From Stigma to Shock: Making Space for the Unknown in the Classroom
We’ve opened the door to big questions. We’ve defined UAPs (Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena) and begun to understand their complexity. Now, let’s talk about the journey ahead.
How do we make room for these questions in our classrooms, and how do we handle the discomfort that comes with them?
As educators, we are being called to guide students through a rapidly changing world, one where everything we thought we knew about science, history, and even reality itself is being challenged.
It’s important to acknowledge ontological shock, the disorientation and confusion that arises when we are faced with information that radically shifts our understanding of the world. But first, we must understand the stigma.
Breaking Through the Stigma
For too long, conversations about things like UAPs, consciousness, and alternative knowledge systems have been clouded by stigma. The unwritten rule has been clear: do not ask questions that threaten the status quo. These topics have been relegated to the fringes of society, and for many, even thinking about them openly felt like stepping into uncertain, unsafe territory. The stigma is real.
This stigma around UAP wasn’t an accident. It was designed. Beginning with Project Grudge and Project Blue Book, and later amplified through campaigns like the Robertson Panel and the Condon Report, the U.S. government has actively worked to discredit sightings and ridicule witnesses. These weren’t fringe efforts, they were official. Their goal was clear: make people too embarrassed to ask questions. Turn curiosity into conspiracy. Turn witnesses into punchlines. The stigma was the strategy.
People will politely giggle and change the topic if UFOs are brought up. They mean no harm. Laughter is often a trauma response to cognitive dissonance. The information rubs up against what feels safe. It’s a protective move to keep equilibrium. I get it. Late-stage capitalism is working just fine.
But this deflection is no longer sustainable. The questions we’ve been taught not to ask are the very ones that will help us navigate this new world. We need to embrace these curious questions instead of dismissing them. To get there, we first need to recognize the way stigma works. It keeps us from opening doors, from thinking freely, from engaging with what’s truly possible.
Facing Ontological Shock Together
Many of the ideas we’re exploring, such as UAPs, non-human intelligence, and consciousness, do not fit neatly into our current understanding of reality, and that can be unsettling. It can feel like the ground beneath us is shifting. But this is where the real learning happens: in the discomfort, in the process of questioning and wondering.
By naming ontological shock, we help students learn to sit with complexity. A healthy classroom welcomes the unknown, allows space for “I don’t know,” and honors curiosity as the embodiment of intelligence.
We don’t need to resolve every mystery, we need to stay present.
The Invitation to Wonder
As teachers, we are in the unique position of helping students navigate the unknown. We don’t have to have all the answers. What we do need is the courage to wonder out loud and to invite our students to do the same. This is how we foster a culture of inquiry: by making room for curiosity, by showing that it’s okay not to know, and by teaching the value of not having all the answers.
Whether we’re exploring UAPs, consciousness, or the nature of existence itself, we are teaching students how to think, not just what to think. This is what education should be: a space to wonder, to question, and to challenge everything we think we know about the world.
We’re not just preparing students to take their place in the world as it is or as it was. We’re inviting them to help imagine and build the world that’s coming.
It may call for new science and new ways of understanding, including how we see time, consciousness, and reality itself. We’ll need honest questions about how to live well with one another and with whatever else exists.
Our students could be the ones to help invent the tools, shape the ethics, and ask the questions we haven’t even thought of yet.
With the upcoming release of The Age of Disclosure film with 34 government officials speaking out on the topic, this conversation has the potential move into the mainstream. Let’s make sure education isn’t left behind.
wonderstanding 