L.A. Prep School Graphic Teaching Students 'Fat, Short, Unattractive' People Are Oppressed

Eighth grade students enrolled in a human development course at a Los Angeles preparatory school were recently shown a graphic that appeared to identify individuals who are "fat, short, unattractive" as oppressed, according to an Instagram account detailing experiences within the school community.

The Instagram account @wokeathw is run anonymously and has received coverage in the Harvard-Westlake School newspaper. Since it began posting content last September, the account has shared nearly 50 messages and screenshots from students and parents within the school community. Most of the posts raise concerns students and parents have about the political undertones of class assignments or messages received from teachers and other school faculty.

The account, called Woke at Harvard-Westlake, says in its account description that it is "documenting the self-destruction of an elite private school" and is led "by concerned students, parents, faculty, & alums."

A Sunday post by @wokeathw shows a chart that divides characteristics into two groups: "privilege" on the top half and "oppression/resistance" on the bottom. At the top of the "privilege" category are descriptors like "upper middle class, wealthy," "young adult" and "healthy, coping." At the bottom of the "oppression/resistance" category are descriptors like "working class, poor," "chronically ill, mentally distressed" and "too young, too old."

One of the points on the chart that the Instagram account pointed to was "fat, short, unattractive," which appears near the bottom of the "oppression/resistance" category. Meanwhile, "thin, tall, attractive" appears near the top of the "privilege" category.

The graphic was part of an eighth grade human development course, according to the caption accompanying the image. The graphic provides "so much to make fun of," the caption said.

"We don't get it either," @wokeathw wrote in its caption after detailing a couple of the graphic's examples. "All we know is it's incredibly dumb and as usual, HW should be embarrassed."

One of the anonymous account managers told Newsweek in an email that they believe the graphic is "genuinely harmful."

"I think the post basically speaks for itself—it's dumb, it's weird, it makes no real sense, but it is genuinely harmful," the account manager wrote. "These graphics, and the lessons that go with them, teach kids that they are either oppressed victims who should feel grievance and resentment, or that they are privileged oppressors, and they should feel shame. It's wrong, it's not true, and it seems designed to make every kid unhappy."

More than 600 Instagram accounts follow @wokeathw, but no comments appear beneath the Sunday post. As the account managers told The Harvard-Westlake Chronicle last fall, the posts began drawing too much engagement for them to moderate, and comments on posts have been turned off.

Many of the account's other posts raise concerns about school faculty promoting "radical" perspectives and structuring assignments in ways that community members interpret as requiring students to agree with those points of view. Richard Commons, the school president, told the school paper that while differing perspectives were welcome, he was "disappointed" in @wokeathw "because it didn't seem to be contributing to the kind of good faith that enables the work to be done together." Support for the account also appeared to be split among students, according to interviews the paper conducted with members of the school community.

Harvard-Westlake has a middle school campus in the Holmby Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles and a high school campus located in Studio City, with a combined population of 1,620 students, according to the school website.

Harvard-Westlake School declined Newsweek's request for comment.