NYC private school requiring prospective parents to write essay on DEIA

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t think attending seminars is likely to have a meaningful effect but this is private school and they are welcome to require parents swear allegiance to cluthu if they like! If parents don’t like it they should pick a different school!

And they will definitely ask.

Every hiring committee in a liberal urban area is only to hire URMs to replace retirees or departees. The message is loud and clear in some insular circles.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Why is this offensive - if you don't like the values of diversity, equity and inclusion, you don't have to go to that private school. I don't understand why the NY Post or some of these posters think this is a "gotcha" like the school is doing something they shouldn't and were found out.

Whether the school is actually honoring its own principles is a different question but having the seminars doesn't make it worse - this is a totally disingenuous complaint and a logical fallacy which we as a society need to stop. If the seminars bother you I am sure achieving actual DEI goals would be even more upsetting

It’s the Maoist struggle session vibe that’s upsetting. Helping kids of different backgrounds get a good education would be awesome. I fail to see how having parents write an essay about their commitment to that goal affects anything.

It’s pure CYA.

Parents also write essays about their interests in various schools. They can just not write the essays.

That’s why it is pure CYA for the schools. They can advertise it and point to it when challenged about their philosophy, admissions policies, etc. But they won’t enforce it and it won’t change anything. Meaningless theatre.

I went to a school with a strong D&I program in the 90s, and it made an impact on me. This school can do the same for its students & parents. It’s an opportunity and a step. Not a solution. Nothing to get upset over

[Anonymous]

Lol, they're paying 60k a year for their kids to attend an elite institution. If they really valued diversity, they wouldn't send their kids to an elitist school. If the school really valued diversity, it wouldn't cost 60k a year.

[Anonymous]

Those are schools I would never send my kids to lol

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why is this offensive - if you don't like the values of diversity, equity and inclusion, you don't have to go to that private school. I don't understand why the NY Post or some of these posters think this is a "gotcha" like the school is doing something they shouldn't and were found out.

Whether the school is actually honoring its own principles is a different question but having the seminars doesn't make it worse - this is a totally disingenuous complaint and a logical fallacy which we as a society need to stop. If the seminars bother you I am sure achieving actual DEI goals would be even more upsetting

It’s the Maoist struggle session vibe that’s upsetting. Helping kids of different backgrounds get a good education would be awesome. I fail to see how having parents write an essay about their commitment to that goal affects anything.

It’s pure CYA.

Parents also write essays about their interests in various schools. They can just not write the essays.

That’s why it is pure CYA for the schools. They can advertise it and point to it when challenged about their philosophy, admissions policies, etc. But they won’t enforce it and it won’t change anything. Meaningless theatre.

I went to a school with a strong D&I program in the 90s, and it made an impact on me. This school can do the same for its students & parents. It’s an opportunity and a step. Not a solution. Nothing to get upset over

Can you clarify what the impact was? Did your school require your parents buy-in for D&I?

[Anonymous]

Why is this offensive - if you don't like the values of diversity, equity and inclusion, you don't have to go to that private school

It's a joke. Brearley is, for the large part, a preppy school filled with extremely rich white girls. Not completely, but largely. If you were really committed to DEI, you would not send your child there.

[Anonymous]

NY Post is Propaganda.

Who reads that crap?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:NY Post is Propaganda.

Who reads that crap?

You think Brearley isn’t requiring the class and the essay? Do the facts change because you don’t like the paper reporting them?

[Anonymous]

Parents are paying $60,000 per year, so for 13 years (k-12) it’s $780,000. And for two kids it is $1,560,000 and for three years it is $2,340,000. That is more than the average person will earn in a lifetime. Are the schools preaching how obscene the income divide is in this country?

[Anonymous]

Whether the school is actually honoring its own principles is a different question but having the seminars doesn't make it worse - this is a totally disingenuous complaint and a logical fallacy which we as a society need to stop. If the seminars bother you I am sure achieving actual DEI goals would be even more upsetting

Unless the school is actually doing something to make the environment once kids are at the school more inclusive, it makes me really angry. I went there, and I was treated horribly by my classmates because I was on scholarship. Similarly, my sister attended Chapin, and was treated horribly by her classmates because she has a physical disability and is shy. If they are actually trying to improve the environment for kids once they are at the school, that is great, but if it is just performative, I'm furious.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Parents are paying $60,000 per year, so for 13 years (k-12) it’s $780,000. And for two kids it is $1,560,000 and for three years it is $2,340,000. That is more than the average person will earn in a lifetime. Are the schools preaching how obscene the income divide is in this country?

No, they're just trying to include as many rich minority kids as they can find as well as a sprinkling of carefully curated scholarship kids and then patting themselves on the back because they're inclusive.

[Anonymous]

To be honest, I think it would be more productive to have all parents whose finances support it be required to make a donation towards a scholarship for a deserving underrepresented student in their child's grade who could not otherwise afford to attend the school. Otherwise, it is just performative.

[Anonymous]

The irony, of course, is that if Brearley wants to attract the children of immigrants or children whose parents didn't go to college, they have just significantly reduced that population. They're perpetuating cycles of admission that caters to well-educated and wealthy parents.

[Anonymous]

It seems like a great way to screen out MAGA families

[Anonymous]

I would bet a lot of money that the admissions team that came up with this idea excluded people whose parents were non-native English speakers, lacked a college degree, or were too busy working multiple jobs to write a 500-word essay about DEI. What a joke.