Tuesday, June 8, 2021

Dalton Just Can't Get Out of Its Own Way



Dalton and Jim Best

I really thought I was done writing about Dalton, but they just can't seem to get out of their own way.

First, they screwed up in-person classes. Then, there was the meltdown over faculty demands and Critical Race Theory ("antiracism"). Then their head of DEI was made a sacrificial lamb. Then Jim Best, their headmaster, announced he was "leaving" at the end of the year.

This whole beat, the Naked Dollar's covering the private school woke wars, started with the story of Dalton's misadventures back in December. I didn't do it because I care, particularly, about Dalton. I didn't go there, and I don't live in Manhattan. But I do care about education, and Dalton was illustrative of a broader, deeply illiberal, trend towards the politicization of the classroom. 

Dalton was not unique, in other words.

Having said that, it does seem like they go out of their way to be capital of Wokeistan. 

A couple of days ago, an anonymous group called Prep School Accountability paid to have mobile billboards park in front of several Manhattan schools, including Dalton (and Brearley, which I have also chronicled). 

One truck said this:


Another said...


For the record, I have no idea who did this. It's interesting, though, because the battle against K-12 indoctrination doesn't seem as lonely as it did a few months ago. People are stepping up. Mostly anonymously, for reasons that are perfectly understandable, but more and more people are willing to come forward and put their names on the line. Soon, we will have what sociologists call a "preference cascade."

In any case, I knew I could count on the Naked Dollar's old friend Jim Best to give us a response so risible that he make his peers look like mere pretenders. Perhaps Jim's newly acquired occupational freedom has lent him the rhetorical license he craved all along. It's a short note, but there's just so much to unpack.

Here's what Jim wrote just yesterday about the trucks, along with my comments (in bold)...


To the Dalton Community:

This action is antithetical to what Dalton stands for and negatively impacts the welfare of our children and our community members.

Jeez, really? How is that? Apparently because

It attempts to create a climate of intimidation and harassment and evokes some of the worst moments in our nation's history.

We literally just marked the 100th anniversary of the Tulsa Race Massacre, where as many as 300 people were killed and 2,000 homes torched. So, moments like that, Jim? Perhaps words like, "Teach our kids how to think, not what to think" evoke My Lai or 9-11 for you? I'm sorry, you are not a serious person.

We took, and will take, necessary steps to ensure the well being of our students, faculty, and staff.

Did any staffers or kids see the signs? Please tell me everyone's alright!

At Dalton, we encourage constructive discourse consistent with our values of creating "a climate of respect in which creativity, curiosity, individual risk-taking, and personal excellence are achieved and can flourish." 

It's true. Dalton loves discourse, just loves it...as long as it's "consistent with their values," which also include telling you you're a racist if you disagree with those values, and if you're white, you'd better "check your privilege," otherwise known as "shut the f*** up."

We continue to listen closely to community members who engage in respectful dialogue and work together to help build an educations environment grounded in empathy and compassion.

This is what all these administrators say. Jane Fried of Brearley, and George Davison of Grace Church said exactly the same thing. And it's such crap. Why do so many "community" members fear going on the record? Because they know there will be repercussions. And as for compassion, does that include telling minority students they are permanently oppressed? That they should live in a state of perpetual grievance? How is that compassionate?

The tactics we saw this morning are neither dignified nor persuasive.

No doubt you said the same about the last year of BLM and Antifa street violence...just kidding. Let's face it Jim, it isn't the method that bothers you, it's the message.

They only redouble our commitment to stand by our mission, our values, and every single member of our community.

Except for those of you who are racists for opposing my agenda, and as soon as I figure out who you are, I will inform Yale.

Jim Best, Head of School

Yom Fox, Interim Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion



8 comments:

  1. What's interesting about this is divining what it is in the social dynamic which generates that pool of people employed in school administration that generates so many people who offer nothing to the world but humbug. And, while we're at it, why is it that the social dynamic which generates boards give every school a collection of people who value humbug? There are straight up guys in this world. They seem rare as hen's teeth in that world.

    Now look at the faculty at Dalton, two-thirds of whom signed that egregious petition. The median age of a working adult in this country is about 42 years. So, a faculty member of median vintage is someone who was coming of age in 1992 +/- 12 years; the median vintage of their parents would be the 1948 cohort. They have a fun-house-mirror understanding of the world they live in, and they're anathamatizing their parents for generating the matrix in which they were raised. So, why does teaching as a profession collect so many people who have this mendacious and self-aggrandizing disposition toward their parents' world?

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  2. "I really thought I was done writing about Dalton, but I'm a aggrieved loser who can help himself."

    Fixed it for you.

    I don't care how much money you've made or how many books you write... this blog stinks of insecurity, a lack of confidence in yourself and a lack of satisfaction with your life. Seriously, who dedicates their time to this?

    Dalton is a great school, it has been for the decade my kids have attended and it will be after they move on with the education and experiences the school provided. We've enjoyed every minute. Their future is bright, I'm sure they won't waste their adult years writing a crappy blog that strives to be quoted by the NY Post (Ha ha! The NY Post)

    Carry on with your gossipy, empty, frightened nonsense snowflake...

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    1. Yup. The freakout over Critical Race Theory is just a proxy for the real goal of banning history that doesn't fit conservative politics. God forbid that we teach kids facts about racism, slavery, and genocide that might make kids question the laughable idea America is the greatest country of all time and anyone who says otherwise is a filthy pinko commie. Soon we will look back on this nonsense the same way we look back on the last right-wing freakout: early 90s political correctness. And, yea, people such as the author of this blog are just so pathetic, just like the culture warriors of the last generation

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    2. Anonymous - what you are doing is called "projection" in psychological terms - you are clearly an incredibly thin-skinned, insecure and irrational person - it is YOU talks tough and engages in ad hominem attacks while hiding like a pussy behind the safety of your keyboard as "Anonymous," while it is Mr. Johnston who has the courage and conviction to clearly identify himself as the author of this blog. Since you're too much of a pantywaist to put your name out there, I am pretty sure that you: a) have never had any kids attend Dalton; b) could be a current or former Dalton student, Dalton faculty or staff member, employee of the Woke consulting firm used by Dalton, or just a friggin' horses ass who cannot formulate a logical rejoinder to Mr. Johnston's thesis.

      Another clue is your atrocious treatment of the English language - your grammar is that of a 4th grader, and you clearly never learned how to write in clear, complete sentences. The takeaway here is that, if you are who you claim to be, Dalton accepts students from functionally illiterate parents.

      C'mon Mr. Anonymous - with all your big, tough talk, you should either admit that you're a fraud or clearly identify yourself. Which one is it?

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    3. Ha ha! I know your kind, you're all over the 'net. Plenty to say in comments because he's too scared to do it in the real world.

      Why would I put my name on this garbage blog? You see, I have wonderful children who are receiving a wonderful education at a wonderful school. All of these things were true before I learned about this ugly, useless forum and will be after I stop paying attention to it. I wouldn't even be here were it not for a loser who has nothing better to do than meddle with and gossip about a school that is, as I said before, wonderful. I'll leave this behind, unlike you who comes here to have his fear, insecurity and bigotry sated.

      Of course, you're wrong about everything, Mr. Smallperson. But you being wrong is no surprise considering your visceral reaction to criticism of your wrongheaded idol. It really got you all ginned up, didn't it? You've made your position regarding the triggered crybaby who "writes" this blog clear... head down, ass up.

      More "brave" tough guy talk from someone hiding behind a keyboard in 3... 2... 1...

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  3. Hey Second Anonymous, you say "God forbid we teak kids facts about racism, slavery and genocide..." This is the statement of ignorance or mendacity. Either the commenter knows nothing about CRT, or does know about it and (like all good leftists) pretends that there's "nothing to see here." CRT is nothing but a concerted effort to rewrite history to posit the false theory that a person's race is the primary reason for, well, pretty much anything and everything that happens to them, and that all people who happen to have white skin are part of a vast conspiracy to keep people who happen to have non-white skin from being able to achieve much of anything in their lives. CRT also says that if X% of the population sports a particular skin color, it is therefore systemic racism if that cohort makes up less than X% of any business or professional group, neighborhood, governmental entity, college/university student, faculty or staff population, etc. How ANYONE can buy into CRT as any kind of legitimate approach to organizing any society is astonishing!

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  4. I see one of the lesser sort of Dalton employee has checked in to insult the rest of us.

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  5. I think a post was eaten by the spam filter.

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