Priscilla West, researcher for Peter Schweizer’s Government Accountability Institute and chapter chair for Moms for Liberty, joined Chicago’s Morning Answer to discuss her new book The New Face of Woke Education and the growing influence of social emotional learning (SEL) in public schools.
West described SEL as the latest front in the political and cultural battle over K-12 education, calling it a “Trojan horse” for introducing critical theory and ideological programming into the classroom. Originally billed as a way to teach empathy and emotional regulation, she said SEL has evolved into a mechanism for promoting identity politics, power dynamics, and grievance-based worldviews under the guise of child development.
“What began as empathy and self-awareness has been hijacked by activists and politicized,” West explained. “Teachers are being asked to act as therapists, and in many cases, parents haven’t even given consent for their children to be part of this psychological experiment.”
She pointed to the rise of data-driven educational software that collects emotional and behavioral information from students, often without parental oversight. “These are not just learning platforms—they’re data mining systems,” West warned, noting that many schools use climate surveys and digital assessments that turn subjective student feelings into supposed scientific data.
West also highlighted the overlap between SEL and other controversial trends in education, including “privilege tests,” identity-based discussions in early grades, and media literacy programs that label certain news outlets as unreliable. “They’re telling children which sources are good and which aren’t,” she said. “It’s an indoctrination pipeline disguised as education reform.”
In states like Illinois and California, SEL standards have been written directly into law, embedding the curriculum into both core subjects and after-school programs. West argued that this shift has created an educational environment focused more on social engineering than on academic achievement. “It’s reshaping how children think,” she said. “They’re not being taught how to reason; they’re being trained what to believe.”
West’s book, The New Face of Woke Education, examines the history of SEL and its global reach, connecting it to initiatives backed by major educational and international organizations. She contends that the system now functions as an “operating system” for worldwide ideological conformity.
“What sounds like a harmless way to teach emotional intelligence is really standardizing worldview and ideology on a global scale,” she said. “It’s time parents and taxpayers start paying attention to what’s really going on behind the classroom door.”