Welcome to 2022! Private schools used to be all about achieving excellence. Watch to this clip of Ian Rowe sharing insights on excellence in education at the Diversity of Thought in K-12 Education Conference.
The priorities have shifted and now these schools are focused on creating social justice warriors and activists.
We wanted to see and learn for ourselves so we attended the NAIS People of Color Conference (POCC). The 2021 NAIS Online People of Color Conference ran from Nov. 29 to Dec. 3. "Together nearly 7,700 adults and students gathered to share with and learn from one another," NAIS wrote of the conference on their website, with the guiding theme of Reckoning with Impacts, Rolling with Just Intent. The questions we were looking to answer were: is this age-appropriate, is this inflammatory, and is this at the expense of skill development?
We asked an experienced educator, Paul Rossi, for help translating and understanding what we saw. NAIS silenced Paul on Twitter when he exposed their destructive agenda. Apparently, the content is appropriate for our children, but not for public consumption.
Before you watch, ask yourself, Does this “work” encourage curious, thoughtful, respectful, truth-seeking, independent thinkers? NAIS's objectives are clear: to tear down the schools and install social justice activists in leadership positions that can influence and drive school decisions and strategy.
What Is NAIS Hiding?
See for yourself some examples:
This slide entitled "Burn Shit Down" from "Traversing the Long and Thorny Road Toward Equity in Our Schools," may be intended as a metaphorical call to action, but nonetheless illustrates a casual attitude towards destruction as a means to create a just new future.
In "Small Activists, Big Impact: Cultivating Anti-Racists and Activists in Kindergarten," learn how to "build upon the mindset of a kindergartner" in order to transform them into social justice warriors. First nurture a healthy self-concept and empathy, then steer it to serve a political agenda.
This second grade teacher describes how her political activism connects to her "area of influence in terms of being a teacher and how to really push these concepts forward in a developmentally appropriate way in the classroom." From the seminar "Decolonizing Our Minds."
She also shuns the word "goal" with students because of its "corporate" & "capitalistic" tropes, preferring the substitute "intention," which is not synonymous. Children need to set and meet goals in order to develop self-regulation and executive function.
"Whiteness" and "White Supremacy" are go-to themes in many of these sessions. These highly-charged labels are defined so broadly that they operate as catchall taboos, convenient for demonizing critics and insulating practitioners of "the Work."
Links To Share
Critical race theory critic posts videos of 'anti-racism' teachers conference, gets censored on Twitter by The Post Millenial
National Association of Independent Schools Tries To Silence Reporting By Whistleblower Paul Rossi on CRT Training Sessions by Legal Insurrection
Read Our Lips: No New Tuition by Undercover Mother
Time To Push Back
Parents and trustees have to push back. What can you do about it? Start asking questions.
Ask your school who they sent to POCC
What sessions did they attend?
What is the follow-up at school?
Where does this work enter the classroom?
Is there transparency around the objectives/goals of lesson plans and how they will measure effectiveness?
Where is the balance to this echo chamber of negative and divisive professional development?
If you are scared to ask these questions at your school, then your school culture does not value Viewpoint Diversity. Make it your New Year’s Resolution to pass a “Free Speech Statement” at your school.