A few decades ago my FIL got super livid about the conditions his son (H’s brother) was having to endure in college. Not only him, but plenty of his friends and family as well. If one expanded it to his state and beyond there would also have been folks joining in the uproar. The college didn’t listen to him.
The problem? His son had been assigned a black roommate.
FWIW his son didn’t care, but there were others he knew who would have and could have joined an anonymous article about it.
Should the college have given in to FIL?
It’s a different problem - yet the same problem.
I have confidence in the next generation to be able to sift through what they are hearing, keep the good that is founded in facts or experiences, and ditch what isn’t. I don’t think the world is ruined. Fads of all sorts come and go. Hopefully human life is getting better. I look at videos (documentaries) of the past with real footage (vs Hollywood) and see improvement even if there’s a glitch or two along the way. That probably colors my views.
If you haven’t seen it first hand, I don’t know that you would believe it. I was horrified, and would have pulled my kid the first time a teacher told my kid his white male opinion on anything was unwanted. They had crazy experiences-being deliberately given less food at lunch than other kids so they could understand the less privileged. Some schools have really gone off the deep end.
If the article was about a public school that would be relevant, no matter what the income.
Instead, what we have public schools is kids being removed as Vals for being LGBTQ or talking about being gay during their speech, we have sexist dress codes, we have grads being told that they need to cut their dreadlocks if they want to walk at the graduation, gay teens being banned from prom, suspended for having nail polish, and so forth and so on.
But please, go on and tell me how difficult it is for wealthy parents whose elite private high school has policies which they don’t like.
BTW, these same parents at Sidwell Friends were happy to stay in the school when parents were bullying GCs so badly that they quit, and the competition for admissions to “elite” colleges was so toxic that parents were trying to sabotage each other’s kids’ college admissions. But that’s OK. It’s when they are “too woke”, THAT’s what makes a school “awful”.
“It seems to be working. One Los Angeles mother tells me that her son was recently told by his friend, who is black, that he is “inherently oppressed.” She was incredulous. “This kid is a multimillionaire,” she said. “My son said to his friend: ‘Explain it to me. Why do you feel oppressed? What has anyone done to make you feel less?’ And the friend said: ‘The color of my skin.’ This blew my mind.”
And the fact this mother doesn’t understand or accept that a black kid does face challenges her white kid doesn’t, regardless of income, is exactly what these schools are trying to address. Those two kids walk down the street, or into a store, or drive in a neighborhood where nobody knows who they are and being black matters A LOT.
“One of her classmates says that he tries to take “the fact classes, not the identity classes.” But it’s gotten harder to distinguish between the two. “I took U.S. history and I figured when you learn about U.S. history maybe you structure it by time period or what happened under each presidency. We traced different marginalized groups. That was how it was structured. I only heard a handful of the presidents’ names in class.”
Actually quite an interesting way to learn US history and one that likely leads to greater skill building (text to self analysis, critical thinking, source checking, etc) than a recitation of presidents through the ages. Also interesting that he implies a class that traces marginalized groups isn’t a “fact” based class.
What I’m hearing in the complaints of these parents, and some students, is “The way we’ve always done things has worked just fine (for me) and change makes me feel uncomfortable.” Welcome to life, people, welcome to life.
The AP US history course modified their curriculum a while back to be more representative of marginalized groups plights. They quickly altered the program after many state governments said they would no longer allow the course to be taught if they didn’t. Students, including myself, are getting a white washed version of history. It wasn’t until I took AP US History with a teacher who cared about matters like that, that I realized the extent of the issue
In my family we opted to eat nothing but rice and beans for a week in order to understand what much of the world has daily. I don’t think it hurt my kids at all.
For their senior project two of mine had a large charity dinner. In it each table sat 8. One person had a really nice restaurant meal - salad to dessert. Two others had decent veggie meals. Five had beans and rice with water to drink. Most who attended likely stopped on the way home to get more food, but they definitely pulled in the donations and got feedback from many (adults) about how it helped them understand world food patterns. Not one said they were irreparably damaged because they sat next to someone who drew the lucky straw (literally).
YMMV I like lessons that help teach about the world.
Speaking of states’ history curriculum specifications… it seems that Thomas Jefferson, no darling of the left due to slavery, was removed from history curricula in right-leaning Texas due to opinions on religion and government.
Yes, I’m old enough to remember that expression, as well as
I may disagree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.
Instead today it’s -
If I disagree with what you have to say, I will call you names, bully you, cancel you, doxx you, protest you, threaten you, try to get you fired, and blast it all over social media.
The issue isn’t isolated to elite schools or students for that matter.
My kids are moderate with a libertarian slant. They don’t pretend otherwise. The older one says what she thinks and puts up with the fallout. The younger one keeps her mouth shut out of fear, including fear of disappointing her very liberal teacher with whom she has an otherwise good relationship. No, we’re not wealthy nor did they attend private high schools. There have been many times when other students, who are also not elite, have secretly confessed to them that they pretend to be far more liberal/progressive than they are out of fear of retribution, including from their supposed friends.
I find it a very sad and frankly disturbing trend. My friend group in high school either didn’t discuss war, politics or religion or just agreed to disagree without hard feelings. Now there’s all this tension, negativity and facades.
Those halcyon days of “everyone is free to espouse their point of view” never existed. I can attest to that from my own high school days when I kept my head down and my opinions to myself or would otherwise have been bullied in and out of the classroom for my views.
It’s just that its the elite/majoritarian views now that are suspect in some places. The shoe is on the other foot to a very limited extent in some limited venues, and the squealing of those accustomed to seeing and defining the world in their own image is deafening (what else is new?).
It was pretty good at my public school in Buffalo in the 70s, where we had spirited debates, starting in 8th grade, about abortion, gay rights, blue laws etc, in social studies classes. Unimaginable today.
I think debate should be a required course in middle and/or high school. It teaches people how to research both sides of an issue, achieve understanding, and then respectfully argue a position. These skills are more important than ever.