At least some parents of students at a posh New York City school take a dim view of how it politically coddles their children — in particular, Jerry Seinfeld.
According to a Halloween report in The New York Times, the Ethical Culture Fieldston School — located in the Riverdale section of the Bronx — will have “Election Day support” for students who feel too overwhelmed from side-effects of democracy not working out as they had planned.
On Thursday, the school told students’ families that those “who feel too emotionally distressed” the day after Election Day will have a valid excuse to miss class.
In addition, psychologists will be on hand to deal with their fragile psyche.
The school, the Times noted, “was founded in the late 19th century on principles of social justice” and previously made news by being “divided by infighting over pro-Palestinian student activism in the spring, leading to Joe Algrant’s resignation as head of the school in August.”
So, the same school that left Hamas and Hezbollah sympathizers run roughshod over campus — a campus their parents spend $65,540 a year for them to attend, mind you — is now giving a safe space to those who might face the slightest adversity on election night. Wonderful.
“No matter the election outcome,” principal Stacey Bobo wrote, the school “will create space to provide students with the support they may need.”
She added that the school “acknowledges that this may be a high-stakes and emotional time for our community.”
“No homework will be assigned on Election Day, the email said, and no student assessments will take place on Wednesday. Excused absences will be allowed on Wednesday or whatever day the election results are announced for students who feel unable to ‘fully engage in classes,’” the paper reported.
Is Seinfeld right? Is this school teaching children to simply buckle?
The email to parents was met with diverging opinion; the sitcom legend found himself on the anti- end of things.
“The comedian Jerry Seinfeld, whose two sons attended Fieldston, said decisions like this one exasperated his family and led his younger son to transfer in the eighth grade to Riverdale Country School, another elite school in the Bronx,” the Times reported.
“This is why the kids hated it,” Seinfeld said in a phone interview.
“What kind of lives have these people led that makes them think that this is the right way to handle young people? To encourage them to buckle. This is the lesson they are providing, for ungodly sums of money,” the legendary comedian explained.
Seinfeld added in a later phone call “that his children did not hate the school, but hated the coddling that would happen at times,” the paper reported.
Nevertheless, they managed to find parents on the other side of this, one of whom thought the plan was “commendable,” to use Times reporter Christopher Maag’s word for it.
“I think it’s absolutely the right decision,” said John Couchman, who has two daughters in the upper school. “These students are very astute. I think their rights are on the line, whether it’s on election night or in five years, and they know it.”
Of course, this is part of the problem: Parents instilling in their children that “democracy is on the line” if the other side loses. This is patently absurd, naturally, and it’s part of the reason why virtually every liberal thinks they need a safe space to process this.
Not only that, they’re teaching their children to be easily broken and quick to retreat. The current generation of Trump Derangement Syndrome sufferers is teaching the next generation to be more insufferable than they are, which would be a neat, annoying trick if they somehow pull it off.
The problem is that they’re teaching young people — in a relatively easy period of their life, mind you — to approach a brutal world by collapsing at slightest waft of resistance, as if that’s a solid defense mechanism. That manages to be bad parenting and schooling at the same time. At least Seinfeld seems aware of that fact. Other parents, as evinced by the quote above, apparently don’t think so.
Just don’t ask for time off if you’re a MAGA hat-wearer and Kamala wins, because one surmises that won’t be treated with the same level of care from the administration. Merely a hunch.
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