Did you get an elite education? It appears the meaning of those words is evolving.
And in Los Angeles, some aren’t happy with the progress.
In a welcome letter, a conglomerate of students, parents, and alumni of Harvard-Westlake announces it’s “documenting the self-destruction of California’s most elite private school.”
The Woke at Harvard-Westlake Project — whose Instagram account can be found here — describes itself as “deeply alarmed at how quickly Harvard-Westlake’s standards of rigor and academic excellence are being discarded in response to a campaign of accusation, denunciation, and demand by activists.”
The group’s asking critics to “submit experiences about the intimidation and indoctrination students and faculty are being subjected to as the school obeys the demands of radicals.”
Among the submissions so far:
- Recordings of a school dean praising accused anti-Semites Tamika Mallory and Linda Sarsour
- An associate school head supporting the 1619 Project
- An email instructing 9th graders to call a teacher “Mx,” as she identifies as “a queer white womxn of European descent”
https://www.instagram.com/p/CE2jJpUDfcQ/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
As pointed out by The Daily Wire, “Other images depict assignments about how ‘racism is the bedrock of the USA.'” Students are asked to “annotate where ‘power’ and ‘privilege’ reside in the text” of The Catcher in the Rye.
One student recalled the Mallory/Sarsour situation:
“As a Jewish student, I felt under attack… I spoke with friends who felt the same way and were horrified and confused about why the school was promoting extremists and hate-peddlers. We are all afraid to speak out, because the school has made it clear that it is embracing radicalism and we are supposed to obey, not question.”
The Project indicates “one HW class instructs students that ‘colorblindness’ — not judging people by the color of their skin — is ‘not only disingenuous but dangerous.'”
In July, the school released “Anti-Racism At Harvard-Westlake School,” a document stating that the school’s “own practices have contributed, however unintentionally, to the racism and injustice that people of color have experienced…”
Therefore, it said, HW will promote “the active opposition to systemic racism through intentional actions, policies, or practices. This opposition must be present at the individual, interpersonal, institutional, and structural levels.”
Part of the sweep: faculty implicit bias training and an increase in admission and hiring “diversity.”
The Woke at Harvard-Westlake Project’s not impressed:
We do not accept the notion that the changes being implemented will improve anything. In fact, they will sow division, alienation, grievance, and suspicion on campus.
Personally, I don’t understand what’s going on with the nation’s schools. To my way of thinking, primary education should consist of academic subjects aimed at life training and the development of mental acuity. But that’s the old school, and there’s a giant new wave rolling over the country.
In opposition, the Woke at Harvard-Westlake Project is going after gaslighting:
You are not alone, and you are not crazy for feeling that the changes being forced on you and your children are profoundly unwise.
And those changes — like missteps in the instruction of youth — are expensive: With tuition and fees, the Harvard-Westlake School costs roughly $50,000 a year.
-ALEX
See more pieces from me:
History, You’re History: Prominent Prep School Jilts George Washington for Not Being ‘Relevant’
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