Paul Rossi is a math teacher at Grace Church private school in Manhattan. And even though he knows the numbers are stacked against him in a culture “woke” on race relations, he’s speaking out on the incalculable destruction that is being done to young children indoctrinated on Critical Race Theory.
Rossi posted an essay on a website run by former New York Times opinion editor Bari Weiss. “I Refuse to Stand By While My Students Are Indoctrinated,” has since gained national attention.
In the first few lines, Rossi’s love of teaching and of children jumps off the page. He then expresses his desire to hold up to his responsibilities as a teacher, even if it means putting himself in the crosshairs of his detractors. “As a teacher, my first obligation is to my students. But right now, my school is asking me to embrace “antiracism” training and pedagogy that I believe is deeply harmful to them and to any person who seeks to nurture the virtues of curiosity, empathy and understanding.”
My school, like so many others, induces students via shame and sophistry to identify primarily with their race before their individual identities are fully formed. Students are pressured to conform their opinions to those broadly associated with their race and gender and to minimize or dismiss individual experiences that don’t match those assumptions. The morally compromised status of “oppressor” is assigned to one group of students based on their immutable characteristics. In the meantime, dependency, resentment and moral superiority are cultivated in students considered “oppressed.”
The open letter then waxes on the backward nature of a race ideology that is being force-fed in schools. “My school, like so many others, induces students via shame and sophistry to identify primarily with their race before their individual identities are fully formed. Students are pressured to conform their opinions to those broadly associated with their race and gender and to minimize or dismiss individual experiences that don’t match those assumptions. The morally compromised status of “oppressor” is assigned to one group of students based on their immutable characteristics. In the meantime, dependency, resentment and moral superiority are cultivated in students considered “oppressed.” All of this is done in the name of “equity,” but it is the opposite of fair. In reality, all of this reinforces the worst impulses we have as human beings: our tendency toward tribalism and sectarianism that a truly liberal education is meant to transcend.”
Critical Race Theory has its roots in Marxist ideology; viewing society through the lens of race-based oppression where “blacks” are victims of “whites”. Black Lives Matter co-founder Patrisse Cullors has not been shy about admitting this truth. Thus, CRT has an intellectual lineage to Frankfurt School ideologues of the early 1920s whose aim was to infiltrate cultures and poison them with over-the-counter Communism. By the time German National Socialism rose to power in 1933, Frankfurt School cohorts were exiled and the Institute was transferred to Geneva, Switzerland and then to Columbia University in New York in 1935.
To help elucidate the damaging impact CRT has on the development of young students, Rossi then harkens to a situation from a couple of years ago. He recalls “in a special assembly in February 2019, our head of school said that the impact of words and images perceived as racist — regardless of intent — is akin to ‘using a gun or a knife to kill or injure someone. Imagine being a young person in this environment. Would you risk voicing your doubts, especially if you had never heard a single teacher question it?”
Fox News reached out to Grace Church Head of School George Davison. His response was to send Fox a message he sent to parents:
“As you may be aware, a member of the faculty wrote and posted an article that is critical of Grace and of our efforts to build a school where everyone feels they belong. The process of building a community is often challenging, and I am disappointed that this individual felt it necessary to air his differences in this way. We have always held the goal of fostering an environment that is safe and welcoming for all members of the community across a myriad of differences. This is a work in progress, and while we are not always as successful as we would hope, we know that it requires the constructive engagement of everyone in the community.”
On its website, Grace Church identifies with an “Episcopal school tradition” which “recognizes the unique, intrinsic worth of every human being, bestowed upon each by a loving God.” It also strives “to help each student develop an active ethical consciousness, supported by close acquaintance with Judeo-Christian beliefs and enhanced by the beauty and faith inherent in Grace Church.”
Critical Race Theory has received a fair bit of attention on ifamnews.com. Just last month, a Nevada judge said a lawsuit against Critical Race Theory is “likely to succeed”.