{"id":229514,"date":"2021-04-17T18:18:19","date_gmt":"2021-04-17T15:18:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/dalton-headmaster-quits-while-brearley-dad-writes-scathing-letter\/"},"modified":"2021-04-17T18:18:19","modified_gmt":"2021-04-17T15:18:19","slug":"dalton-headmaster-quits-while-brearley-dad-writes-scathing-letter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/dalton-headmaster-quits-while-brearley-dad-writes-scathing-letter\/","title":{"rendered":"#Dalton headmaster quits while Brearley dad writes scathing letter"},"content":{"rendered":"

“#Dalton headmaster quits while Brearley dad writes scathing letter<\/strong>”<\/p>\n

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As the headmaster of the famed Dalton School resigned over controversial race-based curriculum and policies, another storied Manhattan prep school faced a father\u2019s public wrath over the same issue.<\/p>\n

Dalton School\u2019s Jim Best announced he was leaving Friday to pursue \u201cother exciting and inspiring opportunities\u201d after 16 years at the school. His departure came after months of controversy at the Upper East Side academic bastion over the school\u2019s \u201canti-racism\u201d focus.<\/p>\n

At the same time, a father at the equally prestigious, $54,000-a-year Brearley School sent a scathing, nearly 1700-word letter to the institution\u2019s roughly 600 families over Brearley\u2019s \u201cobsession with race.\u201d<\/p>\n

The letter by Andrew Gutmann, first published in Bari Weiss\u2019 Substack<\/a>, explained why he was pulling his daughter out of the Upper East Side school after seven years. She started there in kindergarten. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt should be abundantly clear to any thinking parent that Brearley has completely lost its way,\u201d Gutmann wrote. \u201cThe administration and the Board of Trustees have displayed a cowardly and app<\/a>alling lack of leadership by appeasing an anti-intellectual, illiberal mob.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n
\"JIM
Jim Best spent 16 years at the Dalton School.<\/figcaption>
LinkedIn<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

He went on to say that he objects \u201cto the view that I should be judged by the color of my skin. I cannot tolerate a school that not only judges my daughter by the color of her skin, but encourages and instructs her to prejudge others by theirs.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy viewing every element of education, every aspect of history, and every facet of society through the lens of skin color and race, we are desecrating the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and utterly violating the movement for which such civil rights leaders believed, fought, and died.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gutmann\u2019s most controversial claim in the letter was objecting to what he said was the school\u2019s belief in \u201csystemic racism.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cSystemic racism, apparently supported by Brearley, that any educational, professional, or societal outcome where Blacks are underrepresented is prima facie evidence of the aforementioned systemic racism, or of white supremacy and oppression,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n

Brearley head of school fired back Friday with her own missive to the school\u2019s families, calling Gutmann\u2019s letter \u201cdeeply offensive and harmful.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis afternoon, I and others who work closely with Upper School students met with more than one hundred of them, many of whom told us that they felt frightened and intimidated by the letter and the fact that it was sent directly to our homes,\u201d Jane Fried wrote. \u201cOur students noted that as this letter, which denies the presence of systemic racism, crossed their doorways, the evidence of ongoing racism \u2013 systemic or otherwise \u2013 is daily present in our headlines.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gutmann told the Post Saturday that he stood by his letter and expressed scorn for Fried\u2019s contention that upper school students would be \u201cfrightened\u201d by a letter.<\/p>\n

\"The
Tensions first began running high in December when Dalton issued an \u201canti-racism\u201d manifesto written by faculty members.<\/figcaption>
Rick Davis \/ SplashNews<\/a>.com<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Gutmann listed a total of 10 \u201cobjections\u201d in his screed. Specifically he railed against \u201cmandatory anti-racism training for parents.\u201d He also decried the school\u2019s \u201cvacuous, inappropriate, and fanatical use of\u00a0w<\/em>ords such as equity, diversity and inclusiveness.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf Brearley\u2019s administration was truly concerned about so-called \u2018equity,\u2019 it would be discussing the cessation of admissions preferences for legacies, siblings, and those families with especially deep pockets,\u201d Gutmann wrote. <\/p>\n

\u201cIf the administration was genuinely serious about \u2018diversity,\u2019 it would not insist on the indoctrination of its students, and their families, to a single mindset, most reminiscent of the Chinese Cultural Revolution. Instead, the school would foster an environment of intellectual openness and freedom of thought.\u201d<\/p>\n

He criticized the school for gutting the traditional curriculum and censoring books while repeatedly telling parents that its first priority is the \u201csafety\u201d of the children. \u201cFor goodness sake, Brearley is a school, not a hospital!\u201d<\/p>\n

Gutmann said he most resented how \u201cBrearley has begun to teach what to think, instead of how to think.\u201d<\/p>\n

Said one of the more than 200 people who commented on article: \u201cThis is a masterpiece, and I want to buy this man a drink.\u201d<\/p>\n

The faculty and parents at Brearley have not been that vocal until now. <\/p>\n

In contrast, an anonymous group of parents sent a letter to other school families in January protesting Dalton\u2019s race-based policies.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery class this year has had an obsessive focus on race and identity, \u2018racist cop\u2019 reenactments in science<\/a>, \u2018de-centering whiteness\u2019 in art class, learning about white supremacy and sexuality in health class,\u201d the missive stated. \u201cWildly inappropriate, many of these classes feel more akin to a Zoom corporate sensitivity-training than to Dalton\u2019s intellectually engaging curriculum.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tensions first began running high in December when Dalton issued an \u201canti-racism\u201d manifesto written by faculty members.<\/p>\n

The document called for the hiring of 12 diversity officers and an overhaul of the entire curriculum to better reflect social<\/a> justice imperatives.<\/p>\n

Some parents backed the initiative; others said it created an excessive emphasis on racial issues and differences.<\/p>\n

Dalton\u2019s incoming kindergarten class in fall 2021 will be 48 percent students of color, the insider said.\n <\/p><\/div>\n

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Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“#Dalton headmaster quits while Brearley dad writes scathing letter” As the headmaster of the famed Dalton School resigned over controversial race-based curriculum and policies, another storied Manhattan prep school faced a father\u2019s public wrath over the same issue. Dalton School\u2019s Jim Best announced he was leaving Friday to pursue \u201cother exciting and inspiring opportunities\u201d after…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":229515,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/04\/Dalton-School-inset.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=1200","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[70897],"tags":[102442,10574,4937],"class_list":["post-229514","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-4-17-21","tag-education","tag-racism"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229514","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=229514"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229514\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/229515"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=229514"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=229514"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=229514"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}