The Thomas Paine Award goes to

If there were a Thomas Paine Award ( I'm starting it ) I would give it to Andrew Gutmann who finally had enough of the new woke culture being taught at his daughters school. So like Paine, I'm hopping that his letter to the school starts a revolution heard all across this country before this ant-intellectual virus takes hold. It may already be to late.

Dear Fellow Brearley Parents,
Our family recently made the decision not to reenroll our daughter at Brearley for the 2021-22 school year. She has been at Brearley for seven years, beginning in kindergarten. In short, we no longer believe that Brearley’s administration and Board of Trustees have any of our children’s best interests at heart. Moreover, we no longer have confidence that our daughter will receive the quality of education necessary to further her development into a critically thinking, responsible, enlightened, and civic minded adult. I write to you, as a fellow parent, to share our reasons for leaving the Brearley community but also to urge you to act before the damage to the school, to its community, and to your own child's education is irreparable.

It cannot be stated strongly enough that Brearley’s obsession with race must stop. It should be abundantly clear to any thinking parent that Brearley has completely lost its way. The administration and the Board of Trustees have displayed a cowardly and appalling lack of leadership by appeasing an anti-intellectual, illiberal mob, and then allowing the school to be captured by that same mob. What follows are my own personal views on Brearley's antiracism initiatives, but these are just a handful of the criticisms that I know other parents have expressed.

I object to the view that I should be judged by the color of my skin. I cannot tolerate a school that not only judges my daughter by the color of her skin, but encourages and instructs her to prejudge others by theirs. By viewing every element of education, every aspect of history, and every facet of society through the lens of skin color and race, we are desecrating the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and utterly violating the movement for which such civil rights leaders believed, fought, and died.

I object to the charge of systemic racism in this country, and at our school. Systemic racism, properly understood, is segregated schools and separate lunch counters. It is the interning of Japanese and the exterminating of Jews. Systemic racism is unequivocally not a small number of isolated incidences over a period of decades. Ask any girl, of any race, if they have ever experienced insults from friends, have ever felt slighted by teachers or have ever suffered the occasional injustice from a school at which they have spent up to 13 years of their life, and you are bound to hear grievances, some petty, some not. We have not had systemic racism against Blacks in this country since the civil rights reforms of the 1960s, a period of more than 50 years. To state otherwise is a flat-out misrepresentation of our country's history and adds no understanding to any of today's societal issues. If anything, longstanding and widespread policies such as affirmative action, point in precisely the opposite direction.

I object to a definition of systemic racism, apparently supported by Brearley, that any educational, professional, or societal outcome where Blacks are underrepresented is prima facie evidence of the aforementioned systemic racism, or of white supremacy and oppression. Facile and unsupported beliefs such as these are the polar opposite to the intellectual and scientific truth for which Brearley claims to stand. Furthermore, I call bullshit on Brearley's oft-stated assertion that the school welcomes and encourages the truly difficult and uncomfortable conversations regarding race and the roots of racial discrepancies.

I object to the idea that Blacks are unable to succeed in this country without aid from government or from whites. Brearley, by adopting critical race theory, is advocating the abhorrent viewpoint that Blacks should forever be regarded as helpless victims, and are incapable of success regardless of their skills, talents, or hard work. What Brearley is teaching our children is precisely the true and correct definition of racism.

I object to mandatory anti-racism training for parents, especially when presented by the rent-seeking charlatans of Pollyanna. These sessions, in both their content and delivery, are so sophomoric and simplistic, so unsophisticated and inane, that I would be embarrassed if they were taught to Brearley kindergarteners. They are an insult to parents and unbecoming of any educational institution, let alone one of Brearley's caliber.

I object to Brearley’s vacuous, inappropriate, and fanatical use of words such as “equity,” “diversity” and “inclusiveness.” If Brearley’s administration was truly concerned about so-called “equity,” it would be discussing the cessation of admissions preferences for legacies, siblings, and those families with especially deep pockets. If the administration was genuinely serious about “diversity,” it would not insist on the indoctrination of its students, and their families, to a single mindset, most reminiscent of the Chinese Cultural Revolution. Instead, the school would foster an environment of intellectual openness and freedom of thought. And if Brearley really cared about “inclusiveness,” the school would return to the concepts encapsulated in the motto “One Brearley,” instead of teaching the extraordinarily divisive idea that there are only, and always, two groups in this country: victims and oppressors.

l object to Brearley’s advocacy for groups and movements such as Black Lives Matter, a Marxist, anti family, heterophobic, anti-Asian and anti-Semitic organization that neither speaks for the majority of the Black community in this country, nor in any way, shape or form, represents their best interests.

I object to, as we have been told time and time again over the past year, that the school’s first priority is the safety of our children. For goodness sake, Brearley is a school, not a hospital! The number one priority of a school has always been, and always will be, education. Brearley’s misguided priorities exemplify both the safety culture and “cover-your-ass” culture that together have proved so toxic to our society and have so damaged the mental health and resiliency of two generations of children, and counting.

I object to the gutting of the history, civics, and classical literature curriculums. I object to the censorship of books that have been taught for generations because they contain dated language potentially offensive to the thin-skinned and hypersensitive (something that has already happened in my daughter's 4th grade class). I object to the lowering of standards for the admission of students and for the hiring of teachers. I object to the erosion of rigor in classwork and the escalation of grade inflation. Any parent with eyes open can foresee these inevitabilities should antiracism initiatives be allowed to persist.

We have today in our country, from both political parties, and at all levels of government, the most unwise and unvirtuous leaders in our nation’s history. Schools like Brearley are supposed to be the training grounds for those leaders. Our nation will not survive a generation of leadership even more poorly educated than we have now, nor will we survive a generation of students taught to hate its own country and despise its history.

Lastly, I object, with as strong a sentiment as possible, that Brearley has begun to teach what to think, instead of how to think. I object that the school is now fostering an environment where our daughters, and our daughters’ teachers, are afraid to speak their minds in class for fear of “consequences.” I object that Brearley is trying to usurp the role of parents in teaching morality, and bullying parents to adopt that false morality at home. I object that Brearley is fostering a divisive community where families of different races, which until recently were part of the same community, are now segregated into two. These are the reasons why we can no longer send our daughter to Brearley.

Over the past several months, I have personally spoken to many Brearley parents as well as parents of children at peer institutions. It is abundantly clear that the majority of parents believe that Brearley’s antiracism policies are misguided, divisive, counterproductive and cancerous. Many believe, as I do, that these policies will ultimately destroy what was until recently, a wonderful educational institution. But as I am sure will come as no surprise to you, given the insidious cancel culture that has of late permeated our society, most parents are too fearful to speak up.

But speak up you must. There is strength in numbers and I assure you, the numbers are there. Contact the administration and the Board of Trustees and demand an end to the destructive and anti-intellectual claptrap known as antiracism. And if changes are not forthcoming then demand new leadership. For the sake of our community, our city, our country and most of all, our children, silence is no longer an option.

Respectfully,
Andrew Gutmann

https://nypost.com/2021/04/17/dad-who-wrote-letter-to-brearley-about-race-focus-someone-had-to/

Dad who wrote scathing letter to Brearley about race focus: ‘Someone had to’

A father fed up with an elite Manhattan prep school’s heavy-handed focus on race won’t re-enroll his daughter in the fall, accusing the school of trying to “brainwash” kids with woke philosophies rather than teaching them how to think on their own.

In a scathing 1,700-word letter Andrew Gutmann mailed to 650 families — a screed since gone viral — he blasted the posh, all-girls Brearley School’s “cowardly and appalling lack of leadership [for] appeasing an anti-intellectual, illiberal mob.”

The April 13 missive — published this week on journalist Bari Weiss’ blog — became public the same day the headmaster of the famed Dalton School resigned over controversial “anti-racism” curriculum and policies that had outraged many parents.

He’s now waiting to see if the school will allow his 12-year-old daughter to finish out the year. She’s been there since kindergarten and hopes to stay until June to complete the sixth grade. Gutmann asked that the Post not identify his daughter.

“She hasn’t been brainwashed yet by the school — but she’s had me at home,” Gutmann said Saturday. “I’m not so sure that’s true of the other kids.”
Gutmann, a wealthy former investment banker who now heads his family’s chemical business, does not regret writing the letter.

He said he grew increasingly concerned and frustrated by what he saw happening at the school. Last year he refused to sign the school’s anti-racism pledge. “I thought they were going to kick my daughter out then,” Gutmann said. “They didn’t but next year they have the pledge built into the yearly school contract.”

The pledge asks that parents of prospective students explain how their family’s values align with the school’s “commitment to creating an anti-racist and inclusive school community.” The application also states that the school “requires all members, including at least one parent/guardian, to participate in required anti-racist training and ongoing reflection.”
Gutmann said it was all too much for him and he finally put his pen to paper.

“Someone had to do it,” he said. “Someone had to light the match. Everyone’s so afraid of cancel culture. We’re going to destroy the city, we’re going to destroy the country.”
Gutmann said the school managed to sneak in the increased emphasis on race during the pandemic when everyone was distracted. He said the once-rigorous curriculum completely changed over the summer.
“I don’t know who’s really driving this and nobody does,” he said.

His letter’s most controversial claim is objecting to the school’s belief in “systemic racism” and how “any educational, professional, or societal outcome where Blacks are underrepresented is prima facie evidence of the aforementioned systemic racism, or of white supremacy and oppression.”

Brearley’s head of school fired back Friday with her own message to the school’s families, calling Gutmann’s letter “deeply offensive and harmful.”

“This afternoon, I and others who work closely with Upper School students met with more than one hundred of them, many of whom told us that they felt frightened and intimidated by the letter and the fact that it was sent directly to our homes,” Jane Fried wrote. “Our students noted that as this letter, which denies the presence of systemic racism, crossed their doorways, the evidence of ongoing racism – systemic or otherwise – is daily present in our headlines.”

Gutmann, 45, dismissed the notion that Brearley students would be “frightened” by a letter.
“The upper schoolers are afraid of getting a letter at their home?” Gutmann said Saturday. “They’re frightened and intimidated? The school has said it’s number one priority is to teach the girls intellectual bravery and courageousness. Either they are lying or else they have done an atrocious job.”

In the letter, Gutmann decried the school’s “vacuous, inappropriate, and fanatical use of words such as equity, diversity and inclusiveness.
“If Brearley’s administration was truly concerned about so-called ‘equity,’ it would be discussing the cessation of admissions preferences for legacies, siblings, and those families with especially deep pockets,” Gutmann wrote.

“If the administration was genuinely serious about ‘diversity,’ it would not insist on the indoctrination of its students, and their families, to a single mindset, most reminiscent of the Chinese Cultural Revolution. Instead, the school would foster an environment of intellectual openness and freedom of thought.”
He criticized the school for gutting the traditional curriculum and censoring books while repeatedly telling parents that its first priority is the “safety” of the children.
“For goodness sake, Brearley is a school, not a hospital!” he wrote.

Gutmann said he most resented how “Brearley has begun to teach what to think, instead of how to think.”
Gutmann said he’s received an overwhelming number of supportive emails, from parents at Brearley as well as other private schools in the city.
“There’s a whole underground-like movement out there,” the father of one said.
One of the more than 850 people who have so far commented on blog posted: “This is a masterpiece, and I want to buy this man a drink.”
Others pushed back against Gutmann’s claim that there is no such thing as systemic racism in the country anymore.

A claim I have made right here many times.

This is one guy's opinion and is full of the current GOP buzz words. He doesn't include specific examples (censored books? What titles?). He says luckily his daughter has him at home. I say she is lucky to go to school. You learn critical thinking by comparing different ideas and reaching your own conclusions. If he only wants her exposed to his values and concepts, he should home school her. Which brings us to his real motivation. He is so locked into his beliefs (and a single parent meaning he would have to attend the training) he rejects the idea he might learn something. This guy isn't a poster child for critical
thinking.

If he doesn't like the direction the school is going, he doesn't like the curriculum, and he doesn't like the staff and board, what the fuck is he doing with his kid there?

If Howard Stern offends you, don't listen. If you hate the school, don't send your child.

Couple of things.
He wants school to change to accommodate him.
Where are other complaining parents?
How did he get a list of everyone's address at a private school?
You believe there is no systemic racism when there is significant evidence to the contrary.
You have shown you can't use new information if it doesn't fit into your "conservative" world view.

Lots of assumed concepts that are just opinions and have no basis in fact. It's tough to even discuss the letter because he gives so few examples of his complaints.
Maybe if he was a better writer.
Oh, you misspelled "hoping", "anti-intellectual", and used the wrong "to" (should have been "too").

How ironic a Trumpy complains about an anti-intellectual climate when they established it and maintain it to this day.

I say she is lucky to go to school. You learn critical thinking by comparing different ideas and reaching your own conclusions. Originally Posted by VerySkeptical

Regretfully critical thinking is gone these days, or at least the definition has changed. I see it in a lot of interns and young college graduates I see in my industry - no critical thinking and deducing their way through problems, instead they're taught to rely on prescribed solutions and trying to shoehorn every similar problem into that solution without considering the nuance.

There was a great article in MEL Magazine about students getting "red pilled", but the discussions around critical thinking literally equated to teachers not wanting to be challenged and wanting their word taken as gospel.

Minor child so he can educate her as he sees fit. And once she's 18, she can continue her education as she sees fit. Oftentimes a rebellion against a closeted upbringing. Who knows, might turn up on a spin off of girls do porn in the future.

no wonder there is such a divide in this nation

not understanding and/or accepting of American values and principles creates that divide

his letter is not meant to be a detailed footnoted treatise

your criticism is not worth much

no wonder there is such a divide in this nation

not understanding and/or accepting of American values and principles creates that divide Originally Posted by nevergaveitathought

Perhaps the notion of "American Values" is the portion that's flawed, as we're a union of 50 distinct states with their own distinct laws. An individual state itself has a hard time nailing down its own values, let alone the bulk of a continent.

From personal experience, I felt more culture shock moving from Chicago to San Francisco than moving from Chicago to Paris, France. Places in this country have wildly divergent ideas and wildly divergent live experiences that can't all properly be accounted for or appeased.

In one of my previous rants about multiculturalism, I noted that it naively ignores the idea that some cultures develop in opposition to one another, and that finding peace between them while keeping them intact is impossible.

This is actually one of the reasons I support the Balkanization of the US, as I don't want people from liberal coastal states culturally polluting places like Texas, Colorado, Utah, and Montana.

So OK for them to populare elsewhere?

Perhaps the notion of "American Values" is the portion that's flawed, as we're a union of 50 distinct states with their own distinct laws. An individual state itself has a hard time nailing down its own values, let alone the bulk of a continent.

From personal experience, I felt more culture shock moving from Chicago to San Francisco than moving from Chicago to Paris, France. Places in this country have wildly divergent ideas and wildly divergent live experiences that can't all properly be accounted for or appeased.

In one of my previous rants about multiculturalism, I noted that it naively ignores the idea that some cultures develop in opposition to one another, and that finding peace between them while keeping them intact is impossible.

This is actually one of the reasons I support the Balkanization of the US, as I don't want people from liberal coastal states culturally polluting places like Texas, Colorado, Utah, and Montana. Originally Posted by GastonGlock

having 50 individual states is federalism, which is one of our greatest values

subjugating and judging kids by skin color is not an American value, nor is seeing everything in connection with race

the communists saw everything as a tension or fight, if you will, between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat, a class struggle

that never gained traction in the united states even though during the gilded age there were huge differences between the poor or the working man, people who lived in shanty towns and tenements, and the industrial barons in America like j.d. rockefeller or carnegie et al , like it did in Europe

why? because the poor of Europe came to the united states in search of the American dream and the poor in America had that dream which dream is embedded so many ways in our constitution

American values such as self reliance and the westward advance had greatly contributed to the development and belief in that dream

john steinbeck put it like this, "socialism never took root in America because the poor see themselves not as an exploited proletariat but as temporarily embarrassed millionaires.”

i myself, as a kid never thought i was poor, used to say i was rich without any money, with never having heard steinbeck's quote

but now blm etc, has pulled a switch, the communists here aren't trying to make it a class struggle per se, but a race struggle, along with the side enticement of free stuff. that's where they have the most traction in America. they have made it the victim and the oppressor and people are buying it. and they have infiltrated the schools and many other senseless institutions

now these values, including the constitution, are naught but white supremacy

blm's own statements reveal it all

This is one guy's opinion and is full of the current GOP buzz words.

Yeah, lucky I guess we don't have to deal with any Dem "buzz words" like White now meaning RACIST!

He doesn't include specific examples (censored books? What titles?). He says luckily his daughter has him at home. I say she is lucky to go to school. You learn critical thinking by comparing different ideas and reaching your own conclusions. Dr. Seuss

Good fucking grief. The point of his treatise, is that no different ideas other than what the teacher is saying is allowed. You really don't understand this? He is saying that there is no critical thinking allowed and you are definitely not allowed to reach your own conclusions.

If he only wants her exposed to his values and concepts, he should home school her.

Again, your lack of comprehending what he is saying is front an center. He isn't saying he is opposed to different values and concepts "IF" his concepts and values are also part of the curriculum but they are not. His concepts and values, have been dis-allowed. There is only one concept being taught, if you are White, you must realize that you are bad and must change and if you don't sign an agreement that you will change as we want you to, you and your child will not be welcome here which of course in a private school is allowed. It is also allowed that this father express his feelings to the world if he so chooses.

Which brings us to his real motivation.

Ah, so we should go to you for his "real" motivation. This is what elitists say. A non elitist would say, "I don't know, can't say what his real motive is because I don't know this person but here is my opinion of his motive.

He is so locked into his beliefs (and a single parent meaning he would have to attend the training) he rejects the idea he might learn something. This guy isn't a poster child for critical
thinking.

Again, any definition of critical thinking would necessarily require more than one line of thinking. This can be seen in this quote.

It cannot be stated strongly enough that Brearley’s obsession with race must stop.

Critical thinking and an obsession with race, do not go together. Making decisions on race alone, is an anathema to everything Dr. King stood for. "Make judgements based on character, not race".

If he doesn't like the direction the school is going, he doesn't like the curriculum, and he doesn't like the staff and board, what the fuck is he doing with his kid there?

His kid has been there for years. This new "woke" curriculum is something new.

If Howard Stern offends you, don't listen. If you hate the school, don't send your child.

Some people are concerned about other children, not just their own. As Americans, we reserve the right to give our opinion, not just sit down and shut up.

Couple of things.
He wants school to change to accommodate him.
Where are other complaining parents?

We do not know if there are other complaining parents. He seems to be under the impression, maybe from conversations with other parents, that some of them belief as he does but may not have the moxie to speak up.

How did he get a list of everyone's address at a private school?

Maybe he has a sympathetic person in the administration that gave it to him. Is it illegal to possess such a document?

You believe there is no systemic racism when there is significant evidence to the contrary.

Then provide it. He gave his definition of systemic racism:

Systemic racism, properly understood, is segregated schools and separate lunch counters. It is the interning of Japanese and the exterminating of Jews. Systemic racism is unequivocally not a small number of isolated incidences over a period of decades.

We have not had systemic racism against Blacks in this country since the civil rights reforms of the 1960s, a period of more than 50 years. To state otherwise is a flat-out misrepresentation of our country's history and adds no understanding to any of today's societal issues. If anything, longstanding and widespread policies such as affirmative action, point in precisely the opposite direction.

I object to a definition of systemic racism, apparently supported by Brearley, that any educational, professional, or societal outcome where Blacks are underrepresented is prima facie evidence

So that is his definition of systemic racism. If you have a different definition, please provide and this evidence that you say exist.

You have shown you can't use new information if it doesn't fit into your "conservative" world view.

And you think you didn't just prove your "Liberal" world view in your post? Come on, man.

Lots of assumed concepts that are just opinions and have no basis in fact.

Which is exactly the point the father is making. This new "woke" curriculum, is assuming concepts that are mere opinions and have no basis in fact. Where is the "fact" that if you are White, you are privileged and you are by the very nature of being White, you are racist even if you don't realize it? If there are Black children in this private academy, there is no White privilege. If these Black children are there because of "Legacy", they have asserted privilege.

It's tough to even discuss the letter because he gives so few examples of his complaints.


Complaints
(1)we no longer have confidence that our daughter will receive the quality of education necessary to further her development into a critically thinking, responsible, enlightened, and civic minded adult.


(2) Brearley’s obsession with race must stop.

(3) The administration and the Board of Trustees have displayed a cowardly and appalling lack of leadership by appeasing an anti-intellectual, illiberal mob, and then allowing the school to be captured by that same mob.

(4) I object to the view that I should be judged by the color of my skin.

(5) I cannot tolerate a school that not only judges my daughter by the color of her skin, but encourages and instructs her to prejudge others by theirs.

(6) I object to the charge of systemic racism in this country.

(7) I object to the idea that Blacks are unable to succeed in this country without aid from government or from whites.

(8) I object to mandatory anti-racism training for parents.

(9) I object to Brearley’s vacuous, inappropriate, and fanatical use of words such as “equity,” “diversity” and “inclusiveness.

(10) l object to Brearley’s advocacy for groups and movements such as Black Lives Matter, a Marxist, anti family, heterophobic, anti-Asian and anti-Semitic organization.

(11)I object to the gutting of the history, civics, and classical literature curriculums.

Not enough complaints for you to grasp his reason for the letter?

Maybe if he was a better writer.

I don't think that is your problem with the letter any more than

Oh, you misspelled "hoping", "anti-intellectual", and used the wrong "to" (should have been "too").

Was your problem with me. But I learned something new. Mis-spelling a word by accident, is now "anti-intellectual", according to you.

How ironic a Trumpy complains about an anti-intellectual climate when they established it and maintain it to this day.
Originally Posted by VerySkeptical

How ironic saying that Trump divided this country when the Biden administration is pitting White against Black and law enforcement against the Black community that might very well lead this country to race wars.

HF good job pointing out the dogmatic illogic of that poster

as i have said in the past, you take the time, point by point, to address, reveal and thoroughly dispel the errant points made in the hollowness of these vapid and point missing posts

HF good job pointing out the dogmatic illogic of that poster

as i have said in the past, you take the time, point by point, to address, reveal and thoroughly dispel the errant points made in the hollowness of these vapid and point missing posts Originally Posted by nevergaveitathought

Thanks. Proving elitists wrong is my calling.


Spelling and grammar, not so much.

And if "systemic racism" existed in this country ( it does not ), Chauvin would have walked, Obama would never have been President. There would be no Black members of Congress. There would be no Black CEO's of major corporations. There would be no Black athletes playing professional sports. There wouldn't have been more Black voters in Georgia in 2020 than in 2016 and I believe, more Blacks voted in Georgia than Whites.


https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tan...th-since-2000/


Black eligible voters have accounted for nearly half of Georgia electorate’s growth since 2000



That could not happen in a system that was racist.


Unfortunately we still have individual racists. We even have groups of racist. What we do not have in this country is "systemic racism". That ended with the Civil rights Act. The EEOC and unions with Black membership.


Are there still racists in banks, real estate companies? Absolutely. Are all banks which make up the banking system racist? All Real Estate companies? Of course not.


I submit that there is nothing more intellectually dishonest than claiming that we have systemic racism in this county. It defies the meaning of the word and only Leftist will continue to push this narrative because they think it is a winner for them and that is all that matters and they aren't about to give it up.

HF good job pointing out the dogmatic illogic of that poster

as i have said in the past, you take the time, point by point, to address, reveal and thoroughly dispel the errant points made in the hollowness of these vapid and point missing posts Originally Posted by nevergaveitathought

I just posted an apology in your thread about this topic which you beat me to by a few hours. I wish I could read your reply if "Very Skeptical" had challenged you on it.


You sir are an excellent writer.

I just posted an apology in your thread about this topic which you beat me to by a few hours. I wish I could read your reply if "Very Skeptical" had challenged you on it.


You sir are an excellent writer. Originally Posted by HedonistForever

what does that mean? you cant read my posts?

what does that mean? you cant read my posts? Originally Posted by nevergaveitathought

I didn't read your post before I posted mine. Just missed it but not on purpose. Just one of those Oops like the young lady that posted on the Pope before she read my post on the pope and apologized to me.

I just didn't want you thinking I read what you posted, didn't care and tried to get the headline for myself.


I didn't see that "Very Skeptical" replied in your post which is why I said I wish I could see your response, you didn't have one.


This is like when you have to explain a joke, it becomes not very funny. I've probably made this more confusing that it need be. Oh well.