Parents Sue Elite Schools for 'Indoctrinating' Their Kids With Anti-Racist Curriculum

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

(Bloomberg) -- When Jerome Eisenberg enrolled his daughter at the Brentwood School in Los Angeles, where Adam Levine met some of his Maroon 5 bandmates, the investment manager says he expected her to get a traditional liberal arts education.

But after the murder of George Floyd, the $50,000-a-year school said it was reimagining its purpose “with an eye toward anti-racism” and diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI. In Eisenberg’s view, Brentwood was pulling a “bait and switch” on parents. He sued the school last year for breach of contract, civil rights violations and emotional distress.

“The curriculum change shifted away from teaching students critical thinking skills — how to think — and started indoctrinating them into what to think, based on Brentwood’s preferred political fad of the moment,” Eisenberg said in his lawsuit.

Brentwood succeeded in having the suit sent to private arbitration in November. A representative of the school declined to comment.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/parents-sue-elite-schools-indoctrinating-130000200.html

Teaching racism is wrong is not a critical thinking skill?

[reymega life]

1. rthose parents are racist then

[tenderfoot]

19. Cool Story

[Johonny]

2. Am I to guess Jerome has issues and

Might need a little diversity training?

[Caliman73]

3. Does he define what a "traditional liberal arts education" is?

Critical thinking skills include asking questions, gathering relevant information, thinking through solutions and conclusions, considering alternative systems of thought, and communicating effectively.

How does anti-racism not fall under ideas of critical thinking?

Racism is a form of thought that had been institutionalized up until the 1960's and 70's, meaning that it was still explicitly present in LAWS in the United States. Systemically, it is ubiquitous in the messaging of media, advertising, etc... So much so that anything explicitly challenging it or portraying "alternative systems of thought" is considered WOKE or attacking Whiteness.

When people say that Anti-Racism or DEI curriculum is "Indoctrinating" people, ask them how, and then why that is so scary to them, what alternative do they promote, because the alternatives to Anti-Racism and DEI are Racism and exclusion or segregation.

[mopinko]

9. i went to catholic school, class of 72. i had a 'traditional liberal arts education'

i had dominican nuns, sorta female jebbies.
we read ‘black like me’, ‘the jungle’ ‘to kill a mockingbird’ and other classics that are prolly banned in fla. vaguely recall watching ‘lilies of the field’.
we had a comparative religion class that still makes me wonder if there’s a place in heaven or hell for the nun that taught it. made me an atheist. same nun was in charge of telling us birth control was a sin, but her heart def wasnt in it. (other than that, she was the bane of my existence.)

i get word from the school from time to time, and they are on the social justice bandwagon.
very diverse student body, too. lots of scholarships.

so yeah, an all girl dominican hs. trad enough?

[Caliman73]

11. I went to Catholic school from 2nd through High School

I would also consider my education to be "traditional liberal arts". Math, Science, Social Studies, history, etc... mixed in with a lot of Catholic "indoctrination" literally, we read from the Baltimore Catechism daily, went to Mass every Friday and Holy Days of Obligation.
Sadly (for them), they were pretty big on critical thinking skills and taught a good amount of scientific literacy and logic. As my questions about religion in general and the Church specifically, grew, they didn't have any answers for me that were satisfactory to the "truth" I was seeking. I too am an atheist at this point.


Elementary was Carmelites. High School was a mix of Carmelite, Franciscan, Dominicans, and lay teachers. Also very much into social justice. By the time I went, the education was co-ed, but only a decade and a half or so earlier, the girls were segregated from the boys, each on one side of the campus. My nephews went to the same high school. Still pretty liberal, still very academically intensive. One nephew went to USC, the other is graduating this year and going to Loyola Marymount in Los Angeles. My sister went to Pepperdine and USC. I did my undergrad at UCLA and Masters through ASU.

The reality is that for Conservatism to survive as an ideology, you need to have direct indoctrination. A person who grows up in the US, without direct intervention, will typically grow up with a mix of liberal and conservative messaging, but will likely be liberal or centrist. Reason for that is that the shared reality in which we dwell, where we typically use some version of the scientific method, logic, and critical thinking skills, will basically turn out a liberal. Conservatism has to be pushed on you actively because it really doesn't comport to facts about the world we live in.

Conservatives have a fundamental belief in how society is supposed to be structured and they tend to try to make the "facts" fit into that narrow structure. Liberals have a basic idea of what the ideal society might be, but tend to go where the evidence takes us.

[NotVeryImportant]

13. What these people argue is that

Anti-racism, is actually racism, they often call it "reverse racism" or "racism in reverse", which is the most idiotic phrase I've ever heard in my life.

[Caliman73]

14. Yeah. I know that.

Here is a response to "reverse racism" in humor, because otherwise bad things can happen.

[MOMFUDSKI]

4. So either pull your kid out of the school

Or pull your head out of your ass.

[Walleye]

5. Good one! I kind of feel sorry for the daughter

[muriel_volestrangler]

8. A bit more complicated; he claims they wouldn't let her continue after the end of a school year

because of his complaints:

According to the suit, the school's new ideology became one that viewed all relationships "through a conflict theory lens of racial hierarchy" in which Jewish people are treated as oppressors due to their "proximity to whiteness," while the actual treatment of Jews worldwide throughout history is ignored.
...
During J.E's first year at Brentwood School in the seventh grade, the school, with its nearly nearly $50,000 annual tuition, delivered on its promise of a non-discriminatory, traditional secular curriculum, but everything "radically changed" after the May 2020 death of George Floyd, according to the suit.
...
'That summer, Brentwood School relinquished control of its curriculum and community policies to its Office of Equity and Inclusion, a relatively new administrative arm in which all of existence is reviewed through a racial lens, the suit states.
...
Although J.E. was allowed to finish the eighth grade at Brentwood School, Riera revoked the school's offer to return for ninth grade, the suit states. Her father believes Riera's decision was tied to his complaints about the school's allegedly discriminatory policies, the suit states.

https://patch.com/california/santamonica/brentwood-dad-claims-curriculum-divisive-after-george-floyd-murder

(If she had only 2 years there before the George Floyd murder, the Office of Equity and Inclusion was already there when she started - it was created in 2016).

Eisenberg is not exactly an upstanding character (sorry about the source):

A parent at the school, who also asked to remain anonymous, said: '​​It's only a few parents who have a problem with the changes to the curriculum. The students by and large, including my own, have no problem with it.'

The parent said they didn't trust Eisenberg, having discovered he had previous charges for fraud dating back to the 1990s.

According to a 1993 LA Times article, Eisenberg and his realtor client were charged with improperly inflated real estate values in loan transactions allowing them to obtain $6million.

According to federal court records, Eisenberg, a former lawyer, pleaded guilty to mail fraud and bank embezzlement in 2000, was sentenced to a year in prison and resigned from the California bar.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10906219/Los-Angeles-high-school-sued-Jewish-parent-racially-divisive-anti-Semitic-curriculum.html

[Caliman73]

12. The story negates his claims that "they wouldn't let her continue..."

The story says that the daughter rejected the offer for her to return for the ninth grade. Certainly, if the daughter thought that the school was hostile toward her then that would have influenced her choice, however, any hostility appears to have come from the series of complaints from the father.

My wife is a strong advocate for our kids at school. She has butted heads with folks in the various schools our kids have gone to, however, one elementary school principle did not like her, but most if not all of the elementary school teachers loved her and still keep in touch with her even though both kids are now in middle school. The middle school principal loves my wife as do many of the teachers there. Why? because while we do bring up concerns and are advocates, we aren't assholes about it and we don't complain about things being "too woke" and other such nonsense. We want good solid curriculum that will prepare our kids for high school and university.

[muriel_volestrangler]

17. I couldn't see anywhere that it was her who decide not to return

The school didn't comment much (facing a lawsuit, they'd be unlikely to), and she obviously wasn't interviewed for the story. Though I don't suppose it matters that much - it's obviously the father who's driving the lawsuit.

[BlueWaveNeverEnd]

16. Eisenberg needs an ethics education

[niyad]

6. What does this lackwit think a "liberal arts education" includes?

[maxsolomon]

7. Great way to ostracize yourself and your kids, asshole.

Send your kids elsewhere.

https://www.crunchbase.com/person/jerry-eisenberg

[marble falls]

10. He's not exactly a knuckle dragger ...

Last edited Mon May 22, 2023, 05:04 PM - Edit history (1)

...

edit - As one reads more about this guy - well - who goes to jail and gives up his law licence and then brags about the law degree???

He's proving something to the daughter, lord knows what.

https://about.me/jerome-eisenberg-los-angeles

Jerry Eisenberg is the CFO and Co-Founder of Gifts for Good. He is a serial entrepreneur, successfully founding a recreation center, a number of coffee kiosks, and a real estate investment firm―rehabilitating urban multi-family housing units at affordable market rents in the L.A. area.

Mr. Eisenberg is also the Managing Director & Founder at

Eisenberg Investment. Jerry holds a degree in Political Science and Economics from UCLA, a JD from Loyola Law School, an MBA from UCLA Anderson School of Management, an MA in Political Science from USC, MA in History from CSUN.



https://jeromejerryeisenberg.wordpress.com/

A sort of blog regarding his charity work.

[BlueWaveNeverEnd]

15. Since withdrawing Lauren from Brearley, Gutmann said, it has been "nearly impossible" to find a scho

Since withdrawing Lauren from Brearley, Gutmann said, it has been “nearly impossible” to find a school that challenges his daughter academically but isn’t “politicized.” He tried a small private school in New Jersey and then another in Florida before opting to home-school her this year. He plans to send her to a British boarding school in the fall.

-------------------------------------------

Why didn't he send her to Alabama or Mississippi?

[GoodRaisin]

20. She needs to be challenged academically.

Not likely to find that school anywhere in the Magat Belt.