All big American companies now require DEI training: diversity, equity, and inclusion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
All big companies!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Really.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It sounds responsible. But it turns out DEI courses are often useless and sometimes racist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
First comes groveling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
My new video about DEI shows a conference that begins with a \u201cland acknowledgement.\u201d A Microsoft employee apologizes for taking land from \u201cthe Sammamish, the Duwamish, Snoqualmie, Suquamish, Muckleshoot,\u201d and more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I guess it\u2019s a nice gesture. But they aren\u2019t giving the land back!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Companies go through the motions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThey feel like they have to,\u201d says York College professor Erec Smith. \u201cThey have to signal to the world that they\u2019re doing something.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They hope it will protect them from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and lawsuits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Smith was once a diversity officer. He left the position because he thought it was \u201cuseless.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Or worse. \u201cIt makes people less likely to interact with people unlike them,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s a minefield now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At diversity trainings, employees learn about \u201cmicroaggressions,\u201d speech that\u2019s subtly biased.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIf you ask somebody what they do for a living, somehow that\u2019s racist,\u201d says Smith. \u201cIf you learn that, then why would you take a chance? \u2026 \u2018I\u2019m going to silence myself\u2019 \u2026 not talk to black people.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A Coca-Cola diversity training tells employees, \u201cBe less white.\u201d \u201cBeing white\u201d includes being \u201coppressive, arrogant, defensive, ignorant.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThat is by no means a white thing,\u201d says Smith. \u201cThe point is to demonize the other side.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Worst of all, despite the $3 billion spent on DEI training by American companies today, DEI trainings don\u2019t do what they\u2019re supposed to do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A Harvard professor analyzed studies of them and says, \u201cSadly enough, I did not find one single study which found that diversity training leads to more diversity.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A different Harvard Business Review study analyzed data from 800 companies and found that five years after diversity training, the share of black women managers decreased by 9%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt is not about data,\u201d says Smith. \u201cIt\u2019s about a power grab.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One that starts in schools.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Smith attended a conference of rhetoric professors where the conference leader, Asao Inoue, declared it racist to grade students on traditional English.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIf you use a single standard to grade your students\u2019 languaging, you engage in racism. \u2026 White language supremacy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Smith sent a group email in response, saying it\u2019s a disservice to minority kids not to teach standard English. Instead of addressing Smith\u2019s point, other professors attacked him, calling him racist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cDo you enjoy using Western modes of argument to invalidate people of color?\u201d \u201cI hope for the day that folks like you will learn how to check their privilege.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe are professors in communication,\u201d Smith told me. \u201cI thought we could communicate. I was so wrong. \u2026 They saw in me a threat. \u2026 a black person saying it\u2019s OK to teach black students standardized English.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
An academic named Eve accused Smith of \u201cperpetuating harm.\u201d Other academics joined in to praise the \u201ctremendous labor\u201d Eve spent writing the email.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThey\u2019re victims!\u201d I say, bewildered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThat\u2019s the point,\u201d Smith responds. \u201cPerpetuate the victimhood.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis isn\u2019t even logical! Has academia gone insane?\u201d I ask.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Smith laughs. \u201cYes, it has gone insane.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Today some sensible people are pushing back. Education reformer Chris Rufo proposes a DEI alternative called \u201cEMC.\u201d EMC stands for equality, merit, and colorblindness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sounds good to me, but woke college activists say \u201ccolorblindness\u201d is evil because it denies that racism exists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMerit\u201d is bad because the way it\u2019s measured must be biased, because the results show racial disparity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is why some colleges have dropped admission tests and why many high schools eliminated honors classes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIf you wanted to hold down a group of people,\u201d says Smith, \u201d \u2026 this \u2018woke\u2019 thing is a good strategy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The achievement gap between black and white students has been widening lately.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A better solution, says Smith, is to ignore the censors. Debate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cPeople don\u2019t say what they feel because they don\u2019t want to get canceled, get called racist. People are censoring. We have to stop doing that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n