Are school counselors being trained as social justice warriors?

Higher education programs in school counseling are facing backlash for buying into what critics call woke ideology infecting K-12 education.

According to information compiled by Parents Defending Education (PDE) about the curriculum and funding of colleges offering degrees in school counseling, hundreds of millions of dollars have been spent on programs full of social justice activism and woke ideology, often under the guise of “multicultural” classes.

These programs were found in over 100 universities in all 50 states and the District of Columbia and have received over $216 million in funding from the Department of Education.

In one example, a “Multicultural Counseling” course at the University of Florida features queer theory, transgenderism, white privilege and other aspects of intersectionality. Its recommended reading includes How to be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi, White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo and White Rage by Carol Anderson.

George Mason University’s counseling program asks students, “How has your cultural identity (ies) been influenced by your experiences of discrimination, power, and privilege?”  

Understanding “power and privilege” is one of the main goals of the course, as well as eliminating “biases, prejudices and discriminatory behavior with culturally diverse clients, community and society.”  

And the infusion of progressivist philosophy isn’t by accident, the findings suggest. 

The American School Counselor Association (ASCA) includes being anti-racist, pro-LGBTQ+, and promoting social justice and equity in its official positions.  

And ASCA’s school counselor preparation standards claim counselors are responsible for developing “knowledge and understanding of historic and systemic oppression, social justice and cultural models (e.g., multicultural counseling, anti-racism, culturally sustaining practices)” in schools.  

The accrediting agency for college counseling degrees, the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Education Programs (CACREP), similarly promotes social justice and advocacy.  

The 2024 CACREP standards include discussing “the effects of stereotypes, overt and covert discrimination, racism, power, oppression, privilege, marginalization, microaggressions, and violence on counselors and clients.”  

It’s no secret higher education has been falling deeper into woke ideology, experts say, especially teacher preparation programs.  

Daniel Buck, a teacher and senior fellow at the Fordham Institute, said colleges of education have a “radical philosophy” which views K-12 schools as “centers for activism.”  

Adam Kissell of The Heritage Foundation said college programs “have adopted a social justice mission of transforming society instead of the traditional academic mission of preparing young people for the society they will actually enter.”   

But PDE is particularly concerned that the politicization of school counseling will directly harm students.  

“Most Americans would be shocked to see how ideological and extreme the curriculum has become in many school counseling programs,” Erika Sanzi, PDE’s director of outreach, told The Lion. “It might be hard to look upon a student with sincere compassion when you’ve been taught to see him as the problem.  

“Counseling needs to be free from politics and activism and unfortunately, too many school counselors are now marinating for years in classes that teach them to be change agents in the name of social justice at work. The words ‘privilege’ and ‘whiteness’ should not be uttered by a school counselor about a student and yet, reports from the field and a look at the teaching materials tell us that a concerning shift has taken place.”