Wokeness Invades New York Private Schools

You would think that the nation has come to its senses when it comes to critical race theory. You would also think that the fine work of one Christopher Rufo, combined with the just outrage of unwoke parents, was tamping down the tendency to render American schoolchildren dysfunctionally stupid. 

Alas, you would be overly optimistic. In New York’s toniest and most expensive private schools, anti-racism and critical race theory are alive and well. They are not even on life support. Important private schools, the kind that parents do everything in their power to gain their children’s admission, are going completely woke.

Evidently, parents of children attending these schools are either pathetically woke themselves, or else, they are terrorized into imagining that if they fight back, as several notable parents have, their children will not get into an Ivy League school.

Jon Levine reports the story in The New York Post. He does not talk about hoary matters like curriculum, but he has scanned the job recruitment ads these schools have put up. In them he finds a rank infestation of anti-racism training and critical race theory:

Many of New York City’s once-vaunted private schools are hunting for the next generation of woke educators to preach the gospel of anti-racism and critical race theory, a review of job applications by The Post shows.

Leading the way is Ethical Culture Fieldston School, which is on the market for a ballet instructor “committed to challenging Western dance forms and the hierarchical and pedagogical practices that often center whiteness in dance classrooms and on stages,” according to a job description posted to the school’s website.

No more white ballet dancers. Or, no more whiteness in ballet. Who knows what this means? Is it mere virtue signaling, or does it mean that children will no longer be dancing in ballets whose music was written by white males?

Unfortunately, it’s not just the ballet. Fieldston has decided to dumb down science instruction, because it seems to have decided to accept more children whose math and science skills are lacking.

Even science at Fieldston — a Bronx institution where tuition is $55,510 a year — has not been spared the progressive mandate. A posting seeking an upper school biology teacher said applicants should have “an understanding of and commitment to cultural competency, and how to support a diverse student population, especially through teaching more inclusive science curricula.”

Naturally, most high school and college students have understood that they do better to major in STEM subject than in the indoctrination mills of humanities and social sciences. So, Grace Church School has decided to dumb down math science in order to help what it calls diverse learners. That is, to help them to feel better about doing poorly.

STEM subjects face a similar wokening at Grace Church School — $57,330 a year —  in downtown Manhattan, where wanted Math and Science Center consultants must have a “commitment to antiracism and accessibility of student education for diverse learners.”

And then we have the Riverdale Country School, tuition being $58,300 a year. Would you ever send your child to a school that sold itself thusly:

Riverdale seeks to reflect the diversity of the New York metropolitan area in its students, faculty, and staff. Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging (DEIB) is the foundational core of the anti-racist, anti-bias, and transformational work that Riverdale is doing to help students, faculty/staff, families, and alumni feel seen, heard, and valued. The school enrolls about 1,200 students who collectively reside in 104 different zip codes. Approximately 42% of our student body are students of color. 

Among the job requirements for a new position as administrative assistant is this:

Proofread home base and Specials report cards for proper use of pronouns

There you have it. If you get the job at Riverdale you will become a member of the pronoun police, the better to pursue your goal of rendering children illiterate.

Explain to me how parents can pay this kind of money to subject their children to this indoctrination. And explain how these children will eventually join the high tech workforce and compete in world markets.