High School Boys Struggling at our Big 3

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a male, I agree that toxic masculinity is the root problem in our country and world. You can really attribute about 95% of the world's problems to about 800 people in power, almost all of them male.

Other than dealing with natural disasters, there is simply no reason for wars and strife we are seeing.

I suppose people on the right may disagree with the assessment, but it is my opinion and I don't disagree with the premise writ large.

So you think if women were in control everything would be unicorns and rainbows? Lol sure.

No, but it would be a lot better than it is currently. Look at the woman leaders in places like New Zealand and Finland - smart, no-nonsense, hold their own on the world stage. Can you see a woman in the modern era ordering troops to kidnap 16,000 children and repatriate them in her own country? Using weapons of mass destruction? Playing the toxic "big dick" games on the world stage that we see from Xi, Putin,Erdogan etc?

I don't.

How about Margaret Thatcher, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Lauren Boebert, Michele Bachmann, Yingluck Shinawatra, Sarah Palin, Ann Coulter, Elizabeth Holmes, Ursula M. Burns, Anna Delvey, Giorgia Meloni, etc. You really think Hillary Clinton or any other women would not “play dick” games on the world stage. If so you are very naive. Look at trump. There are so many women enablers and true believer women supporters around him. Without the women trump would not have been president.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Y’all, there are many who grew up in schools that taught some kind of mandatory dogma (Marxist, religious etc). Very few of those people have been traumatized by it. Frankly, it’s a waste of time and can be traumatic unless you have a healthy attitude, which is:
1. It’s an easy, content-free class. You attend to get an easy A. That’s all.
2. Is there anything interesting that is worth remembering? The rest is unimportant and may not be true, so who cares?
3. Don’t take it too seriously/have a laugh in a safe space (at home).

I don’t know the content of these classes. They could be brilliant for all I know. But I know dogma and it’s never good. In one ear and out the other. Unless it’s brilliant. Which no dogma ever is.

Pretty much, we just keep saying, it’s one class of several. But the theme is in every chosen literature book and slant presented in history class as well. Similar to how liberals in colleges rolled it out.

This comes across pretty clearly at the admissions open house.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sounds like the topic is fine, but the execution is weak, even toxic. OP, are teachers are failing to guide the discussion and redirect/rephrase the students who are making the inappropriate over-generalizations?

This is the most sensible response. OP, if you talk to the school, emphasize that you agree with the content but are concerned about the delivery.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a male, I agree that toxic masculinity is the root problem in our country and world. You can really attribute about 95% of the world's problems to about 800 people in power, almost all of them male.

Other than dealing with natural disasters, there is simply no reason for wars and strife we are seeing.

I suppose people on the right may disagree with the assessment, but it is my opinion and I don't disagree with the premise writ large.

So you think if women were in control everything would be unicorns and rainbows? Lol sure.

No, but it would be a lot better than it is currently. Look at the woman leaders in places like New Zealand and Finland - smart, no-nonsense, hold their own on the world stage. Can you see a woman in the modern era ordering troops to kidnap 16,000 children and repatriate them in her own country? Using weapons of mass destruction? Playing the toxic "big dick" games on the world stage that we see from Xi, Putin,Erdogan etc?

I don't.

The NZ prime minister has recently announced she's stepping down and her party is suffering from high disapproval. Your point is?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The traditionally liberal elite private schools have all become exceedingly woke, everywhere in the US. I'm a graduate of such a school and have watched the school evolve from liberal but open minded to progressive and somewhat open minded to woke and ideological. You must understand that once an institution becomes ideological, there's no changing it. Because it's run and populated by people who believe in the ideology. There is no compromise because how can you compromise on what you think is righteous and just? It's the same mindset behind the editor of the WaPo rambling about moving beyond objectivity to a better.. whatever.

You can complain about the seminar but this thinking will be taught and encouraged by the faculty everywhere in the other classes. Even in once objective subjects like math and science. Ideology, like all ideology, becomes a disease. Eventually, hopefully, it will burn itself out but it won't happen in the next few years. It usually takes decades. New board, new head, new faculty, different parents.

It's for this reason that people like me and many of my old classmates are no longer impressed by fancy name elite schools or colleges that we'd attended and hoped our children would attend. There are other schools, however. You have to decide whether to put up with this thinking and be in an environment where you will be constantly opposed to what the school, the faculty and many if not most students deeply believe in, or simply pull your child out and go elsewhere. There are other options in the DC area that are more balanced and more like what schools were in the past and don't treat objectivity or different viewpoints as a bad word.

"woke" is right wing speak the rest of us refer to as "respect." Replace the word and see how toxic the right is with these critiques.

Indeed. Speaks the ideological person who doesn't understand how divisive and quite often wrong she is. Because you must be the right one, eh? And you own the word respect. And, of course, why respect other, different opinions when they are simply just .... wrong? Amirite?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Y’all, there are many who grew up in schools that taught some kind of mandatory dogma (Marxist, religious etc). Very few of those people have been traumatized by it. Frankly, it’s a waste of time and can be traumatic unless you have a healthy attitude, which is:
1. It’s an easy, content-free class. You attend to get an easy A. That’s all.
2. Is there anything interesting that is worth remembering? The rest is unimportant and may not be true, so who cares?
3. Don’t take it too seriously/have a laugh in a safe space (at home).

I don’t know the content of these classes. They could be brilliant for all I know. But I know dogma and it’s never good. In one ear and out the other. Unless it’s brilliant. Which no dogma ever is.

Pretty much, we just keep saying, it’s one class of several. But the theme is in every chosen literature book and slant presented in history class as well. Similar to how liberals in colleges rolled it out.

This comes across pretty clearly at the admissions open house.

and top 3 things in the mission statement include: an abhorrence of bigotry and intolerance

define bigotry and intolerance to your liking. the loaded word abhorrence is a pretty aggressively clear battle cry.

when did the board vote to add that to the school's Mission Statement again? At the height of the BLM political movement?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you have a white male child, why would you ever send him to a school that makes them feel “white guilt” or they are a “male oppressor” as a 14 year old boy! All you parents that send your kids to these woke schools deserve what you are getting!

It’s so he won’t grow up to be an entitled white make adult. You know all the talk of privilege? This is what it looks like to strip that privilege away. It feels uncomfortable but it’s necessary to change historical patterns.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you have a white male child, why would you ever send him to a school that makes them feel “white guilt” or they are a “male oppressor” as a 14 year old boy! All you parents that send your kids to these woke schools deserve what you are getting!

It’s so he won’t grow up to be an entitled white make adult. You know all the talk of privilege? This is what it looks like to strip that privilege away. It feels uncomfortable but it’s necessary to change historical patterns.

send the above lines to a few psychologists around the world and see what they think about a bunch of made up premises, "conclusions," and agendas.

[Anonymous]

Many people don't grow up to be entitled.

In fact, the most entitled people out there are the ones who get so used to clear and tangible entitlements, that they now expect more of them, all the time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Oh the irony! Maybe you can talk to parents of girls or people of color to see how they have endured being made to feel less than productive positive contributors in this country.

so it's payback time? one bad turn deserves another? that doesn't seem like a productive approach to the future

[Anonymous]

My child is not at GDS but this does not surprise me at all. Are you mad because the teacher is doing a terrible job and actually blaming white males, or are your son and friends not understanding the topic and can’t see past their “privilege” or do you debate that our country has been set up and lead by white males for the benefit of white males and that women, people of color, lgbtq folks etc. don’t deserve to see them selves in our curriculum or have their history discussed with all students? If you figure out which it is, there would be a different action to take ranging from talking to the school about how badly the course is being taught to changing schools altogether.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a male, I agree that toxic masculinity is the root problem in our country and world. You can really attribute about 95% of the world's problems to about 800 people in power, almost all of them male.

Other than dealing with natural disasters, there is simply no reason for wars and strife we are seeing.

I suppose people on the right may disagree with the assessment, but it is my opinion and I don't disagree with the premise writ large.

So you think if women were in control everything would be unicorns and rainbows? Lol sure.

No, but it would be a lot better than it is currently. Look at the woman leaders in places like New Zealand and Finland - smart, no-nonsense, hold their own on the world stage. Can you see a woman in the modern era ordering troops to kidnap 16,000 children and repatriate them in her own country? Using weapons of mass destruction? Playing the toxic "big dick" games on the world stage that we see from Xi, Putin,Erdogan etc?

I don't.

How about Margaret Thatcher, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Lauren Boebert, Michele Bachmann, Yingluck Shinawatra, Sarah Palin, Ann Coulter, Elizabeth Holmes, Ursula M. Burns, Anna Delvey, Giorgia Meloni, etc. You really think Hillary Clinton or any other women would not “play dick” games on the world stage. If so you are very naive. Look at trump. There are so many women enablers and true believer women supporters around him. Without the women trump would not have been president.

LOL, you literally listed off all the right wing nut female leaders. try centrists and leftists, the list is long and accomplished.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The traditionally liberal elite private schools have all become exceedingly woke, everywhere in the US. I'm a graduate of such a school and have watched the school evolve from liberal but open minded to progressive and somewhat open minded to woke and ideological. You must understand that once an institution becomes ideological, there's no changing it. Because it's run and populated by people who believe in the ideology. There is no compromise because how can you compromise on what you think is righteous and just? It's the same mindset behind the editor of the WaPo rambling about moving beyond objectivity to a better.. whatever.

You can complain about the seminar but this thinking will be taught and encouraged by the faculty everywhere in the other classes. Even in once objective subjects like math and science. Ideology, like all ideology, becomes a disease. Eventually, hopefully, it will burn itself out but it won't happen in the next few years. It usually takes decades. New board, new head, new faculty, different parents.

It's for this reason that people like me and many of my old classmates are no longer impressed by fancy name elite schools or colleges that we'd attended and hoped our children would attend. There are other schools, however. You have to decide whether to put up with this thinking and be in an environment where you will be constantly opposed to what the school, the faculty and many if not most students deeply believe in, or simply pull your child out and go elsewhere. There are other options in the DC area that are more balanced and more like what schools were in the past and don't treat objectivity or different viewpoints as a bad word.

"woke" is right wing speak the rest of us refer to as "respect." Replace the word and see how toxic the right is with these critiques.

Indeed. Speaks the ideological person who doesn't understand how divisive and quite often wrong she is. Because you must be the right one, eh? And you own the word respect. And, of course, why respect other, different opinions when they are simply just .... wrong? Amirite?

Because the right respects women, people of color, people who aren't Christians etc.

Stop the gaslighting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The traditionally liberal elite private schools have all become exceedingly woke, everywhere in the US. I'm a graduate of such a school and have watched the school evolve from liberal but open minded to progressive and somewhat open minded to woke and ideological. You must understand that once an institution becomes ideological, there's no changing it. Because it's run and populated by people who believe in the ideology. There is no compromise because how can you compromise on what you think is righteous and just? It's the same mindset behind the editor of the WaPo rambling about moving beyond objectivity to a better.. whatever.

You can complain about the seminar but this thinking will be taught and encouraged by the faculty everywhere in the other classes. Even in once objective subjects like math and science. Ideology, like all ideology, becomes a disease. Eventually, hopefully, it will burn itself out but it won't happen in the next few years. It usually takes decades. New board, new head, new faculty, different parents.

It's for this reason that people like me and many of my old classmates are no longer impressed by fancy name elite schools or colleges that we'd attended and hoped our children would attend. There are other schools, however. You have to decide whether to put up with this thinking and be in an environment where you will be constantly opposed to what the school, the faculty and many if not most students deeply believe in, or simply pull your child out and go elsewhere. There are other options in the DC area that are more balanced and more like what schools were in the past and don't treat objectivity or different viewpoints as a bad word.

This! There are many good points about GDS but its ideological bent has become extreme.
I’m AA and a teacher but I would never want to teach at GDS or send my kids there.
Open and honest dialogue is wonderful but it is important to guide young people to reach their own conclusions.
My husband went through a republican phase when he was a teenager but then he switched over to being a democrat.
Indoctrination in a particular ideology is never a good idea.
I know several GDS families and their kids complain about worrying they may say the wrong thing and be ostracized at school.
One kid told me that you cannot trust anyone because small misunderstandings can easily blow up into uncontrollable fires.
GDS needs different leadership but it is hard to see that perhaps when you are a part of the GDS community

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The traditionally liberal elite private schools have all become exceedingly woke, everywhere in the US. I'm a graduate of such a school and have watched the school evolve from liberal but open minded to progressive and somewhat open minded to woke and ideological. You must understand that once an institution becomes ideological, there's no changing it. Because it's run and populated by people who believe in the ideology. There is no compromise because how can you compromise on what you think is righteous and just? It's the same mindset behind the editor of the WaPo rambling about moving beyond objectivity to a better.. whatever.

You can complain about the seminar but this thinking will be taught and encouraged by the faculty everywhere in the other classes. Even in once objective subjects like math and science. Ideology, like all ideology, becomes a disease. Eventually, hopefully, it will burn itself out but it won't happen in the next few years. It usually takes decades. New board, new head, new faculty, different parents.

It's for this reason that people like me and many of my old classmates are no longer impressed by fancy name elite schools or colleges that we'd attended and hoped our children would attend. There are other schools, however. You have to decide whether to put up with this thinking and be in an environment where you will be constantly opposed to what the school, the faculty and many if not most students deeply believe in, or simply pull your child out and go elsewhere. There are other options in the DC area that are more balanced and more like what schools were in the past and don't treat objectivity or different viewpoints as a bad word.

"woke" is right wing speak the rest of us refer to as "respect." Replace the word and see how toxic the right is with these critiques.

Talk about deflection . . . .