{"id":229800,"date":"2021-04-18T01:02:00","date_gmt":"2021-04-17T22:02:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/dad-who-wrote-letter-to-brearley-about-race-focus-someone-had-to\/"},"modified":"2021-04-18T01:02:00","modified_gmt":"2021-04-17T22:02:00","slug":"dad-who-wrote-letter-to-brearley-about-race-focus-someone-had-to","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/dad-who-wrote-letter-to-brearley-about-race-focus-someone-had-to\/","title":{"rendered":"#Dad who wrote letter to Brearley about race focus: ‘Someone had to’"},"content":{"rendered":"

“#Dad who wrote letter to Brearley about race focus: ‘Someone had to’<\/strong>”<\/p>\n

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A father fed up with an elite Manhattan prep school\u2019s heavy-handed focus on race won\u2019t re-enroll his daughter in the fall, accusing the school of trying to \u201cbrainwash\u201d kids with woke philosophies rather than teaching them how to think on their own.<\/p>\n

In a scathing 1,700-word letter Andrew Gutmann mailed to 650 families \u2014 a screed since gone viral \u2014 \u00a0he blasted the posh, all-girls Brearley School\u2019s<\/a>\u00a0\u201ccowardly and app<\/a>alling lack of leadership [for] appeasing an anti-intellectual, illiberal mob.\u201d<\/p>\n

The April 13 missive \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0published this week<\/a> on journalist \u00a0Bari Weiss\u2019 \u00a0blog \u2014 \u00a0became public the same day\u00a0the headmaster of the famed Dalton School resigned over controversial \u201canti-racism\u201d \u00a0curriculum and policies that had outraged many parents. <\/p>\n

Chelsea Clinton, Tina Fey, Drew Barrymore and Steve Martin are among those with daughters enrolled at Brearley. Tuition is $54,000 per year. Famous alumnae of the 761-student, K-12 school include Caroline Kennedy, Jill Clayburgh, T\u00e9a Leoni and Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney. <\/p>\n

Gutmann\u2019s treatise listed 10 \u201cobjections\u201d and general<\/a>ly decried the Upper East Side institution\u2019s obsession with race.<\/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.,\u201d he wrote, saying the policies encourage kids to judge, and be judged, by the color of their skin. <\/p>\n

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\"Gutmann
Gutmann said the school is \u201cdesecrating the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.\u201d<\/figcaption>
Robert Miller<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

He\u2019s now waiting to see if the school will allow his 12-year-old daughter to finish out the year. She\u2019s been there since kindergarten and hopes to stay until June to complete the sixth grade. Gutmann asked that the Post not identify his daughter.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe hasn\u2019t been brainwashed yet by the school \u2014 but she\u2019s had me at home,\u201d Gutmann said Saturday. \u201cI\u2019m not so sure that\u2019s true of the other kids.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gutmann, a wealthy former investment banker who now heads his family\u2019s chemical business, does not regret writing the letter.<\/p>\n

He said he grew increasingly concerned and frustrated by what he saw happening at the school. Last year he refused to sign the school\u2019s anti-racism pledge<\/a>. \u201cI thought they were going to kick my daughter out then,\u201d Gutmann said. \u201cThey didn\u2019t but next year they have the pledge built into the yearly school contract.\u201d<\/p>\n

The pledge asks that parents of prospective students explain how their family\u2019s values align with the school\u2019s \u201ccommitment to creating an anti-racist and inclusive school community.\u201d The application also states that the school \u201crequires all members, including at least one parent\/guardian, to participate in required anti-racist training and ongoing reflection.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gutmann said it was all too much for him and he finally put his pen to paper.<\/p>\n

\u201cSomeone had to do it,\u201d he said. \u201cSomeone had to light the match. Everyone\u2019s so afraid of cancel culture. We\u2019re going to destroy the city, we\u2019re going to destroy the country.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gutmann said the school managed to sneak in the increased emphasis on race during the pandemic when everyone was distracted. He said the once-rigorous curriculum completely changed over the summer.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know who\u2019s really driving this and nobody does,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

His letter\u2019s most controversial claim is objecting to the school\u2019s belief in \u201csystemic racism\u201d and how \u201cany 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<\/p>\n

Brearley\u2019s head of school fired back Friday with her own message 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, 45, dismissed the notion that Brearley students would be \u201cfrightened\u201d by a letter.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe upper schoolers are afraid of getting a letter at their home?\u201d Gutmann said Saturday. \u201cThey\u2019re frightened and intimidated? The school has said it\u2019s number one priority is to teach the girls intellectual bravery and courageousness. Either they are lying or else they have done an atrocious job.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Exterior
Gutmann\u2019s daughter has attended the school since kindergarten and hopes to finish 6th grade there.<\/figcaption>
Robert Miller<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In the letter, Gutmann 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor goodness sake, Brearley is a school, not a hospital!\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n

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

Gutmann said he\u2019s received an overwhelming number of supportive emails, from parents at Brearley as well as other private schools in the city.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a whole underground-like movement out there,\u201d the father of one said.<\/p>\n

One of the more than 850 people who have so far commented on blog posted: \u201cThis is a masterpiece, and I want to buy this man a drink.\u201d<\/p>\n

Others pushed back against Gutmann\u2019s claim that there is no such thing as systemic racism in the country anymore.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe is wrong,\u201d wrote Matt Mullen<\/a>. \u201cWe need to understand why there are such vast disparities in achievement and wealth between black and white families. And don\u2019t you dare, for one minute, think that there is an easy, simple answer to this question.\u201d\n <\/div>\n

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

“#Dad who wrote letter to Brearley about race focus: ‘Someone had to’” A father fed up with an elite Manhattan prep school\u2019s heavy-handed focus on race won\u2019t re-enroll his daughter in the fall, accusing the school of trying to \u201cbrainwash\u201d kids with woke philosophies rather than teaching them how to think on their own. In…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":229801,"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\/brearley-school-andrew-gutmann.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=1200","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[70897],"tags":[102442,70306,4952,70842,70308,69286],"class_list":["post-229800","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-4-17-21","tag-elite-high-schools","tag-manhattan","tag-parents","tag-private-schools","tag-schools"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229800","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=229800"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229800\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/229801"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=229800"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=229800"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=229800"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}