Trey Paul, FISM News
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It appears more and more school leaders are forcing “woke” training on parents. Now that indoctrination is seeping into the private school sector.
There are at least five elite private schools in New York City where parents are now being required to attend “anti-racism” and “diversity, equity, and inclusion” training.
According to a report in the New York Post, some parents said if they refused to participate in the controversial programs, their children wouldn’t be admitted into the school.
One such school, the Upper East Side’s Chapin School, hosted an optional panel discussion so that parents could talk about the school’s “ongoing commitment to equity & inclusion.”
But one mother there said the panel really wasn’t an option. “They take attendance, they have name tags, there is someone from the admissions office to keep track of who goes and who doesn’t,” she said. “If you don’t go, your child is not going to go very far in the admission process.”
Another mother at the school said she was confronted after her son said that boys were physically more capable at sports than girls.
“I was talked to,” she said. She added that she was told her son “had to better understand the values of inclusion at the school and I had to familiarize myself with the values of inclusion at the school and be clear with my child as to what they were so he arrived at school prepared.”
Another school where parents say a “woke” ideology is being pushed is the Brearley School, an all-girls private school in Manhattan. The student application specifies that “parents are expected to attend two diversity, equity, inclusion and anti-racism (DEIA) workshops per school year” and that they’re expected to write a 500-word essay acknowledging the school’s “core values.”
“We expect teachers, staff members, students, and parents to participate in anti-racist training and to pursue meaningful change through deliberate and measurable actions. These actions include identifying and eliminating policies, practices and beliefs that uphold racial inequality in our community,” it reads, while also enjoining parents to “discuss with your children Brearley’s mission, diversity, equity and inclusion, and anti-racist statements in the student handbooks, and establishing your family’s responsibility to uphold these values,” the pledge states.
A former Brearley father, who pulled his daughter out of the school, mailed a letter to every parent at the school. In it, he “objected to the school’s obsession with race and adoption of critical race theory, protested the school’s bullying tactics and attempts at indoctrination, and implored [his] fellow parents to speak up for freedom of speech and freedom of thought in the classroom.”
“They want parents indoctrinated the same way they want their kids,” he said.
And it seems many parents, regardless of their political parties, aren’t happy with schools pushing a confusing “woke” curricula. Nothing may have showcased this more than a focus group featuring a Republican, a Democrat, and an independent on CBS’s “Face the Nation” Sunday morning.
When asked “What are your biggest concerns about raising children in America right now?”, John, the Republican on the panel made some points that the other panelists agreed with.
“The whole woke culture affecting our children,” John responded. “All these elementary schools and middle schools having woke culture pushed on them from the LGBT plus community for sexual identity and gender. We should be pushing the actual school studies, math, social studies, [and] science. Not, you know, gender studies or sexual identification.”
Q: "What are your biggest concerns about raising children in America right now?"
John, a Texas voter: "The whole 'woke' culture affecting our children — all these elementary schools and middle schools having 'woke' culture pushed on them." pic.twitter.com/wTuu9G5Eo0
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) October 23, 2022
“I can also agree with some of his points,” said Lashawn, the self-identified Democrat. “I say sex education, I feel like some things are brought to the children’s attention, they wouldn’t even think about.”
Stephanie, the independent, stated that she agreed with John and Lashawn before citing her own Covid-related school concerns.
According to a recent poll from Echelon Insights, the vast majority of registered voters (72%) support the idea that K-12 parents should have the most or some influence over what schools teach, including 78% of parents.
“Parents in places like Virginia are furious when politicians, many of whom send their own children to private schools, say other parents should have zero influence over what’s being taught in their children’s schools,” said Tommy Schultz, CEO of the American Federation for Children. “Public support for school choice is already at an all-time high. This poll further illustrates the momentum in favor of families having control over their child’s K-12 education.”