Brearley is a private all-girls school on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City. Tuition costs $54,000 a year and prospective families apparently have to take an “anti-racism pledge” to be considered for admission. However, one family has had enough of the indoctrination machine and penned an eloquent letter explaining their reason for removing their daughter.
April 13, 2021
Dear Fellow Brearley Parents,
Our family recently made the decision not to reenroll our daughter at Brearley for the 2021-22 school year. She has been at Brearley for seven years, beginning in kindergarten. In short, we no longer believe that Brearley’s administration and Board of Trustees have any of our children’s best interests at heart. Moreover, we no longer have confidence that our daughter will receive the quality of education necessary to further her development into a critically thinking, responsible, enlightened, and civic minded adult. I write to you, as a fellow parent, to share our reasons for leaving the Brearley community but also to urge you to act before the damage to the school, to its community, and to your own child’s education is irreparable.
It cannot be stated strongly enough that Brearley’s obsession with race must stop. It should be abundantly clear to any thinking parent that Brearley has completely lost its way. The administration and the Board of Trustees have displayed a cowardly and appalling lack of leadership by appeasing an anti-intellectual, illiberal mob, and then allowing the school to be captured by that same mob. What follows are my own personal views on Brearley’s antiracism initiatives, but these are just a handful of the criticisms that I know other parents have expressed.
I object to 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. By 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.
I object to the charge of systemic racism in this country, and at our school. Systemic racism, properly understood, is segregated schools and separate lunch counters. It is the interning of Japanese and the exterminating of Jews. Systemic racism is unequivocally not a small number of isolated incidences over a period of decades. Ask any girl, of any race, if they have ever experienced insults from friends, have ever felt slighted by teachers or have ever suffered the occasional injustice from a school at which they have spent up to 13 years of their life, and you are bound to hear grievances, some petty, some not. We have not had systemic racism against Blacks in this country since the civil rights reforms of the 1960s, a period of more than 50 years. To state otherwise is a flat-out misrepresentation of our country’s history and adds no understanding to any of today’s societal issues. If anything, longstanding and widespread policies such as affirmative action, point in precisely the opposite direction.
I object to a definition of systemic 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. Facile and unsupported beliefs such as these are the polar opposite to the intellectual and scientific truth for which Brearley claims to stand. Furthermore, I call bullshit on Brearley’s oft-stated assertion that the school welcomes and encourages the truly difficult and uncomfortable conversations regarding race and the roots of racial discrepancies.
I object to the idea that Blacks are unable to succeed in this country without aid from government or from whites. Brearley, by adopting critical race theory, is advocating the abhorrent viewpoint that Blacks should forever be regarded as helpless victims, and are incapable of success regardless of their skills, talents, or hard work. What Brearley is teaching our children is precisely the true and correct definition of racism.
I object to mandatory anti-racism training for parents, especially when presented by the rent-seeking charlatans of Pollyanna. These sessions, in both their content and delivery, are so sophomoric and simplistic, so unsophisticated and inane, that I would be embarrassed if they were taught to Brearley kindergarteners. They are an insult to parents and unbecoming of any educational institution, let alone one of Brearley’s caliber.
I object to Brearley’s vacuous, inappropriate, and fanatical use of words such as “equity,” “diversity” and “inclusiveness.” If Brearley’s administration was truly concerned about so-called “equity,” it would be discussing the cessation of admissions preferences for legacies, siblings, and those families with especially deep pockets. If the administration was genuinely serious about “diversity,” 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. And if Brearley really cared about “inclusiveness,” the school would return to the concepts encapsulated in the motto “One Brearley,” instead of teaching the extraordinarily divisive idea that there are only, and always, two groups in this country: victims and oppressors.
l object to Brearley’s advocacy for groups and movements such as Black Lives Matter, a Marxist, anti family, heterophobic, anti-Asian and anti-Semitic organization that neither speaks for the majority of the Black community in this country, nor in any way, shape or form, represents their best interests.
I object to, as we have been told time and time again over the past year, that the school’s first priority is the safety of our children. For goodness sake, Brearley is a school, not a hospital! The number one priority of a school has always been, and always will be, education. Brearley’s misguided priorities exemplify both the safety culture and “cover-your-ass” culture that together have proved so toxic to our society and have so damaged the mental health and resiliency of two generations of children, and counting.
I object to the gutting of the history, civics, and classical literature curriculums. I object to the censorship of books that have been taught for generations because they contain dated language potentially offensive to the thin-skinned and hypersensitive (something that has already happened in my daughter’s 4th grade class). I object to the lowering of standards for the admission of students and for the hiring of teachers. I object to the erosion of rigor in classwork and the escalation of grade inflation. Any parent with eyes open can foresee these inevitabilities should antiracism initiatives be allowed to persist.
We have today in our country, from both political parties, and at all levels of government, the most unwise and unvirtuous leaders in our nation’s history. Schools like Brearley are supposed to be the training grounds for those leaders. Our nation will not survive a generation of leadership even more poorly educated than we have now, nor will we survive a generation of students taught to hate its own country and despise its history.
Lastly, I object, with as strong a sentiment as possible, that Brearley has begun to teach what to think, instead of how to think. I object that the school is now fostering an environment where our daughters, and our daughters’ teachers, are afraid to speak their minds in class for fear of “consequences.” I object that Brearley is trying to usurp the role of parents in teaching morality, and bullying parents to adopt that false morality at home. I object that Brearley is fostering a divisive community where families of different races, which until recently were part of the same community, are now segregated into two. These are the reasons why we can no longer send our daughter to Brearley.
Over the past several months, I have personally spoken to many Brearley parents as well as parents of children at peer institutions. It is abundantly clear that the majority of parents believe that Brearley’s antiracism policies are misguided, divisive, counterproductive and cancerous. Many believe, as I do, that these policies will ultimately destroy what was until recently, a wonderful educational institution. But as I am sure will come as no surprise to you, given the insidious cancel culture that has of late permeated our society, most parents are too fearful to speak up.
But speak up you must. There is strength in numbers and I assure you, the numbers are there. Contact the administration and the Board of Trustees and demand an end to the destructive and anti-intellectual claptrap known as antiracism. And if changes are not forthcoming then demand new leadership. For the sake of our community, our city, our country and most of all, our children, silence is no longer an option.
Respectfully,
Andrew Gutmann
Gutmann is a hero. Please dear God give him the courage to stand up to these Marxist Globalists Satans. Please dear God awaken more people in this country to have the courage to stand up for America and its values.
With all due sympathy to the children and their parents, it should be pointed out that this did not happen overnight. For decades the indoctrinated faculty and the compliant boards and the parents themselves fed the progressive monster. I know New York very well, including the social strata of people who send their children to theses institutions. This individual is correct in his assessment and approach, but I would bet he let things deteriorate until he could no longer stand the woke agenda, but did not object along the way as the incremental woke measures were implemented by the administration.
Mama bear blows it out of the water
Yes he might have “had” to be quiet for a long time and not speak or pushback on the changes. Now put yourself in his shoes trying to do anything within his power to make a better life for his child. What other options did he have? Beyond obvious public schools are a guarantee to his child’s failure in life. Private schools have the ability to accept and remove at will. They incorporate the same level of extortion that government bodies do and they know they have this power and are experienced in using it. Notice that he has now had to do the homeschool option as you can bet they are “blackballed” from the private school cartels. He kept quiet as long as he could for the love of his child until they broke him. I only wish him and his family the best for their future and commend him for taking a stand and not just walking into the school “yes sir may I please have another”!
When you have one race, how do you teach racial theory?
If you have a multitude of “races”, do you teach to make them homogenous?
If you teach to make them homogenous, then why would you make distinctions which segregate?
If you teach to make them homogenous and do not make racial distinctions, then how do you teach racial theory?
If you teach to make them heterogenous, then why would you expect them to come together as one?
um, ya gotta get with the program . . .
critical race theory, NOT critical thinking!
(sarcasm button somewhere around here, forgetting whether I am supposed to turn it off or on)
And the audience erupts in applause!!!! ??
STANDING applause!
This is a Marxist Radical takeover of private education. Bravo to Andrew Gutmann. He wrote a masterpiece! I agree with every word.
Public government funded education is done:
Exclusive: Former West Point professor’s letter exposes corruption, cheating and failing standards
First and foremost, standards at West Point are nonexistent. They exist on paper, but nowhere else. The senior administration at West Point inexplicably refuses to enforce West Point’s publicly touted high standards on cadets, and, having picked up on this, cadets refuse to enforce standards on each other. The Superintendent refuses to enforce admissions standards or the cadet Honor Code, the Dean refuses to enforce academic standards, and the Commandant refuses to enforce standards of conduct and discipline. The end result is a sort of malaise that pervades the entire institution. Nothing matters anymore. Cadets know this, and it has given rise to a level of cadet arrogance and entitlement the likes of which West Point has never seen in its history.
Even the curriculum itself has suffered. The plebe American History course has been revamped to focus completely on race and on the narrative that America is founded solely on a history of racial oppression. Cadets derisively call it the “I Hate America Course.” Simultaneously, the plebe International History course now focuses on gender to the exclusion of many other important themes.
“fundamental changes […] that have eroded it to the point where I question whether the institution should even remain open.”
https://americanmilitarynews.com/2017/10/exclusive-former-west-point-professors-letter-exposes-corruption-cheating-and-failing-standards-full-letter/
Federal money has gotta be tied to race training. Right?
From Gutmann’s words to God’s ears.
Think what a wonderful, prosperous world it would be for those of us who pay all the bills of government and teachers unions that push programs and initiatives destined to fail, if more parents pulled their kids out of the secular religion known as public education. There are several alternatives to the corrupting influence of taxpayer funded (mis)education out there: Ron Paul Curriculum and the Robinson Curriculum are two great places to start. Note : I receive no compensation nor kickbacks from either of those recommendations. I just want to see more families prosper and offer their kids a real future to the collectivist hellhole that is enveloping America.
Think what a wonderful, prosperous world it would be for those of us who pay all the bills of government and teachers unions that push programs and initiatives destined to fail, if more parents pulled their kids out of the secular religion known as public education. There are several alternatives to the corrupting influence of taxpayer funded (mis)education out there: Ron Paul Curriculum and the Robinson Curriculum are two great places to start. Note : I receive no compensation nor kickbacks from either of those recommendations. I just want to see more families prosper and offer their kids a real alternative to the collectivist hellhole that is engulfing America.
Bravo! Well said!
The Brearley School is where the Sulzbergers, the family that owned the New York Times, sent their daughter back in the sixties.
Awesome letter. Says it all….
Every person is equal when born, some choose to learn some to just try to get by with programs that tie them to just sustain a marginal living, some strive to become a much better person then the average. As a society this is just what happens not where your born, this verbal crutch to explain different group to feel deprived is just that, an excuse to not strive to better ones position.
Gangs that steal and us deception to cheat people are not a socially defined way of our society and will ultimately destroy ever thing you think your gaining .
Nowhere in this society should anything ever be mentioned to refer to the first mentioned as to one’s origins as this make you a lowest level of animal not a person!
Anyone think Maxine Waters could read this without referencing a dictionary?
I don’t.
this guy has to be a liberal. “affirmative action, points precisely in the opposite direction.” not if you are white it doesn’t. affirmative action is the only systemic racism we have in the united states. liberals are 100% in favor of the democrat party discriminating against whites in a selective manner just as long as they are not the victim. that was the genius of the democrat party’s switch from oppressing black people to oppressing white people to gain political power after the passage of the civil rights act of 1964. the civil rights act was going to destroy jim crow and the political power it gave the democrat party. so the democrat never stop oppressing american citizens to gain political power, they just changed what race they did it to. liberal america has loved and embraced the selective oppression of white for over fifty years now. oh it makes them feel so good about themselves to do to white people what they used to do to black people. why they’re credits to their race. republicans love it too. and both parties have let the political left use the jim crow for white people affirmative action laws to destroy competence in employment.
BRAVO! This American, as well as those like him, standing up to the tyranny against our children, will be the salvation of this nation. UNmask Freedom! Open your mouths & open your businesses! We have 3 key areas to address; Election integrity, education/indoctrination & media. We can push for justice but it will be for naught, unless we destroy the marxist seeds that were planted, that keep this nation in turmoil.
Good for him pulling his kid out.
Hollywood premonition from 2005.
Teen class setting:
“we’re not telling people what to think, we are just trying to show them how”
This is a perfect example of how the left starts on a subject and slowly picks away at it until it evolves into nothing it started as. All we heard was equal opportunity for all citizens. Then when they got that opportunity they realized it involved hard work and an outcome that was still determined by their efforts. They were not content with this so equal opportunity is now equal outcomes no matter what their efforts are. Just like the weight loss industry you can eat right and exercise or take a pill and buy a magic piece of equipment. We all know what really works. Giving them the opportunity did not work and they now need to make excuses why as long as why never equals effort or work. It is the white man oppressing them all these years for their “outcomes”. Then remember that the blacks that have made it only did by selling out to the white man and not by their hard work.
I just checked out the website for Brearly and it answered a LOT of questions. That said, one major thing that pops out at me is if they are so focused on “inclusion” then why is it an all-girl school? What about trans, non-binary, gender-fluid, etc… Seems like they are encouraging parents to assign the social construct of gender onto their children.
Lots of great commentary. The deterioration of the moral, ethical and spiritual values of American society has been a gradual, long-term slide starting with the chipping away by entertainment mediums lowering the language and lewdness values originally imposed by society on the industry. The deterioration has crept into the educational, spiritual and political arenas until we now have politicians, entertainers, media moguls, tech bullies, and corporations propagating an atmosphere of fear if you object to the accepted values. I greatly fear for the futures my grandchildren face. I am a small cog with only one vote in a system that seems to find votes that were not valid in the past, at least not to the extent that they made a difference.
I would love to see how they would handle the application of a transgender male to female. Perhaps someone will read that and give it a shot. (admitting the nonsense involved in this absurdity)
Im just curious, what questions did you have? and were you satisfied with their answers??
All students, including those who are home-schooled, should learn about the history that was never included in our school textbooks. The NYS Archives (www.nysarchivestrust.org- click on: Education) has guidelines and an official entry form for student research using primary source materials for grades 4-6, 7-8, 9-12. The program was introduced 30 years ago and student projects are impressive and instructive.
Great letter, agree 100%. One correction: The racial group “black” should not be capitalized, it is not a proper name nor is it drawn from a geographic proper name.
Brilliant! Absolute Brilliance!
I will send this to everyone I know. Everything Mr. Guttman wrote mirrors my own thoughts and fears for this country.
Len Meyer
this is precisely the kind of push back that we need to see from everyday lay people. We do not need to be experts is some glorified field that is held in quasi high regard by the fools on the left. The fools that sound the false alarms of invisible hysteria and mass panic is alarming. It is time to say, enough is enough. Stop letting the so called experts dictate what we are allowed to think and feel…..and especially, say. Gutmann has done a huge favor in sending a massive blow to the fools that try to rule our lives.
Gut man has guts and that’s all there is to it.
Our family, way over here in CA is struggling with the same dealings with an all girls school also. Morning announcements regarding a moment of silence for criminals, who create and bring upon violence, create riots, end up dying for their actions, are rewarded, but no officer lost in the line of duty will ever be recognized. Many disturbing occurrences we tolerate just so our daughter can ATTEND school. All for the fee enough for a college tuition. Gutmann we applaud you, remind yourself and remember those who support you, agree with you and align themselves with you, when you seek strength. We are here, thank you for giving us a voice, some of us just live in fear…..Blessings to you!
Knowledge is king and will prevail as will wisdom
Every parent and person in this country needs to stand by Mr. Gutman. This is the most truthful and enlightening letter I’ve read regarding what I believe to be an extremely dangerous path for the children of our country. The indoctrination of all our children must be stopped…
I think each and every one of the “talking heads” in the various media should simply read this letter on their shows or in their publications. It is clear, concise, and comprehensive and a lot better than the general run of commentary. It should get maximum exposure everywhere. Excellent.
Bravo
Marxist used to use class to separate us and create revolution but today they use RACE. We have a committee that is going through ALL the books and curriculum from K-8 at our local schools. At least they know we’re watching. It’s up to us folks. The GOP isnt going to do it,
I question this paragraph from the letter:
We have today in our country, from both political parties, and at all levels of government, the most unwise and unvirtuous leaders in our nation’s history. Schools like Brearley are supposed to be the training grounds for those leaders. Our nation will not survive a generation of leadership even more poorly educated than we have now, nor will we survive a generation of students taught to hate its own country and despise its history.
Oh, really??? These schools are the training grounds? Seriously? That parent sounds very elitist to me. What about other schools? Other schools don’t produce leaders?? This kind of thinking has got us to where we are now. Go to the “correct” schools, cocktail parties, jobs, etc.
I agree with the overall sentiment, but the father’s arrogance jumped the shark.
Duh, how do you distinguish race difference with only one race? If they want a different race they’ll have to choose something other than human.
I object to having children with behavioral and/or intellectual issues be in classroom with children without issues. Children with issues need to be in classrooms that are geared for their issues. These children disrupt study time and tend to be violent thus robbing children without issues of peace and the concentration needed for learning.
Only solution these days:
Send your daughter to a conservative religious private, all-girls school that doesn’t tout “promoting diversity, inclusion, equity, and justice.”