Scholastic - 1792 Exchange

Rating Overview

Scholastic is Medium Risk.

Scholastic Corporation (Scholastic) often yields to political activism in shaping corporate governance, potentially alienating consumers, dividing employees, and harming shareholders. The company implements race and identity-based policies that replace merit, excellence, and integrity with preferential treatment and outcomes. Scholastic occasionally embraces corporate initiatives that redirect its central focus from business goals to partisan policies and divisive issues at times. This approach fails to safeguard free exercise, free speech, and free enterprise.

Rating Criteria

Corporate Weaponization Risk Levels
Criteria	Risk Level
Cancellations	Medium Risk
Discriminatory Philanthropy	Lower Risk
Employment Protection	Medium Risk

Corporate Weaponization ⓘ

Corporate Governance and Public Policy Risk Levels
Criteria	Risk Level
Advocacy Bias	High Risk
Funding	High Risk
Political Actions	Lower Risk

Corporate Governance and Public Policy ⓘ

Rating Criteria Detail

Criteria Risk Level Rationale

Corporate Weaponization

Criteria:

Has canceled customers, suppliers, or vendors due to their political views or religious beliefs OR corporately boycotts, divests, or sanctions regions, people groups, or industries.

Risk Level:

Medium

Rationale:

Scholastic received a score of 50 on the 2025 Corporate Equality Index (CEI) from the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), a political stakeholder group. The company recruits employees based on sexual identity issues. The company discriminates against vendors that do not promote divisive sex and gender policies, indicating it prioritizes sexual issues over merit (1)(2). Scholastic promotes divisive sex and gender policies. Its Code of Ethics requires international vendors to include sexual orientation and gender in their nondiscrimination policy (3). However, the company has not publicly canceled customers, suppliers, or vendors based on political views or religious beliefs.

Criteria:

Charitable giving (including employee matching programs) policies or practices discriminate against charitable organizations based on views or religious beliefs.

Risk Level:

Lower

Rationale:

Scholastic does not appear to discriminate against charitable organizations based on views or beliefs (1).

Criteria:

Employment policies fail to protect against viewpoint or other discrimination and/or are ideological in nature.

Risk Level:

Medium

Rationale:

Scholastic does not provide viewpoint protections for its employees (1).

Corporate Governance and Public Policy

Criteria:

Uses corporate reputation to support causes, organizations, or policies hostile to freedom of expression.

Risk Level:

High

Rationale:

Scholastic has “teaching tools” and “book lists” that promote LGBTQ and DE&I ideologies including depictions of same-sex parents with children and young homosexual couples (1)(2)(3)(4). The company’s CEO has released letters sympathizing with the LGBTQ movement and standing in solidarity with the BLM movement, and Scholastic’s “Kids Press” posted an article that promotes children participating in BLM protests (5)(6)(7)(8). Scholastic published a list of 100+ LGBTQ+ books on its website. These books were rejected from buying advertising space on Facebook due to violating its policies on explicit material. The books frequently discuss gender transitioning and other aspects of gender ideology (9).

Criteria:

Uses corporate funds to advance ideological causes, organizations, or policies hostile to freedom of expression.

Risk Level:

High

Rationale:

Scholastic’s HRC 2025 CEI rating indicates the company covers transgender related costs for its employees and their children, including paid short-term leave, puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, chest surgeries, genital surgeries, medical visits and lab monitoring, travel and lodging. By allowing a political stakeholder group to dictate operations, the company increases health care costs and risks dividing employees, alienating customers and harming shareholders (1)(2). Scholastic has donated 1,000 books to Pride and Less Prejudice and committed to donating more books to other LGBTQ organizations that support LGBTQ youth (3)(4).