This Harvard-Westlake parents\u2019 group is one of many organizing quietly around the country to fight what it describes as an ideological movement that has taken over their schools. This story is based on interviews with more than two dozen of these dissenters\u2014teachers, parents, and children\u2014at elite prep schools in two of the bluest states in the country: New York and California.<\/p>\n
The parents in the backyard say that for every one of them, there are many more, too afraid to speak up. \u201cI\u2019ve talked to at least five couples who say: I get it. I think the way you do. I just don\u2019t want the controversy right now,\u201d related one mother. They are all eager for their story to be told\u2014but not a single one would let me use their name. They worry about losing their jobs or hurting their children if their opposition to this ideology were known.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe school can ask you to leave for any reason,\u201d said one mother at Brentwood, another Los Angeles prep school. \u201cThen you\u2019ll be blacklisted from all the private schools and you\u2019ll be known as a racist, which is worse than being called a murderer.\u201d<\/p>\n
One private school parent, born in a Communist nation, tells me: \u201cI came to this country escaping the very same fear of retaliation that now my own child feels.\u201d Another joked: \u201cWe need to feed our families. Oh, and pay $50,000 a year to have our children get indoctrinated.\u201d A teacher in New York City put it most concisely: \u201cTo speak against this is to put all of your moral capital at risk.\u201d<\/p>\n
Read it all<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cI am in a cult. Well, that\u2019s not exactly right. It\u2019s that the cult is all around me and I am trying to save kids from becoming members.\u201d He sounds like a Scientology defector, but he is a teacher at one of the most elite NY high schools. My latest: https:\/\/t.co\/HDrWa7WFBT<\/a><\/p>\n — Bari Weiss (@bariweiss) March 10, 2021<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n \n