Don't call young people 'woke' - 13th December 2021

Adults should stop making fun of young people by calling them 'woke' for standing up for things they believe in, a leading head teacher has said.

Samantha Price, president of the Girls' Schools Association, encouraged parents and teachers to try and understand the younger generation instead, telling a conference that pupils are genuinely worried about racism, sexism, and climate change. They want to address these issues with support from adults, she added.

'Woke' is an informal term from the US, meaning alert to injustice and discrimination in society, in particular racism and sexism. However, it is often used in a derogatory way to criticise someone for a certain set of views.

Ms Price, headmistress of the elite independent Benenden School in Kent, told her organisation's annual conference: "Adults comment that they feel today's teenagers are speaking a different language; that they can't say anything without being corrected."

Ms Price stated that she is tired of hearing older people complain, adding that times have changed, and the older generation needs to keep up with them.

The last few years have seen numerous protests by young people about social issues, such as the treatment of women, racism through the Black Lives Matter movement, and demands for action on climate change. Schools are hosts to young people as they develop and become aware of the issues that concern them.

Ms Price added, "[this] 'woke' generation are actually simply young people who care about things: about causes, about the planet, about people. It ultimately comes down to something very simple: being kind. Isn't that what we all want our toddlers to be? We teach them to be kind."

She then questioned how we can criticise them for doing exactly as we taught them to.