Booktalking "Great Is the Truth" by Amos Kamil

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Great Is the Truth

The Horace Mann School. Right in my backyard, in the Riverdale section of the Bronx. Supposedly, it was an elite prep school for the future leaders of this country. It exuded intellectual breadth and was saturated with erudite educators. Its attendees were destined for greatness. Expectations for its students were Ivy League education and remarkable careers.

But behind the brick walls and hallowed classrooms of learning lay a dark truth. Teachers and administrators alike committed countless horrendous acts of sexual abuse on vulnerable youngsters from the 1960s to the 1990s. Worse, so many school faculty knew about it and failed to act. They apathetically allowed the wounds of these survivors to fester until the scandal broke publicly in 2012. 

Former students of Horace Mann who had been abused by the staff banded together and shared their stories, hoping to discover some solace from each other amidst all of the pain and loss. These strong individuals collectively took legal action and demanded that the school pay damages to them for turning a blind eye to the flagrant abuse that had rampaged unfettered throughout the campus in the late 20th century. The affected former pupils had the resolve to tell their stories and demand retribution for their suffering. 

Great Is The Truth: Secrecy, Scandal, and the Quest for Justice at the Horace Mann School by Amos Kamil, 2015

 

This work was eye-opening. As always, rampant human rights abuses that go unchecked for decades that are so widespread with the administration working to cover up the injustices is startling and devastating. So many lives were adversely affected by the extreme selfishness and brutality of the abusers. At least a few documented deaths by suicide occurred by former victims of the teacher-predators at the elite Horace Mann School, and there may be more.

 

Books about child abuse

Horace Mann Action Coalition

Horace Mann Survivor 

Horace Mann School's statements about abuse allegations

Prep-School Predators

Processing Horace Mann