s*********5
发帖数: 5637 | 1 http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-gay-schools-20111016,0,
California schools scrambling to add lessons on LGBT Americans
Many are flummoxed about how to carry out a new law requiring California
public schools to teach all students, from kindergartners to 12th-graders,
about lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Americans.
By Teresa Watanabe, Los Angeles Times
October 16, 2011
At Wonderland Avenue Elementary School in Laurel Canyon, there are lesson
plans on diverse families — including those with two mommies or daddies —
books on homosexual authors in the library and a principal who is openly gay.
But even at this school, teachers and administrators are flummoxed about how
to carry out a new law requiring California public schools to teach all
students — from kindergartners to 12th graders — about lesbian, gay,
bisexual and transgender Americans in history classes.
"At this point, I wouldn't even know where to begin," Principal Don Wilson
said.
Educators across the state don't have much time to figure it out. In January
, they're expected to begin teaching about LGBT Americans under California's
landmark law, the first of its kind in the nation.
The law has sparked confusion about what, exactly, is supposed to be taught.
Will fourth-graders learn that some of the Gold Rush miners were gay and
helped build San Francisco? Will students be taught about the "two-spirited
people" tradition among some Native Americans, as one gay historian mused?
"I'm not sure how we plug it into the curriculum at the grade school level,
if at all," said Paul Boneberg, executive director at the GLBT Historical
Society in San Francisco.
School districts will have little help in navigating this sensitive and
controversial change, which has already prompted some parents to pull their
children out of public schools.
The Legislature suspended all adoptions of instructional material through
eighth grade until 2015 to save money. Any new textbook with LGBT content is
not likely to land in schools until at least 2019 because that process
usually takes a minimum of four years, according to a state Education
Department spokeswoman.
The transition should be easier in L.A. Unified, which has been a pioneer in
LGBT education.
The Los Angeles school board passed a resolution directing students and
school staff to refrain from slurs about sexual orientation as far back as
1988. Then, in 2003, allegations of adult school staff members bullying LGBT
students prompted the district to step up its educational efforts,
according to Judy Chiasson, coordinator for human relations, diversity and
equity.
In 2005, L.A. Unified debuted the nation's first chapter in a high school
health textbook on LGBT issues covering sexual orientation and gender
identity, struggles over them and anti-LGBT bias. A section on
misconceptions says sexual orientation is not a choice — a statement many
religious conservatives disagree with.
Those topics, educators say, are clearly inappropriate at the younger ages,
raising tough questions about how to carry out the new law in elementary
school.
So sensitive is the subject that a children's picture book about a same-sex
penguin pair is one of the most controversial books in America today. "And
Tango Makes Three" — based on a true story about two male penguins at New
York's Central Park Zoo that bond, hatch a surrogate egg and raise a baby
together — has drawn the most complaints and requests for removal from
library shelves nearly every year since its 2005 publication, according to
the American Library Assn.
Chiasson said LGBT topics are controversial because people conflate them
with sex — and, for religious conservatives, sin. "People sexualize
homosexuality and romanticize heterosexuality," she said.
The Safe Schools Coalition, an educational support group for LGBT youth,
says the only age-appropriate lessons in elementary school involve family
diversity, gender stereotypes and anti-bullying.
Which is pretty much what happens at Wonderland.
On a recent morning, teacher Jane Raphael invited her two dozen
kindergartners, first-graders and second-graders to sit in a circle and tell
a story about their family. The students described a cross section of
modern-day America: moms and dads and athletic siblings, crazy dogs, a cat
named Lulu, a fish that died, divorced parents, a girl with two mommies.
There was no discussion about sex or gay lifestyles. The exercise simply
underscored that families come in all sizes, shapes and configurations.
Wilson, the principal, said such lessons are about as far as the school
would take any LGBT instruction.
"The issue is never going to move beyond the diversity of family," he said.
"If it were to move beyond that, we would address it as a breach of
developmentally appropriate instruction."
Middle and high schools are a different matter. Sex education begins in
fifth grade, so more specific LGBT instruction is considered appropriate —
and necessary, experts say, as bullying steps up in these years.
That happened at Downtown Magnets High School, where a lesbian student was
beaten up on a school bus in 2005. The school responded by launching an anti
-bullying poster campaign, a Gay-Straight Alliance club, staff sessions
about inclusiveness and a conscious effort by some teachers to integrate
LGBT issues into instruction.
An art history teacher includes portraits of same-sex couples in her studies
. An English teacher has discussed writer Langston Hughes, who is widely
believed to have been gay. And in 11th grade U.S. history, Daniel Jocz
covers LGBT issues, especially during the unit on 20th century civil rights
movements.
Using video clips of Kanye West, Tyra Banks and other celebrities, Jocz
engages his students in lively discussions about language — including the
taunt "that's gay." His students study the LGBT resistance to police arrests
in the Stonewall riots alongside Rosa Parks' refusal to sit in the back of
the bus. And the murder cases of Emmett Till, an African American teenager,
and Matthew Shepard, a gay college student, are examined in the class
segment on hate crimes.
"I'm a history teacher, and this is history," Jocz said. "It's part of the
narrative. You can't remove it."
Students say such efforts have created a safe and nurturing environment.
David Columbus, a senior and president of the school's Gay-Straight Alliance
club, said he remembers being pushed around and called names since he was 3
because he liked Barbie dolls. When he realized he was gay in eighth grade,
he said, he wanted to die and wished he had cancer instead because that was
more acceptable.
At school, however, Columbus said he has thrived under the support.
"This law's going to educate kids about LGBT people, and once you get
education, you'll respect them, and nobody's going to bully them anymore,"
said Jennifer Vanegas, a straight member of the club.
But the new law, which added LGBT Americans, European Americans and the
disabled to groups whose contributions to California and U.S. history should
be studied, has sparked open rebellion from some teachers and families.
Sixty miles east from Wonderland, Calvary Chapel Corona — an evangelical
Christian church of 1,200 congregants in western Riverside County — is an
active opponent. At least seven families pulled their children from public
schools in protest.
"This law teaches children that it's OK to be gay, and that's not my
Christian values," said Bryan Breuer, who withdrew his children from public
schools. "I don't understand trying to force this on my children."
Grace R. Callaway, a public school teacher near Yuba City, said she will
refuse to teach LGBT issues to her fifth- and sixth-graders because she
believes homosexuality is a "destructive lifestyle."
She has also taken issue with a short biography recently presented in her
daughter's high school history class that described John Berry, director of
the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, as the "highest-ranking openly gay
federal employee in U.S. history." She and some other religious
conservatives want to remove their children from such lessons as they can do
with sex education.
How administrators plan to handle "conscientious objectors" like Callaway is
unclear.
For now, L.A. Unified, along with school districts in south Orange County,
Elk Grove and elsewhere, has started meeting with staff members to figure
out lesson plans.
"We're looking for places of natural fit," Chiasson said. "We're not going
to shoehorn in something gratuitous just to make a point."
t*************[email protected]
Copyright © 2011, Los Angeles Times | I*****y
发帖数: 6402 | 2 as ludicrous it may sound, how can a 6- or 7- or 8-year-old understand the
complicated issues behind sexual orientation, homosexual marriages, gays,
and lesbians? It may not be even necessary to teach them at this early stage. Although everyone deserves an
equal representation for their
voice, I don't see a strong, if at all, link between teaching those sensitive materials
to kids and respecting the contributions and life-styles of gays & les.
—
【在 s*********5 的大作中提到】
: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-gay-schools-20111016,0,
: California schools scrambling to add lessons on LGBT Americans
: Many are flummoxed about how to carry out a new law requiring California
: public schools to teach all students, from kindergartners to 12th-graders,
: about lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Americans.
: By Teresa Watanabe, Los Angeles Times
: October 16, 2011
: At Wonderland Avenue Elementary School in Laurel Canyon, there are lesson
: plans on diverse families — including those with two mommies or daddies —
: books on homosexual authors in the library and a principal who is openly gay.
| y****i
发帖数: 17878 | 3 "On a recent morning, teacher Jane Raphael invited her two dozen
kindergartners, first-graders and second-graders to sit in a circle and tell
a story about their family. The students described a cross section of
modern-day America: moms and dads and athletic siblings, crazy dogs, a cat
named Lulu, a fish that died, divorced parents, a girl with two mommies.
There was no discussion about sex or gay lifestyles. The exercise simply
underscored that families come in all sizes, shapes and configurations."
in my opinion this is the way to go in the lower grades of elementary schools.
each school district has to come up with the age-appropriate curriculum to
comply with the law. as a concerned parent you should get involved in this
process.
stage. Although everyone deserves an
sensitive materials
【在 I*****y 的大作中提到】
: as ludicrous it may sound, how can a 6- or 7- or 8-year-old understand the
: complicated issues behind sexual orientation, homosexual marriages, gays,
: and lesbians? It may not be even necessary to teach them at this early stage. Although everyone deserves an
: equal representation for their
: voice, I don't see a strong, if at all, link between teaching those sensitive materials
: to kids and respecting the contributions and life-styles of gays & les.
:
: —
| I*****y
发帖数: 6402 | 4 private school is the way to go
tell
schools.
【在 y****i 的大作中提到】
: "On a recent morning, teacher Jane Raphael invited her two dozen
: kindergartners, first-graders and second-graders to sit in a circle and tell
: a story about their family. The students described a cross section of
: modern-day America: moms and dads and athletic siblings, crazy dogs, a cat
: named Lulu, a fish that died, divorced parents, a girl with two mommies.
: There was no discussion about sex or gay lifestyles. The exercise simply
: underscored that families come in all sizes, shapes and configurations."
: in my opinion this is the way to go in the lower grades of elementary schools.
: each school district has to come up with the age-appropriate curriculum to
: comply with the law. as a concerned parent you should get involved in this
| y****i
发帖数: 17878 | 5 it is your choice
no matter where you want your kids to be educated, an understanding of what
are being taught in the classrooms is parents' right as well as
responsibility.
【在 I*****y 的大作中提到】
: private school is the way to go
:
: tell
: schools.
| S**r
发帖数: 2478 | 6 法律没有要求私立学校吗？
估计私立学校要火爆了。
【在 I*****y 的大作中提到】
: private school is the way to go
:
: tell
: schools.
| S**r
发帖数: 2478 | 7 还有home school。
【在 I*****y 的大作中提到】
: private school is the way to go
:
: tell
: schools.
| y****i
发帖数: 17878 | 8 Fears that kindergartners will be hearing about prominent gays in history
are misplaced, said Sherry Skelly Griffith, governmental relations
specialist for the Association of California School Administrators.
Currently, California students do not receive any significant social studies
until they study state history in fourth grade. They begin learning about U
.S. history in eighth grade, but do not study 20th Century social movements,
the most logical place for gay history to receive a serious treatment,
until they are juniors in high school.
Educators who devise the curriculum are unlikely to include the sexual
orientation of historical figures unless it is relevant, Griffith said.
—
【在 s*********5 的大作中提到】
: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-gay-schools-20111016,0,
: California schools scrambling to add lessons on LGBT Americans
: Many are flummoxed about how to carry out a new law requiring California
: public schools to teach all students, from kindergartners to 12th-graders,
: about lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Americans.
: By Teresa Watanabe, Los Angeles Times
: October 16, 2011
: At Wonderland Avenue Elementary School in Laurel Canyon, there are lesson
: plans on diverse families — including those with two mommies or daddies —
: books on homosexual authors in the library and a principal who is openly gay.
| s*********5
发帖数: 5637 | 9 我觉得这篇LA Times的文章挺中立的。但求school district在执行这个SB48上能有智
慧。
-----------------
我今天找这篇文章时google到的第一则消息是这篇报导：
School takes 1st-graders to see lesbian teacher wed
http://www.wnd.com/?pageId=77734#ixzz1b56r3Ybm | S**r
发帖数: 2478 | 10 印象中只有加州和纽约州对gay比较宽容，别的州有没有通过类似的法律？
【在 s*********5 的大作中提到】
: 我觉得这篇LA Times的文章挺中立的。但求school district在执行这个SB48上能有智
: 慧。
: -----------------
: 我今天找这篇文章时google到的第一则消息是这篇报导：
: School takes 1st-graders to see lesbian teacher wed
: http://www.wnd.com/?pageId=77734#ixzz1b56r3Ybm
| | | y****i
发帖数: 17878 | 11 so they did have parents' consent, and the field trip was proposed by a
parent, and it was a surprise to their teacher who was getting married
your comments?
【在 s*********5 的大作中提到】
: 我觉得这篇LA Times的文章挺中立的。但求school district在执行这个SB48上能有智
: 慧。
: -----------------
: 我今天找这篇文章时google到的第一则消息是这篇报导：
: School takes 1st-graders to see lesbian teacher wed
: http://www.wnd.com/?pageId=77734#ixzz1b56r3Ybm
| s*********5
发帖数: 5637 | 12 I did not read all the background. Thanks for pointing all of these out.
Were I one of those parents, I will definitely feel pressured to have my
child be the only one who did not go to his teacher's wedding. I will also
be concerned as who's going to pay for the transportation and what happened
to the loss day of school work.
【在 y****i 的大作中提到】
: so they did have parents' consent, and the field trip was proposed by a
: parent, and it was a surprise to their teacher who was getting married
: your comments?
| y****i
发帖数: 17878 | 13 to put it in perspective, it happened in San Francisco in 2008. that tells a
lot
two families of children in the class chose not to give permission for the
trip, while 18 kids went to the wedding and had a day "they'll definitely
remember".
This is how people agree to disagree on certain issues.
happened
【在 s*********5 的大作中提到】
: I did not read all the background. Thanks for pointing all of these out.
: Were I one of those parents, I will definitely feel pressured to have my
: child be the only one who did not go to his teacher's wedding. I will also
: be concerned as who's going to pay for the transportation and what happened
: to the loss day of school work.
| s*********5
发帖数: 5637 | 14 Fine. Let us hope we will be able to agree to disagree on this issue, while
not be shoveled a decision with no options.
a
【在 y****i 的大作中提到】
: to put it in perspective, it happened in San Francisco in 2008. that tells a
: lot
: two families of children in the class chose not to give permission for the
: trip, while 18 kids went to the wedding and had a day "they'll definitely
: remember".
: This is how people agree to disagree on certain issues.
:
: happened
| s*********5
发帖数: 5637 | 15 You know we were notified prior to students listening to Obama's speech a
few weeks ago. When I was volunteering in my son's school, the teacher told
the students that they don't have to do a math exercise called 'witch's
stew' if they don't celebrate Halloween for whatever reason. I hope
sensible educators can treat the LGBT issue with the same respect to various family values. | y****i
发帖数: 17878 | 16 these are totally different issues.
parents' concerns will certainly be addressed and considered in designing
the lesson plans to comply with the law in every school district. However,
once they are decided, every student will be required to take the curriculum
. there is no opt-out.
told
various family values.
【在 s*********5 的大作中提到】
: You know we were notified prior to students listening to Obama's speech a
: few weeks ago. When I was volunteering in my son's school, the teacher told
: the students that they don't have to do a math exercise called 'witch's
: stew' if they don't celebrate Halloween for whatever reason. I hope
: sensible educators can treat the LGBT issue with the same respect to various family values.
| e*********u
发帖数: 3591 | 17 既然已经通过了，后面很值得调查的几个课题有：
1，这样的no opt-out的教育是不是导致了校园里针对LGBT的bully行为减少；
2，这样的no opt-out的教育是不是导致了LGBT自杀率的减少；
3，这样的no opt-out的教育是不是导致了相关年龄段孩子成为LGBT的比例增加。
相信一定有很多这方面的专家在做这些调查了，不过要过十几、二十年才会有一定的
结果，从明年起的学龄儿童将会是这个法律的实施对象和这些调查的取样对象，拭目
以待吧。
curriculum
【在 y****i 的大作中提到】
: these are totally different issues.
: parents' concerns will certainly be addressed and considered in designing
: the lesson plans to comply with the law in every school district. However,
: once they are decided, every student will be required to take the curriculum
: . there is no opt-out.
:
: told
: various family values.
|
|
