It’s been 3 years and with regard to schools and education, we have been right about everything. We wish we hadn’t, but we have. Just over 2 years ago, we - Undercover Mother - were all over the map. One of the organizations that covered us asked us to write an OpEd for their site. We sent them a piece. Then they decided not to publish it. They were not the only ones. What can we say - we have a gold medal in getting gaslighted! 2 years on, and our piece the organization requested rings truer than ever. Ask yourselves why outlets are so scared to publish us if we are not entirely over the mark. Read it for yourselves:
Saving Independent Schools
Thank you for your engagement with Undercover Mother, a group composed of the most involved mothers at independent schools. We began connecting after we analyzed the problems at our schools and started asking questions about the role of the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS). One question we ask: What evidence does NAIS have that focusing on DEI in independent schools helps children?
In fact, all indicators of the singular focus on making “anti-racist” schools point to an increase in polarization and division and a decrease in emotional wellbeing and knowledge. The first thing schools do when instituting DEI agendas is exclude everyone who does not agree, when real inclusion demands interdependence and mutual respect of all constituencies. DEI focuses entirely on certain groups to the exclusion of all others, when real inclusion requires focus not on exterior characteristics but on treating each person with kindness and consideration and on allowing each other grace to learn, forgiveness to make mistakes, and patience to grow. Independent schools instituting DEI programs exclude parents who question what children are being taught in classrooms and demagogue to children. Refusing to include all voices and opinions is not courageous conversation, it is cowardly censorship – the type included in our enrollment contracts.
Independent schools cannot forget they are inherently exclusive institutions. Proclaiming they can establish “equity” in schools where the cost for kindergarten tuition is often the median American income is embarrassingly hypocritical. Instead, schools should underscore how emphasis on merit and academic excellence lifts all children. This is particularly the case for children in lower socioeconomic groups. DEI programs do the opposite by proclaiming academic excellence and merit are aspects of white supremacist culture and cause too much stress, disintegrating the quality of education. The Andover of Mark Zuckerberg is gone. As resources and time spent on DEI (including mental and emotional “wellness”) absorb time spent on knowledge and mastery, families with means hire tutors and participate in club sports and costly extracurriculars, leaving behind families reaching to send their children to independent school and children attending independent schools through financial aid. The reality is, DEI is illusory.
We are cognizant that running a school, particularly these past couple of years is exhausting work, but running a school does not have to be overcomplicated. We are also cognizant that school finances have been trending down and have been buttressed by endowments thriving from good markets which will not last forever. This is further evidence that our schools need to trim the fat, cut out the socio-political propaganda, and stick to its core mission – ensuring the education of our children. For too long our schools have only asked what we can do for them without asking what they can do for us. What we want is simple: (1) we want our schools to focus on their foremost basic mission – educating our children in basic core subject matter with a focus on academic excellence; (2) we want our teachers to be provided real compensation packages and to be relieved from the constant “professional development” of struggle sessions so they simply can teach quantifiable skills unencumbered from unnecessary emotional exhaustion; and (3) we want increased transparency.
It is the integrity and differentiation of independent schools that has always distinguished independent education. For centuries, independent schools retained their own distinct founding principles, teaching philosophies, traditions, mottos and missions. Parents could justify investing in independent school education because their children would receive an excellent education. This is no longer the case. From their conference programs, professional development materials, and the countless hours of speeches, online videos and podcasts, it is clear NAIS does not have the interests of our children or our schools at heart. NAIS is stripping every member school of their unique character and independence by standardizing policies from faculty recruitment sources, trustee recruitment, professional development programs, mission statements, curricular framework and teaching philosophies, student – and even parent – discipline, and financial management practices.
NAIS envisions independent schools no longer distinct and independent but existing under the NAIS umbrella. NAIS President Donna Orem explained, “…we think about the differentiators for schools. I think when we think about independent schools in the future, I think we really need to think about being centers of wellbeing as being the independent school differentiator.” She further expounded independent schools as places “to really center around wellbeing and to start to explore human potential from that place of feeling good about yourself, being able to relate to others and being able to leverage that, to create a better society” – not as places to acquire academic ability and knowledge. (Horn, Michael B, host. “Episode 1: The Purpose of Schools.” New View EDU, Aug. 2021. https://www.nais.org/learn/nais-podcasts/new-view-edu/episode-1-the-purpose-of-school/) The proud proclamation by CEO Donna Orem, DEI VP Caroline Blackwell, and NAIS’ list of preferred DEI consultants on their anti-white, anti-capitalist agenda in their work at our schools juxtaposed with the success of independent schools being based considerably on capitalism reveals that NAIS is intentionally dismantling independent schools to “reimagine” them. Through the accreditation process, NAIS has bloated independent schools with self-perpetuating DEI consultants, who are not evaluated on any metrics, have no accountability, and whose clear agenda is to shift the focus of schools from scholarship to producing leftist activists. NAIS’ prompt responses to our Substacks and social media – censoring information, deleting portions of its website, and amending its own organizational descriptions after our assertions, reveal we are clearly over the target.
On March 1, 2022, NAIS will mark sixty years. What has been NAIS’ defining mark on our schools? Has NAIS’ influence left our independent schools in better shape than they were thirty years ago? Are children graduating from NAIS independent schools more knowledgeable, kinder, and more resilient than graduates from thirty years ago? Should NAIS continue to keep dependent all of our independent schools or is it time for a reset? It’s time for the real adults to have a discussion. Enough is enough.
Imagine if people had listened to us a mere 2 years ago. Now tell us there’s no agenda.
Shits & Giggles
