TheParagon

Curriculum audits for “decolonisation” and representation.
Policy shifts around pronouns, uniform, and inclusive language.

But the deeper issue is not the content, it’s the climate. When reset becomes performative, when inclusion is reduced to compliance, when ideological conformity replaces inquiry, education risks losing its soul. The classroom becomes a site of cultural signalling rather than critical engagement.

This is not a rejection of justice or inclusion. It’s a call for balance. For the freedom to think, question, and disagree using common-sense. For the recognition that identity is complex and that merit, tradition and critique still have a place.

“Woke as Curriculum Costume” describes the phenomenon where educational institutions adopt the language and aesthetics of social justice without committing to its deeper structural implications. Diversity posters line the corridors, inclusive authors appear on reading lists and staff attend bias-awareness workshops; but the underlying systems of assessment, hierarchy, and exclusion remain untouched. It’s a performance of progress, not a practice of transformation. The costume signals virtue, but often conceals inertia. Students may be encouraged to speak about identity, yet rarely invited to critique the institution itself. In this way, wokeness becomes a curated display, an outfit worn for inspection days and policy audits, rather than a lived ethic embedded in pedagogy, relationships and institutional design.

“Merit as Disguise” operates in layered concealment. On the surface, it presents as fairness, a neutral system where effort and ability are rewarded. But beneath this veneer lies a choreography of privilege: access to tutoring, cultural fluency and institutional familiarity often determine who succeeds. The second layer is rhetorical—merit becomes the language of justification, used to defend exclusion, gatekeeping and hierarchy. It tells those who fall short that they simply didn’t try hard enough, erasing structural disadvantage. The third layer is emotional: merit becomes internalised as self-worth, so failure feels personal, not systemic. And finally, the deepest layer is ideological—merit disguises itself as progress while preserving the status quo, rewarding conformity over creativity, polish over plain speech and performance over lived critique. In this way, merit is not just a measure, it is a mask.

In both “Woke as Curriculum Costume” and “Merit as Disguise,” we see how education can become a theatre, where inclusion and fairness are performed rather than practiced. These concepts aren’t just critiques; they’re invitations. Invitations to strip away the costume, unmask the disguise and ask what education is truly for.

Is it a system of sorting, signalling and survival? Or can it be a space of reckoning, renewal and radical honesty?

The real curriculum is lived experience. The real merit is the courage to question. And the real reform begins when we stop performing and start listening.