On "The Rubin Report" this week, BlazeTV host Dave Rubin spoke with Paul Rossi, a math teacher at Grace Church School in New York City who "was relieved of his teaching duties" after he blew the whistle on the private school's critical race theory-based curriculum. Rossi made his case in an open letter titled, "I Refuse to Stand By While My Students Are Indoctrinated," which was published by former New York Times opinion editor Bari Weiss.
Paul detailed the fallout from questioning the "antiracist" education lessons that his school was forcing him to teach, why he decided to go public, and how Bari Weiss helped him. He also described how George Davison, the head of the school, admitted he thinks the school's curriculum is "demonizing" white students "for being born" and making white kids "feel less than, for nothing that they are personally responsible for." Davison denied these claims, saying Rossi "misquoted" him, but an audio recording of the conversation tells a different story.
Watch the video below for more details:
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Newly released audio appears to show the head of an elite New York City school admitting to a whistleblower teacher that the institution is, in fact, engaged in the systematic indoctrination of its students.
Paul Rossi, a math teacher at Grace Church School in Manhattan, recently slammed his employer in an open letter published by former New York Times opinion editor Bari Weiss, in which he denounced the institution's "indoctrination" of students through harmful "antiracist" training and teaching.
In the letter, Rossi acknowledged that by speaking out he risked his employment at the school, which prides itself on being at the forefront of implementing woke ideology and critical race theory into its classrooms. Earlier this year, the school made headlines after issuing an "inclusive language" guide that warned staff, students, and parents not to assume someone's gender or use offensive terms such as "mom and dad" and "Merry Christmas."
Rossi's fears were proven right only days later when in an email to faculty and staff, the head of school, George Davison, announced that he had relieved Rossi of his teaching duties and barred him from entry into the school building.
In response, Rossi reportedly hit back with an email of his own, in which he accused his boss of privately expressing concerns with the school's progressive indoctrination initiatives despite publicly expressing support for them.
The email included some damning quotes attributed to Davison such as his admission that the school is "demonizing white people for being born" and making white students "feel less than, for nothing that they are personally responsible for."
Davison, who plans to retire from his post after this year, again shot back at Rossi, alleging he "misquoted" him and "attributed to [him] things that [he] had never said," according to the New York Post. But that turned out to be a blatant lie, if Rossi's audio recordings of the conversation are to be believed.
In the audio, released by the Foundation Against Intolerance & Racism, Davison appears to say the exact words that Rossi accused him of saying.
Grace Church Head of School Says "We're Demonizing White People for Being Born" www.youtube.com
In another portion of the recorded conversation, Davison admits that he, too, has "grave doubts" about some of the antiracist teaching going on at the school, including the "demonization of being white" and the "attempt to link anybody who is white to the perpetuation of white supremacy."
Grace Church Head of School Says He Has "Grave Doubts" About "Antiracism" youtu.be
Elsewhere, Davison also acknowledges that similar critical race theory teachings have "hollowed out" several other institutions before Grace Church.
Grace Church Head of School Says "They've Hollowed Out a Bunch of Other Ones Ahead of Us..." youtu.be
TheBlaze reached out to Grace Church School for comment on the newly released audio but did not receive a response in time for publication.
A school spokesperson confirmed to the New York Post on Tuesday that Rossi has declined to renew his contract for next year and so will be moving on from the school.
A teacher at an elite private school in New York City blasted the institution in an open letter Tuesday denouncing its "indoctrination" of students through "antiracist" training and teaching.
Grace Church School in Manhattan — which costs a whopping $57,000 a year to attend — prides itself on being at the forefront of implementing woke ideology into classrooms. Earlier this year, the school made headlines for issuing an "inclusive language" guide that warned staff, students, and parents against assuming someone's gender and using unwelcoming terms such as "mom and dad" and "Merry Christmas."
Now the school is facing loud criticism from within its own ranks over its full-throated endorsement of the critical race theory.
Paul Rossi, a math teacher at the school, slammed his employer in a column published Tuesday by former New York Times opinion editor Bari Weiss, titled, "I Refuse to Stand By While My Students Are Indoctrinated."
In the open letter, Rossi decried the school's embrace of "antiracist" doctrine, which he called "deeply harmful" and completely antithetical to "the virtues of curiosity, empathy and understanding."
"'Antiracist' training sounds righteous, but it is the opposite of truth in advertising. It requires teachers like myself to treat students differently on the basis of race," Rossi wrote before expounding on how the indoctrination is implemented:
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.
"Furthermore," he added, "in order to maintain a united front for our students, teachers at Grace are directed to confine our doubts about this pedagogical framework to conversations with an in-house 'Office of Community Engagement' for whom every significant objection leads to a foregone conclusion. Any doubting students are likewise 'challenged' to reframe their views to conform to this orthodoxy."
Rossi recalled in the column how he had recently decided to speak out about the ideology at a "mandatory, whites-only student and faculty Zoom meeting," during which he questioned "whether one must define oneself in terms of a racial identity at all." His goal, he said, was to "model for students that they should feel safe to question ideological assertions if they felt moved to do so."
Rossi's believed his comments had instigated a fruitful discussion. However, after the meeting, when word got out about what he said, Rossi said he was "informed by the head of the high school that [his] philosophical challenges had caused 'harm' to students, given that these topics were 'life and death matters, about people's flesh and blood and bone.'"
He added that he was promptly reprimanded for his conduct and a few days later, the head of school ordered all high school advisers to publicly denounce his actions to students.
"Imagine being a young person in this environment," Rossi wrote. "Would you risk voicing your doubts, especially if you had never heard a single teacher question it?"
Rossi noted that by writing the column he risked losing his livelihood as a teacher, but maintained that he couldn't stay silent.
"I know that by attaching my name to this I'm risking not only my current job but my career as an educator, since most schools, both public and private, are now captive to this backward ideology," Rossi wrote. "But witnessing the harmful impact it has on children, I can't stay silent."
In response to a request for comment from Fox News, Head of School George Davison shared a message administrators sent to parents regarding the incident.
"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 message read. "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," the message continued. "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."
A posh, private school in Manhattan has issued language recommendations to staff, students, and parents, advising them against using unwelcoming terms such as "mom and dad" and "Merry Christmas" that make assumptions about students' home lives.
Grace Church School in NoHo — which costs more than $57,000 a year to attend — believes the woke 12-page "inclusive language" guide will go a long way towards removing "harmful assumptions" from communication and making the campus a more "welcoming and inclusive" space.
Instead of saying "mom," "dad," or even "parents," the school suggests using terms like "grown-ups," "folks," "family," and "guardians" when communicating about life at home. And instead of saying "boys and girls," "guys," or "ladies and gentlemen," individuals should stick to more generic terms such as "people," "folks," "friends," and "readers."
"Families are formed and structured in many ways. At Grace Church School, we use inclusive language that reflects this diversity. It's important to refrain from making assumptions about who kids live with, who cares for them, whether they sleep in the same place every night, whether they see their parents, etc.," the guide says.
The guide goes on to declare that "human sexuality exists along a spectrum." It adds that staff, students, and parents should "avoid making assumptions about how adults identify themselves in the present or how children might identify themselves in the future" because "sexuality can be fluid along the course of a person's life."
The document also advises against using "assuming gender based on stereotypes" and using boy/girl patterns for school functions such as lining up outside of the class.
"Using gender inclusive language can provide critical affirmation to students across the gender spectrum," it states.
The guide, which was issued last fall, was brought to light recently as part of the City Journal's reporting on how woke ideology is taking over elite education.
In response to negative press about the language guide, the school's administrator, George Davison, issued a statement Thursday in its defense, saying, "At Grace we understand the power of language both to include and to cause alienation. We also know that it is our job to give community members resources to allow them to make informed and generous choices."
He pointed out that the guide does not ban any language, rather it "give[s] us all words to use that will bring people together."
"So if the boorish 'cancel culture' press wants to condemn us a newly dubbed 'Woke Noho' school of politeness, dignity and respect, then I embrace it, and I hope you will too," he concluded.
Grace Church School considered instituting two different sets of hiring practices, one for white people, one for non-white people.
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