
Q & A
Question: When asked LH will say they are not teaching CRT.
Response: We have been hearing this response for over two years. Remember, CRT is not a class. It is an ideology being interwoven into LH.
Question: LH leadership denies they are embracing Woke, CRT or CGT.
Response: The empirical record as documented in this website clearly shows they have, knowingly or unknowingly. They began, like most Woke organizational “transformations”, with a “story” (aka “revisionist history”) designed to indict LH’s founding. In this way they lay the pretext for claims that LH continues to suffer today from “structural racism” which, in turn, is used as justification for the “necessary” introduction of the ubiquitous Woke mantra of “Diversity, Equity & Inclusion” into every aspect of its operations. Remember, Woke shares our vocabulary, but not our dictionary. This includes enthusiastic embrace of the NAIS and adoption of its recommended administrative changes, like creation of a DEI director with license to remake every aspect of the school thru the lens of the Woke worldview.
But we give current LH leadership the benefit of the doubt. If, as they claim, they have not, and will not, adopt Woke, CRT or CGT at LH then the first step towards a solution is simple: Publicly declare this without reservation. (See our demand #1 in Take Action Now). Having taken that first step definitively, we then strongly urge each and every Trustee who supported the changes we have document spend a great deal more time reading the content on this website and doing even deeper research into the dogmas and doctrines of Woke because, frankly, what they have clearly done since 2020 sure looks Woke to the rest of us.
Question: The school is getting a new president this summer. Why don’t we wait and see what he thinks about all this?
Response: Although President Harms is leaving, the infrastructure is in place. Lake Highland has programs and a Board of Trustees that supports these ideologies. The Director of DEI has powers to change the curriculum, the school website has limited parent access and our faculty and students are being sent to Woke leadership training. We must voice our opinion about our children’s education so that the incoming president doesn’t continue down this path. This is the opportunity to change the direction the school has taken.
Question: What is wrong with Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI)?
Response: While the standard definition of these words is something we should all strive for, the reality of how they are being applied in our current culture is not diverse, equitable or inclusive. Diversity is defined by including people based on their group identity. Equity is equality of outcome, not equality of opportunity and Inclusion is inclusive of like minded thinkers only. So DEI divides people by their race, gender or other group, requires that they be represented at all levels of employment and power and excludes anyone who disagrees.
Question: Why are you accusing LH Leadership of racism and Marxism?
Response: We are not accusing anyone of being personally a racist or Marxist. We first presume personal mistake not racial malevolence. We don’t know what any of the LH’s current Board of Trustees sincerely believe because none of them will talk to us. We have been asking for meetings and explanations from LH’s trustees for years. They have ignored us. As we document, beginning in 2018 former President Harms regularly assured us that Woke would never have a place at LH. When it became too obvious to deny, he did an information dump and admitted it was his idea all along, and that his idea was swiftly adopted by the board, without any notice or comment from parents, alumni, faculty or legacy leadership. President Harms then promptly shut down all further communications with us regarding these changes. We honestly remain deeply confused as to why anyone in any position of power or influence in any institution of education, much less an “elite” prep school, would ever adopt the abhorrent Woke worldview. Whether these changes are born from sincere adherence, naïve misunderstanding, or simply misguided marketing, we do not claim to know. We make no assumptions about anyone’s personal beliefs, if for no other reason than the personal beliefs of any one of us are irrelevant. What is relevant, and what we prove with certainty, is that current LH leadership has adopted Woke and Woke ideology is unapologetically racist, Marxist and anathema to every stated principal of this school.
Question: Why do you want to ban CRT/CGT from the curriculum? Doesn’t that fly in the face of classical liberal, enlightenment Judeo-Christian principles of free speech, open enquiry, and viewpoint diversity?
Response: We most assuredly do not want to ban (grade appropriate) class room discussions of CRT, CGT, Marxism, Racism, Gender Dysphoria or any other issues or topics raised by the Woke ideology. All of these issues/topics are fair game for discussion within the classroom, as long as they are presented fairly without Woke censorship, Woke false story-telling, Woke revisionist history or Woke mob bullying. That means the curriculum doesn’t advocate Woke dogmas or doctrines as established and uncontested, but honestly critiques them with established knowledge, science, empirical data and a full and complete history.
What we do insist be expelled is the embrace of Woke doctrine and dogma within LH’s pedagogy, administrative structure and school policy, most prominently embedded thru the DEI position with its operational power to incorporate Woke into every aspect of LH, including its curriculum. This change in LH’s structure and direction violates the very principals of our mission statement, honor code, and MLK’s wisdom and dream. The DEI position, if not eliminated altogether, should be renamed and repurposed to ensure the colorblind integration of every student in a culture of free and open inquiry, viewpoint diversity and constructive disagreement. (See Heterodox Academy’s The HxA Way).
Question: Why don’t you recognize that children may feel alienated or “different” because of skin color, sexual orientation, questions about their own gender, etc.?
Response: We do! In fact, some of us HAVE children and loved ones who have these feelings of being “different”. But the solution is not to divide our children into sperate tribes based on these feelings and differences and teach them a scientific falsehood that they are somehow defined as human beings by their assigned membership in a racial, sexual or gender group identity (tribe). The solution is the solution of the Bible and the classical liberal, modern enlightened moral tradition: create a warm and loving culture where such differences are unconditionally accepted and treated as trivial to their more important identity as a “unique child of God” with a discrete, individual soul and a special purpose to their life waiting to be discovered on their own terms. (LH Mission Statement).
Question: Why don’t you want LH to teach the Global Online Academy Gender Studies course?
Response: We are not critical of the subject matter of the GOA/LH Gender Studies course, but of the deceptive and unbalanced presentation of its subject matter. We actually encourage LH to have a senior level course on human sex differences, and how those differences influence and manifest as conforming and non-conforming gender expression and gender identity, including medically verified gender disorders. However, such a course must be grounded in established science, not politicized and patently dishonest dogma. We even think such a course should be mandatory, not elective, given that Critical Gender Theory’s social constructivist dogma is hegemonic within academia and LH is a preparatory school for that future academic environment. The authoritative books and peer reviewed scientific articles cited by us in What is CGT? would be an excellent starting point for such a “preparatory” unit or class.
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