Wednesday, October 26, 2022


Top NYC prep schools with annual fees of $60,000 force PARENTS to take woke 'anti-racism' workshops run by groups that have called property taxes, the NFL and the Nobel Prize 'racist'

Several New York City private schools are pushing diversity, equity and inclusion values, with one school saying it 'expects' both students and parents to participate in 'anti-racist training.'

The Brearley School, with a tuition of $58,800, released its 'Commitment to the Brearley Community' to students and parents, which includes its 'anti-racist statement.'

'We expect teachers, staff members, students and parents to participate in anti-racist training and to pursue meaningful change through deliberate and measurable actions,' the document reads. 'These actions include identifying and eliminating policies, practices and beliefs that uphold racial inequality in our community.'

'Parents are subsequently urged 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.'

Other schools, like The Spence School, with a tuition of $60,880, have invited parents to partake in DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) workshops led by a consulting firm that previously called property taxes racist.

The Pacific Educational Group, a San Francisco-based DEI consulting firm, has argued that 'systemic racism' is 'deeply embedded in the fabric of this nation.' 'To become truly anti-racist, it takes abandoning all sense of ego and comfort,' one tweet reads.

'The opportunity to participate in the DEI program offered by PEG is strictly voluntary for parents. These programs do not involve students,' a spokesperson for Spence told the New York Post.

Through a series of tweets, the firm has said it believes 'racism in the NFL is far from surprising news' and awards like the Nobel Prize 'often come with the baggage of a racist history.'

The Chapin School, located in Manhattan's Upper East Side, held another workshop to discuss the school's 'ongoing commitment to equity & inclusion, including our newest community-wide initiatives.'

It was advertised as optional, though one mother told the post that 'they take attendance, they have name tags, there is someone from the admissions office to keep track of who goes and who doesn't.' 'If you don't go, your child is not going to go very far in the admission process,' she said.

One other school, Grace Church High School, required students to sign pledge in 2020 to fight against 'racial propaganda' and 'interrupt biases'

Bronx-based Horace Mann School lauded the author of 'White Fragility,' a book that suggests all white people are racist, in a presentation by Ronald Taylor, the school's former associate director of the office for identity, culture and institutional equity.

'How can we take (Robin) DiAngelo's message and make it applicable to all communities in the (Horace Mann) community,' he asked.

'I don't want to be in necessarily white spaces, because when black children were put into those spaces their support and caregivers were taken away and they were put into racially hostile environments.'

A school spokesperson said the presentation by Taylor 'was designed to educate parents about what they were hearing not only in the news at the time but from their children.

'It was completely voluntary and if a parent rejected this instruction or the content, their children would be welcome at Horace Mann.'

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UK: Christian school teacher vows to fight on despite losing High Court bid to overturn dismissal and lifetime classroom ban for refusing to use eight-year-old trans pupil’s preferred pronouns

A primary school teacher who was sacked after refusing to call an eight-year-old transgender pupil by a boy’s name has vowed to fight on against ‘injustice’ in classrooms.

She was yesterday refused permission for a judicial review over safeguarding concerns at her former school.

However, the Christian woman pledged to continue raising awareness of the ‘danger’ around damaging ‘trans affirming policies’, which she claims puts children ‘at serious risk’.

The woman, known by the pseudonym Hannah to avoid identifying the child involved, claimed the result is ‘not the end’ of her case.

Despite losing her landmark legal challenge, she is internally appealing against her school’s decision to dismiss her after she argued its transgender stance could harm youngsters.

If this is rejected, a full employment tribunal will commence.

Speaking after her application for a judicial review was refused by a High Court judge, Hannah said: ‘Injustice has not been done against me but against all the children in our schools.

‘How else am I meant to raise the danger of the trans affirming policies in our schools which are doing such damage?’

She added: ‘Teachers are being discouraged from questioning trans affirming policies when evidence shows that the actual result of the approach is to put the welfare of children at serious risk.

‘More must be done to protect vulnerable children across the country from long-term mental, emotional and irreversible physical damage inflicted upon them by this dangerous ideology.’

The teacher had attempted to gain permission to pursue a judicial review surrounding the refusal of her school’s governing body and local authority to address her transgender safeguarding concerns.

But Judge Honorable Mrs Justice Farbey, sitting at Birmingham civil and family justice centre, said the application ‘failed to take into consideration the private life of Child X’ who is ‘young and vulnerable’.

She added that the ‘public is divided on the issue of transgenderism in schools and there is no consensus on the approach’.

The teacher was told last September she had a child in her class who wanted to change gender.

Hannah, from the East Midlands, refused to call the pupil by a boy’s name, or refer to them with male pronouns, saying it ‘went against her Christian beliefs’.

She was originally suspended and later dismissed on the ground of gross misconduct after arguing that the school’s ‘transgender affirming’ policies could harm children.

She had claimed that it could damage the young student, known as Child X, to unquestioningly encourage the belief that they were ‘in the wrong body’.

Richard O’Dair, representing the teacher, told the court his client was acting in the ‘best interests’ of Child X, and had correctly raised safeguarding concerns - a responsibility for all staff.

He said schools also have a duty to secure balanced treatment of political issues, but staff went to a seminar where they were provided with resources, which were not assessed for ‘impartiality’.

Mr O’Dair added: ‘My submission is that the material which the teachers were supplied with was only an affirmation of transition. ‘In the transition session, where lots of documents were provided, there was nothing to alert staff to the risk of transitioning, for example, under the pressure of a parent. ‘And we say that was inappropriate because transgender issues are highly political.

‘When teaching the children or teaching the teachers teaching the children the material has to be balanced.’

However, the court heard the teacher was sacked after ‘obsessively’ accessing Child X’s personal information and fears she would ‘out’ the pupil.

Multiple accesses were made in the week, at weekends and late at night as she ‘trolled for information to support her case’, it was claimed.

Representing the local authority, Aileen McColgan KC, said: ‘The duty of safeguarding points goes to all staff - from the groundsmen to the dinner staff. ‘The claimant is driven ideologically and not by the best interest of the child.’

Hannah has been reported to the Teaching Regulation Agency and could be barred from teaching for life in future.

Her case was supported by the Christian Legal Centre, the legal branch of the evangelical group, Christian Concern. It will now look into options for appeal.

Andrea Williams, chief executive of the Christian Legal Centre, said: ‘We are disappointed by this decision but are resolved to keep standing up for the well-being of children.’

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UK: University is blasted as 'woke' for changing student email address format to use random letters - instead of the user's initials - to be 'more inclusive' to those who are 'assuming a new identity'

University bosses have been slammed as 'woke cultists' after they stopped using students’ initials for their emails and usernames - because it is not 'inclusive'.

The University of York used to use the first letters of students’ first name and surname to create their official emails and the username.

But education chiefs have now scrapped the practice because they say too many people were changing gender or asking to change theirs part way through their courses for other reasons.

Toby Young, the founder and director of the Free Speech Union, blasted the move and said: 'This seems like a parody of political correctness gone mad, the sort of thing you’d expect to see in a Netflix series satirising the ideological capture of universities by woke cultists.'

But the top-flight university insisted it decision was about improving students' experience at the institution and followed a number of requests from learners.

'We feel that breaking the link between a person’s name and their username is important for making the University of York a more inclusive place to work and study,' the university added in an online explainer.

York said some students were adopting Western names or getting married or divorced and didn’t want to keep the same initials.

While others had 'difficult' family relationships and didn’t want to be associated with their surname.

The university has now said it will simply use randomly generated letters with no relation to the people involved.

Leaders at the institution argue that not using initials - which can change if students alter their gender while they are studying - can improve students’ experience.

An explainer on the University of York’s website said the decision was taken this month and added: 'Usernames are a unique identifier for users within the University.

'Unfortunately, basing them upon a person’s initials means that some people ask for their username to be changed when they believe that it no longer reflects their identity.

'This normally happens when someone has changed their name - for example, following marriage or divorce, to adopt a Western name, to distance themselves from a difficult family relationship or to match their gender identity.

'Unfortunately, we do not currently support changing a person’s username as it is used as the primary identifier in a large number of disconnected systems.

'We would like to support this in the future but enabling this will be a long-term project.

'What we can do now is improve the experience for new staff and students in such situations, and so we have changed the way we generate usernames for all users (staff, students and other affiliated users alike).

'We feel that breaking the link between a person’s name and their username is important for making the University of York a more inclusive place to work and study.'

Toby Young said the decision by the university was 'the sort of thing you’d expect to see in a Netflix series satirising the ideological capture of universities by woke cultists'

Criticising the move, social commentator Mr Young said: 'I still can't believe it is real. 'Wouldn’t it be simpler to just stick with the system they know and which everyone has got used to?

'If the university authorities want to cheer up trans students, they should just give them the money that they will inevitably have to spend dealing with the unintended consequences of introducing this crackpot idea.

'Since there are probably no more than a dozen trans students on campus, I imagine that solution would be very popular with them.'

The change came after students requested to alter their username when they felt it didn’t reflect their identity - because of marriage, divorce, adopting a Western name, distancing themselves from their family or wanting it to match their gender identity.

But the university couldn’t alter these as usernames are used to uniquely identify students across all the institution’s disconnected systems.

In the new identification style, the university will no longer be using vowels or the letter 'y' to avoid names, profanities or offensive words - and has asked students to report any combinations they think should be blacklisted.

The approach has been implemented for students and staff joining the University after October 12 - and will not affect those already studying.

Their name will still appear on the email system as the sender.

A University of York spokesperson said: 'With our existing systems, we are not able to fulfil any requests by staff or students to change their username to more accurately reflect their current initials - for example, as a result of marriage or assuming a new identity.

'The aim of our new approach, which uses randomly selected letters and numbers to create usernames, is to break the perceived link between a person’s name and username, therefore avoiding any issues individuals may have on the inclusion of their current or future initials.'

The university - which ranked 24th in the UK last year - had a total income of £414million in 2020-21.

Earlier this month it announced a £6million package to help students through the cost-of-living crisis - including a £150 energy grant for households.

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My other blogs: Main ones below

http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM)

http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)

http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)

http://australian-politics.blogspot.com/ (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)

http://snorphty.blogspot.com/ (TONGUE-TIED)

http://jonjayray.com/blogall.html More blogs

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