Friday 17 June 2022 05:04 PM Student at elite NYC private school rails against 'far-left faculty's ... trends now
A student at an elite New York City private school accused a 'far-left faculty' of pushing their political biases on students and forcing the kids to censor themselves so as to not antagonize their teachers.
Horace Mann senior Ryan Finlay blasted the $55,000-a-year academy in an op-ed piece in his school's paper, claiming teachers were 'vilifying' conservative beliefs and putting pressure on students to conform to left-leaning ideology.
'Every classmate I know who is not progressive self-censors in class during discussions of current events and politics,' Finlay wrote.
'At the end of the day, the impulse to self-censor is fueled by risk assessment: it is not worth jeopardizing academic success at HM [Horace Mann] in exchange for political expression.'
Horace Mann senior Ryan Finlay wrote in his school paper that the school was allegedly forcing students to conform to far-left ideology
The $55,000 private school, pictured, is based in the Bronx. Finally claimed teachers were 'vilifying' conservative beliefs and believed it was their duty to 'open students' eyes'
In his op-ed piece, published last week, Finlay claimed the Bronx school fostered a learning environment that 'is hostile to those who do not subscribe to progressive politics.'
Finlay said he spoke to a faculty member who told him teachers feel 'obligated to open students' eyes to the inequality that surrounds them,' but when students speak out against these ideas, Finlay said they are 'criticized for failing to recognize the lived experiences of others.'
'Students who agree with these arguments have the school's unspoken authorization to attack opposing ideas on the grounds of righteousness,' Finlay wrote.
'This training in moral protectionism begins early, as I recently heard one student explain: 'I remember being introduced to the equity versus equality diagram back in the Middle Division. Teachers made clear that there was a right system and a wrong system.''
Finlay also claimed that at least thirty-percent of the school is at odds with the school's alleged politics.
'Many non-progressive students at HM are terrified by the ambiguity of an administration that preaches independent thought but permits and encourages attacks on it,' he wrote.
'As far as many students are concerned, the administration has practically endorsed cancel culture through its silence on the phenomenon.
'Currently, students' conclusion is: watch yourself and censor yourself; you are not protected.'
Horace Mann administrators did not reply to DailyMail.com's request for comment.
Finlay claimed that about a third of the student body opposes the politics in the school but don't speak up because they're of the consequences
Golden Girl Betty White (left) was a lead in the school play at the Bronx school, which was also attended by famed writer Jack Kerouac (right)
Horace Mann boasts many famous alumni, including 'On the Road' writer Jack Kerouac and 'Golden Girl' Betty White, as well as disgraced New York Gov. Elliot Spitzer.
This is not the first time the private school has been slammed for 'wokeness,' as many criticized it for threatening to expel students who dismissed its masking mandate last December.
In an email to parents, Horace Mann in the Bronx said: 'There will be no debating whether a prompt was once, twice, or thrice, if you need to be told to wear your mask appropriately, you spend two days at home, and if it occurs a second time you are telling me that HM is not the school for you.'
The email was sent among a spate of controversies last in the city's elite schools as parents criticized the institutions for trying to spread woke ideology on race and accused of teaching critical race theory in the classroom.
Parent Harvey Goldman said he pulled his daughter out of the $43,000-per-year Heschel School after learning that the fourth-grader was being tutored on her 'white privilege'.
'First and foremost, neither I, nor my child, have 'white privilege,' nor do we need to apologize for it,' Goldman wrote in a letter to the school that was made public in April 2021. 'Suggesting I do is insulting. Suggesting to my nine-year-old child she does is child abuse, not education.'
Riverdale Country School parent Bion Bartning was also so upset with the ideologies being taught there that he pulled his children out of the $54,000-a-year school.
Harvey Goldman and Bion Bartning both pulled their children out of elite New York private schools after learning that they were being taught about their 'white privilege'
Goldman said he pulled his daughter out of the $43,000-per-year Heschel School (above) and moved the family to Florida to enroll in a free public school
Riverdale Country School parent Bion Bartning was so upset with the ideologies being taught there that he pulled his children out of the $54,000-a-year school (above)
Bartning then went a step further, founding the Foundation Against Intolerance & Racism (FAIR) to fight back against what he calls a dangerous new 'orthodoxy'.
Bartning, who is Mexican and Yaqui on one side and Jewish on the other, said he was shocked to learn that schoolchildren are being forced to label themselves as privileged or oppressed by skin color.
'I don't fit into any of those race buckets,' Bartning told the Post. 'I think it is wrong to be teaching kids these socially
