s about how quickly and effectively you can utilize the information available to you to solve problems. 

Employers don’t need people who’ve memorized half the encyclopedia. They need people who can solve a problem using a few Google searches and critical thinking.

Critical Thinking is Essential

This holds true but we might add this: the most important academic skill is the ability to quickly and effectively master complicated information while critically determining fact from fiction. This additional skill set doesn’t necessarily require massive memorization but it does entail some prior foundational knowledge. 

For example, if you ask an AI what year the US Constitution was ratified and it replies “1776”, you would need to know that the Constitution was actually ratified by the States in 1789 in order to catch the mistake. 

This expresses the need for a convergence of foundational knowledge and critical thinking. And this combination is a strong antidote to the woke and restrictive ideology of modern secular higher education.

When a student operates in a questions-based paradigm, they are driven by questions. They also don’t stop as soon as they hit answers. They press on and use the answers they get from their questions to ask better questions. And so the cycle continues.

Questions-Based Paradigm in Unbound

The Ascend program by Unbound has this understanding of the questions-based paradigm built-in. Ascend students are taught how to use questions to move forward in their skills and how to use question-asking as an elite skill in their projects and future jobs.

Ascend equips young adults with these critical thinking and questions-based paradigm skill sets. Students take the Navigate course and get a deep dive into the questions-based paradigm. Furthermore, through leadership training from Dr. Jeff Myers, students receive a biblical vision for leadership from a Christian worldview, not a woke ideology.

To learn more about Ascend, visit our website or schedule a free consultation with our admissions team.