Roy Exum
Many years ago I had a small sign tacked above the carriage of my Royal manual typewriter that read: “Great stories begin with powerful elements of human emotion,” and, lordy, is that ever the truth.
Last weekend I got word a considerable number of parents at the Girls Preparatory School were deeply concerned over what they felt was the liberal direction the all-girls school was heading. I learned over 100 parents were fed up with a “woke” presence and a progressive bent the school had been engaged, despite the deeply conservative Southern roots for over 100 years.
I obtained a draft of a letter that I believe was delivered to School Head Mrs. Megan Cover sometime this week and I wrote of the parents’ concerns. Lordy me, the response has been huge and I have been both applauded and castigated for sharing the parents' views.
On Wednesday I reprinted some of those emails .. carefully omitting the sender’s names. Today allow me to give you a Volume II of the uproar, which illustrates Girls Preparatory School has some real problems to address while I, as simply the messenger, am greatly amused at mankind:
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“I am in agreement with you that GPS has a thick vail of superiority laced with all of the other issues you laid out in your article, but I wouldn't blame the new captain of the ship for the stench that lingers.
My daughter attended GPS for 6th and 7th grade. It was a complete nightmare.
We moved to Chattanooga from a small town in middle Tennessee in the hopes of finding better education for my child. A tour and placement exam was completed and the school was practically hounding us to join. Mrs. [redacted] said they needed bright, intellectual girls like my daughter to attend. Of course, a scholarship to pay approximately half of the tuition was given. A single mother working on a nurse's income could never imagine such an opportunity, so we jumped!
Over the next two years, my daughter was the victim of bullying and discrimination so damning it led to her trying to end her life.
My boyfriend and I made several trips to the various counselors and "Deans of such and such" office. We were always met with smiling faces and warm wishes... but never any solution. I think there is seriously something bigger going in the bowels of that school that would shame anyone involved.
I thought it was peculiar that GPS would immediately and discretely refund my whole deposit for 8th and just allow my daughter to pass with flying colors once our situation came to a head. That head being my daughter's suicide attempt and psych hold.
They brush everything under the rug and do as much face saving as possible to keep disgruntled parents like myself quiet. When truly, they're breeding beautifully educated elitists who will never face consequences because riding on the wings of a name and a couple grand can get them anywhere!
Maybe a lead attempting to keep things "woke" is the least of their problems.”
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“I am an alumna of GPS and perceive it as such a grave travesty as to what it has become. I, along with a great group of alumnae friends, have changed our minds about our dearest alma mater.
“I am a proud alumna of GPS and sadly, I fear that Roy is right properly correct since I’ve been hearing echoes of increasing progressiveness for years.
With great dismay, our large circle of alumnae friends have decided to end our monthly giving and transfer those funds to another school in Chattanooga.
We shall never forget the tremendous education that we received whilst enrolled at GPS ~ with an emphasis on pure academics. Our capability to breeze through the first few years of uni amazed us. I was able to graduate Summa Cum Laude with three advanced degrees.
Of course we were taught to read critically, discuss and debate. We had ample access to newspapers and books in addition to the evening news channels and radio.
There was absolutely no need whatsoever for “Make Love Not War” and “Burn, Baby, Burn” posters in our classrooms or analyses regarding shedding brassieres or encouraging our boyfriends to set their draft cards ablaze.
We attended GPS for educational purposes, not “social emotional” as defined by today’s standards.
How grievous it is, now, that those in charge think so little of their students that they feel as though they must pour an inordinate amount of superfluous curricula into their studies.
Best of wishes, my dearest Alma Mater!”
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“I am thrilled that you have opened this can of worms which has been long overdue with the GPS’s directional and negative leadership. Our daughter attended GPS, graduating nearly 17 years ago.
My husband spent a ton of money to send her there and we are very upset with the negative politics that has invaded this beautiful school. The perception may have been hiding from the community but for someone who has seen the changes over the years with the campus, I can say GPS has been heading in the wrong direction for many years. The leadership and curriculum stopped caring what was best for the school and thought the teachings of the left were more important than any young woman attending GPS. So sad, because, parents are having to pay for this and the damaged it causes it plentiful and heart breaking.”
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“When you run into this much flack, you know you are on the target!!!”
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Upon review of your recent column “How Woke is GPS”, I felt compelled to respond to you directly.
As a proud alum of GPS, I am horrified by your characterization of the school, and of the student body. Setting aside your offensively presumptuous assertion that you or anyone else unassociated with the school should dictate curricular decisions or material, I find your implication regarding the intellectual fortitude of women and girls of GPS the most insulting. By suggesting that GPS should curtail their curriculum and limit these young women’s exposure to ideas that could possibly diverge from their own (or rather, YOUR own), you imply that these young women are incapable of thinking for themselves and are simply subject to some sort of indoctrination and have no intellectual agency.
Girls Preparatory School is a institution of the highest intellectual caliber that has taught young women to think critically and to challenge convention since it’s inception. The school was founded to provide young women with the necessary preparation to attend college, a wildly progressive - or “woke”- notion at the time when many women were not permitted to finish high school, much less attend college. To suggest otherwise, or to insinuate GPS should betray these principles, is insulting beyond expression to it’s current students, alumnae, and founders.
Furthermore, your personal objection to a speaker who aims “To to create spaces where students, and all community members, can be seen and heard while learning to be visible and use their voices in productive ways” is both confusing, and insultingly paternalistic. I challenge you to expand more on what about this you find objectionable about this speaker. What exactly is problematic with all community members being encouraged to be visible and use their voices? In your view, should only SOME students and community members be seen or heard? What exactly is wrong with letting people feel safe, feel heard, and feel like they belong?
Finally, I would be remiss to not to call out your oblique reference to the previous Head of School as “the last debacle”. I cannot interpret this comment as anything other than what it is, which is racist, pure and simple.
How dare you presume to speak on behalf of the alumnae of GPS.
I encourage you to “do the right thing” and refrain from further commentary on this matter.
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“Keep up the good fight! Keep spreading truth and God will always be on your side! Ignore the noise and nonsense!”
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“I am so glad to see you write about GPS and your concerns. Everyone on both sides of my family went to GPS. My dad was on the board for years and headed it for some. I think I heard him rolling in his grave.
I consider you brave and have a deep respect for you tackling issues no matter the response. What I find interesting in our "woke" culture is that when you disagree with the same people who are pushing "kindness and acceptance," they often feel so free to react with such vitriol. I noticed that they also frequently seem to feel so comfortable standing in judgement of you and in calling you names. My hat is off to you for stating your opinion no matter who agrees or does not!
I would rather remain anonymous for the fear of those mean people.
Regards to you and your family who I have loved and respected for years!”
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“Why I just KNEW you were a mysenogistical, horny old Harvey Weinstein type! I hate you! I hate your guts! You, you, .......... RAPIST! You made me cry! HAHA!! Holy [expletive] brutha! Reckon you stirred up a loud [expletive] storm? I love it! People around here have been (whining) about that over at GPS for years and it's about time the whole USA started to wake up to the pathetic reality of "woke." Woke 'em up, man! Yeee HAAA!
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“ … My sister just alerted me to the kerfuffle about an article you recently wrote. I too am disillusioned about GPS's liberal direction and despised the last head of school. Dr. [redacted] would never have let this crap go down. I filled out a GPS survey making it clear I'd be watching carefully as the next head of school was chosen. Something I read about her past gave me reason to believe she might be a conservative but alas, it appears not?
I recently moved to Charleston and am attending a "Meet and Greet with Megan Cover." there this Saturday. Apparently, GPS is hauling out the dog and pony show around the country. I plan to hit her head on with some direct/blunt questions...cocktail in hand (!) My last straw with GPS was when a Social Justice class appeared on the class offerings a few years back. Nope! I changed my estate plan immediately and plan to leave well over a million $ to animal charities instead... unless I see something major to change my mind. So sad that any private Christian based school could go woke, and GPS obviously HAS. I hear it from my classmates who have daughters there.
Anyway, I fully support your article and as usual, am disgusted by the intolerant left as they attack you for merely addressing the issue and re-posting parents' own words. So many of my childhood friends from Lookout are vile leftists, and I have literally defriended them...limousine liberals with silver spoons, spouting their leftist nonsense. You have a difficult job pleasing both sides of a city (and country) so divided and so quick to say hateful things instead of just disagree with you in a rational manner.
I have my 40-year GPS reunion in April and will likely skip it and tell them why. I hear they are still masking students?! If so, that will be one more objection to attending …
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“I wanted to thank you. I had been putting off donating to the GPS annual fund, but because of your mean words about a place I hold dear, I got on line and donated. And, I actually doubled my normal amount, too, and told them to keep doing what they are doing which providing girls with a fabulous education. Again, thank you.”
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“I have two girls attending. One Junior and one 7th grader. In reading the responses emailed to you, I see that you as a journalist printed both sides of the issue. That is what good journalism does. Because ½ liked it and ½ didn’t, you probably did the right thing. We may seriously pull out our 7th grader even though we have a long tradition of graduates.
If anyone was wondering if GPS is changing the values of how the girls feel about men, GPS traditions or the value of the flag, those Students with whom responses you shared tell all about the product there are producing. If I read these responses correctly. One girl questioned her Christian values while at GPS, one girl believes the pledge to our flag is an offense, One girl believes to be an old man is wrong and a relic of the past, one believes that the time honored traditions are of no value.
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“GPS is amazing and you are not.”
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“You’ve obviously got them scared their little secrets are out in the open. They rely on the usefully trustful, aka the boiling frog who doesn’t realize it’s cooked until it’s too late. Thanks for exposing how many here are being naively led down the grim path of progressivism by a gleeful pied piper.”
royexum@aol.com