{"id":1191,"date":"2023-07-29T08:38:39","date_gmt":"2023-07-29T16:38:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.inedc.com\/23\/?p=1191"},"modified":"2023-07-29T09:03:58","modified_gmt":"2023-07-29T17:03:58","slug":"how-big-tech-and-big-money-made-our-schools-go-woke","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.inedc.com\/23\/news\/how-big-tech-and-big-money-made-our-schools-go-woke\/","title":{"rendered":"How Big Tech and Big Money Made Our Schools Go Woke"},"content":{"rendered":"

PLACERVILLE, CALIF. (InEDC) New York Post, Kenny Xu, July 29, 2023
\nThe company targeted the most progressive districts in the nation, such as those in El Dorado County…<\/strong><\/p>\n

Few issues have emerged as cultural flashpoints quite like Critical Race Theory. Better-known as CRT, the ideology \u2014 which places race and racism at the center of learning \u2014\u00a0 has become a cornerstone of academic curricula nationwide. Some parents embrace it, others despise it \u2013 and Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis tried to ban it from Florida public schools entirely. In his new book\u00a0\u201cSchool of Woke,\u201d\u00a0<\/a>author Kenny Xu explores the intriguing path CRT has navigated to reach this critical juncture and the roles that big tech, big money and political elites have played in the process.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

In the summer of 2018, Merrick Garland, who had just lost his bid to become a Supreme Court Justice, walked his daughter Rebecca Garland down the aisle of the luxurious St. Vrain wedding venue in Longmont, Colo., her arm clutched in his.<\/p>\n

He was leading her to her about-to-be husband, Alexander \u201cXan\u201d Tanner.<\/p>\n

Xan Tanner, then 27, was the wunderkind cofounder of Panorama Education, a New York Times-profiled full-service \u201canalytical software and services company\u201d based in Boston, Mass.\u00a0<\/sup><\/p>\n

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A millionaire and a Mark Zuckerberg acolyte, Xan Tanner sat at the pinnacle of what was increasingly becoming the height of liberal fashion \u2014 Yale grad, big-tech CEO, education activist.<\/p>\n

But what was behind his fortune?<\/p>\n

The New York Times may have described Panorama in cagey language in its coverage of the Tanner-Garland wedding, but the reality is that Panorama Education is not a software company at all but rather an educational technology company whose lead business model is data, particularly data about children.<\/p>\n

Along with his fellow Yale graduates Aaron Feuer and David Carel, Tanner created a student-surveying platform that focuses on the mysterious concept of \u201csocial-emotional learning,\u201d which Panorama defines rather vaguely as \u201csupporting the whole student.\u201d<\/p>\n