Ruining Education Even In Private Schools

In many areas of America, private schools are still doing in-person learning while public schools are on either mixed schedules or total remote learning. A few public schools are doing in-person learning, but they seem to be a minority. Unfortunately this will create a major divide in American society in five to ten years. Children that are learning remotely are failing at a much higher rate than those that are learning in person. There is also the issue of children that may not have access to the broadband they need for remote learning. The school shutdowns have done a major disservice to our children. Private schools have been there for some children to fill the gap, but not everyone can afford private school.

Meanwhile a private school in New York City has decided to make some changes that are not sitting well with some of the parents of the students. Today, Hot Air posted an article about The Dalton School, an expensive private academy on Manhattan’s posh Upper East Side.

The article reports:

The school counts many celebrities and other famous folks among its almuni, including Anderson Cooper and Christian Slater. Parents who manage to land their children in the college prep academy shell out more than $50K per year for the honor. But now they’re running into a bit of a problem. The school is experiencing what the New York Post describes as an “uproar” after a number of faculty members signed off on an antiracism manifesto” that includes a list of demands for the school to meet so they can combat systemic racism or whatever else they’re complaining about. And many of the parents aren’t having it.

The article includes the list of demands:

So what has everyone so up in arms? The list of “demands” from the teachers who signed the manifesto aren’t simply decrying what they perceive as raism. They’re looking to overturn the entire social order of the school. Some of the bullet points seem fairly reasonable, such as ensuring a more diverse hiring policy and expanding the curriculum to cover a more inclusive range of subjects. But some of the others are simply out of this world. Here are a few of the lowlights:

    • Hiring 12 full-time diversity officers, and multiple psychologists to support students “coping with race-based traumatic stress.”
    • Paying the student debt of black staffers upon hiring them.
    • Requiring courses that focus on “Black liberation” and “challenges to white supremacy.”
    • Abolishing high-level academic courses by 2023 if the performance of black students is not on par with non-blacks.
    • Donating 50 percent of all fundraising dollars to NYC public schools if Dalton is not representative of the city in terms of gender, race, socioeconomic background, and immigration status by 2025.

Hiring dozens of “diversity officers” and psychologists should drive up the tuition a good twenty percent or more. I wonder how well that will go over? But that’s hardly the worst of it.

There are a few things here that stand out. It seems a little unfair to pay the student debt of black staffers and not white staffers. If both groups are paid the same salary, why should one group get an extra benefit? Isn’t that racist? I particularly like the idea of abolishing high-level academic course if the performance of the black students is not up to the performance of the other students? Don’t people send their children to private school to take these advanced courses? Even public schools have not abolished advanced placement courses, although I should be careful not to give them any ideas.

The article concludes:

Small wonder that some of the parents are already bailing out. And as they leave, the school will be losing even more of the revenue they would need to meet this list of demands. If enough of them vote with their feet, the school won’t be able to cover its costs and none of them will have a job. Wouldn’t that just be a shame?

Would you pay 50k a year for that?