Parent Testimonials

“The current direction negatively impacts everyone. A framework that discourages educators from engaging deeply with complex social realities risks narrowing classroom inquiry for all students. When teachers feel constrained in discussing history, ethics, and lived experience, every student loses opportunities to develop critical thinking and the ability to connect their learning with the world around them and their lives outside of school.”  - Lab parent (submitted 2/13)

When I was offered the faculty position at the University of Chicago, the Lab School's reputation, shaped by the philosophy of John Dewey, including teaching in the service of social progress and inclusivity, was as compelling as the job itself. Although relocating across the country to Chicago was difficult, I accepted the disruption it brought to my family because I believed in joining a community rich in ideas and identities—one where my children could belong and thrive. The direction suggested by these new policies could not be farther from what drew me to Chicago and to the university. Lately, I wake up wondering whether my children or I truly belong here. - Lab parent (submitted 2/13)

Thank you for bringing awareness to this matter. Receiving your pamphlets today made me feel I’m not alone and that there’s people at Lab that care about this matter. - Lab parent (submitted 2/13)

“As a parent, I am deeply worried. The Administration’s use of viewpoint neutrality to soften Lab’s commitment to inclusion in order to appear more politically balanced, is not protecting education, it is compromising the very values that make it meaningful. For students from historically marginalized communities, whose sense of belonging has too often been undermined in educational settings, this shift is not abstract. When the administration hesitates to affirm students’ identities and lived experiences, it sends a troubling message that some students’ belonging is negotiable. Neutrality in moments that call for affirmation does not create balance, it deepens harm.” - Lab parent (submitted 2/13)

"Parents are questioning the administration’s ability to keep our community safe and its commitment to honoring diversity. Many of us are increasingly uncertain about the direction the school is taking and whether its long-respected culture and values that originally drew families to Lab will remain." - Lab Parent (submitted 2/13)

Erasure is not neutrality.

As a Black parent, this is what I think about when I hear schools describe “neutral” pedagogy that avoids present day anti racism. Race does not disappear simply because we stop talking about it. My children still move through the world as Black children every single day. They still experience difference. They still notice inequities. They still encounter stereotypes.

What disappears is something else: Context. Validation. Voice.

When classrooms refuse to engage with present day racism, my children are left navigating real world dynamics without institutional acknowledgment of the realities shaping their lives.

That is not neutrality. That is silence. And silence is never neutral.

The research is remarkably consistent:

• Children notice race early. Avoiding conversations about race does not prevent bias. It leaves children to absorb messages from society without guidance (American Psychological Association).

• Colorblind approaches can undermine belonging and increase stress, particularly for students of color whose lived experiences are implicitly dismissed (Psychological Science).

• When race is taught explicitly and thoughtfully, outcomes improve. A rigorous study of a 9th grade Ethnic Studies course showed gains in attendance, academic performance, and graduation rates, especially for students most at risk of disengagement (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences).

• Talking about race can reduce bias. Guided, developmentally appropriate conversations help students build healthier racial understanding rather than deepen division (Northwestern Institute for Policy Research).

But beyond the studies, this is deeply personal. What “neutrality” too often communicates to Black children is: Your reality is too controversial to name here.

Belonging, identity formation, and emotional safety are not abstract concepts. They are developmental necessities. When students cannot see their lived experiences reflected or acknowledged, the costs are psychological as much as academic.

I do not want my children educated in an environment that treats their identities as political risk.

I want classrooms that prepare all children to understand the world they are actually inheriting honestly, thoughtfully, and with empathy.

Because refusing to talk about race does not protect children. It simply redistributes whose experiences are allowed to matter.

And that is not neutrality.

That is erasure.

• Lab Parent (submitted 2/13)

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I don’t write any of this out of opposition to Lab, but out of love for it. Lab shaped who I am — not just academically, but morally and socially. It taught me to sit with difficult history, to listen across difference, and to understand that education is not about shielding young people from the world but preparing them to move through it with empathy, critical thought, and courage. The lessons I carry most vividly were never about neutrality in the sense of silence; they were about responsibility — to truth, to context, and to one another.

As a parent now, watching these proposed shifts toward a more rigid interpretation of “neutrality” feels disorienting. I understand the pressures facing the University and the realities of our current cultural climate. But when neutrality risks becoming disengagement — when teachers may hesitate to provide historical framing during moments that shape students’ lives — it begins to feel less like protection and more like capitulation. The Lab I knew did not avoid complexity; it trusted educators to guide students through it thoughtfully. Whether we were learning about Hiroshima, slavery, the Holocaust, or the Civil Rights movement, our teachers met the moment with honesty and care. That approach didn’t indoctrinate us — it prepared us to live in a diverse, complicated world.

Hyde Park has always been part of that education — a community rooted in diversity, debate, and a deeply human sense of place. Lab at its best reflected those values, even while navigating tensions with the broader University and the changing social landscape. I recognize that Lab has never been perfect; many alumni, especially Black alumni, carry experiences that complicate the story. But the solution to imperfection has always been deeper engagement, not retreat from the conversations that matter.

Today’s students are growing up in a world more visible and immediate than the one we experienced. Social media, global crises, and local realities shape their questions in real time. Meeting them where they are is not advocacy — it is education. Teachers who offer historical context, empathy, and intellectual honesty are not abandoning neutrality; they are fulfilling the very mission that made Lab a place of inquiry and growth.

My hope is not to return to an imagined past, but to preserve the spirit that made Lab meaningful to so many of us: a school confident enough to hold many viewpoints, trusting enough to empower its teachers, and brave enough to face the world as it is — not as something to be navigated cautiously through flowcharts, but as something to be understood together.

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I chose to send my children to Lab because I believe in its mission statement.  I want a school that exemplifies democratic principles. I want my children to grow into adults who improve their world.  How can this happen when the teachers' first obligation is to be neutral?  The people behind the neutrality standards have forgotten that teachers are role models.  Well, what does it teach my children when their role models must be neutral? What does it teach them when their role models must fear revealing their beliefs?  How is neutrality a democratic principle?  How will neutrality improve the world?   - Lab Parent (submitted 2/13)