The Spence School Witch Trial
This is not the first time Spence has been exposed as a madrassa for woke ideologues. But this is the first time I’ve seen the two sides of this massive moral and cultural crisis embodied so starkly.
The Free Press this week had an article about the firing of a beloved French teacher in one of the most elite private schools in America, the all-girl Spence School in Manhattan.
Madame Protopappas was known for her analytical methods, once bringing the author of the FP article — her former student — almost to tears.
“She shot right back at me: Pourquoi? Pourquoi? Pourquoi? She kept urging, until I was shaken by the intensity of her Socratic-style probing.”
She taught Rabelais, Sartre, Kant and Descartes. She also “introduced students to the influence of the Harlem Renaissance on France’s Negritude, a literary movement of French-speaking black intellectuals.”
However, Mme Protopappas had the misfortune of being asked in an Advanced French class, by a senior, why France had banned the hijab.
The FP reported:
“Protopappas said she responded by thanking the student and then giving the class some background about why the French law banning hijabs and all other visible religious symbols in public K-12 schools was in accordance with the country’s belief in secularism, or laïcité. She said she invited the class to consider the pros and cons of this law, which came into being after a nationwide debate in which some Muslim women advocated to protect young students from family pressures to wear the veil.”
The readers of this Substack may well be able to guess what came next for poor old Madame. The girl in question — who happened to be the daughter of the freshly appointed head of school — had an “intensely personal” reaction, in which, through tears, she went on about how “unfair the French law was to her friend from her former school on the West Coast who wore the hijab.”
The veteran teacher’s attempts to resolve the matter went nowhere, as did her proposal to offer classes on “Trust, Truth, Faith & Facts” and on “Identities in Exile” — both of which were rejected by head of school Felicia Wilkes, the mother of the girl who was so extremely offended on behalf of her “friend on the West Coast.” Incidentally, before taking the $381,500 job at Spence, Wilkes, according to this article, was the head of diversity at a private school in Baltimore.
Protopappas was fired in February of this year, and she is now suing the school. The New York Post reported that the school labelled her “harmful to students” and would not let her talk to Sarai Wilkes after the incident.
This is not the first time Spence has been exposed as a madrassa fully in the clutches of soul-deforming woke ideologues.
But this is the first time I’ve seen the two sides of this massive moral and cultural crisis embodied so starkly, in the figures of ‘Madame Proto’ and the hysterical teen girl who did her in.
This, my friends, is the story of a witch-hunt, starring two opposing female archetypes.
First, the emotionally out-of-control adolescent girl, in the grips of a hurricane of feelings that she then harnesses to destroy people against whom she has a petty grudge. On the other side, the older, wiser, in control female — the kind of female who is exacting, does not indulge girlish silliness, and can intimidate lesser women with her composure and intellect. Just look at the photographs of the teacher, and listen to her speak in this video. She is extremely put-together, precise, immaculately dressed, and articulate. The FP describes her teaching style as ‘organic’ and ‘liberating.’ But to me, she also looks like the kind of teacher who could hold your feet to the fire — not flatter and indulge the girls or encourage the frivolous misanthropy of adolescence. “Don’t be un mouton [a sheep],” she would reportedly tell her girls.
Contrast this with the toxic teen who got her fired: “She was in a lot of pain,” the Post quotes the teacher as saying of Sarai Wilkes. “She was furious. Her emotional reaction [that] was hard for her to really control.” Ostensibly, the reason for this upset was a ‘friend’ thousands of miles away, in a place that does not ban the hijab, and therefore had nothing whatsoever to with tears and recriminations and punishment meted out to Protopappas. This level of projection, hysteria, self-importance and malice can only be found in a deeply emotionally disordered mind — a malignant narcissist, perhaps. This character is one of Cinderella’s step-sisters, or Abigail Williams from the Crucible. The girl whose jealousy sparks the most famous witch-hunt in history. I strongly recommend this brief but very insightful explainer on the dark forces that drive cancel culture.
These two types of female cannot co-exist. The authoritative composure of the strong one mitigates the venomous power the out-of-control one will otherwise gain over the people around her. Most cannot withstand the hectoring, the weaponised tears, and spurious claims of moral superiority — most people are too weak and just do what she wants them to do, thinking it will make life easier. The older and wiserof the two females prevents the young resentful one from building her power base, which is a web of manipulation, bullying, and lies. That is, until the younger one can find a way to take her out.
I’ve known women like this teacher. They are invaluable to younger women. Having an older woman around that you want to impress — and not piss off — is a very good way to learn. But all of culture is currently set up to give free rein to the young, toxic, foolish and resentful people (male and female) in our societies. This is a catastrophe for both the older and the middle aged, who see themselves sidelined and destroyed, and the young — because they are being prevented from benefiting from the wisdom of the elders.
This is 100 percent the Crucible all over again. Who knows what hatred the Wilkes women — daughter and/or mother — nursed towards this unfortunate teacher before hitting on their opportunity to get rid of her. Madame Protopappas, meanwhile, now claims she has been blacklisted from other private schools and is financially destitute.
But know this: DEI, woke, CRT — whatever you want to call it, it is just tacky window dressing for forces as old as humanity: resentment, bitterness and envy.
“We are what we always were in Salem, but now the little crazy children are jangling the keys of the kingdom, and common vengeance writes the law!”
― Arthur Miller, The Crucible