service learning... and how to kill the joy of it.

NAME OF AUTHOR and TEXT 

Joseph Kahne & Joel Westheimer and In the Service of What?

AUTHOR’S ARGUMENT 

“Educators who emphasize change would clearly also value the educational benefits of this approach. To tap into the full power of service activities, however, these practitioners would want to combine critical inquiry with action. This process can transform students' understandings of both disciplinary knowledge and the particular social issues with which they are engaged. “

This quote I believe leads to their argument... in the service of what part one... that in order to make the most of service learning is to not only engage in actual services but to delve into the topic to help create change and progression. That critical analyses must co-exist with self reflection. Just a guess.

QUOTES

I basically quoted this page because, as far as I’m concerned, it was the only thing that I picked out of that articles that interested me in the littlest bit.

“In the moral domain. service learning activities tend toward two types of relationships. Relationships that emphasize charity we will call "giving." Those that aim primarily to deepen relationships and to forge new connections we will call "caring." In caring relationships, Nel Noddings asserts, we try to consider the life and disposition of those for whom we are caring. We attempt to "apprehend the reality of the other" and then to "struggle [for progress] together." In so doing. we create opportunities for changing our understanding of the other and the context within which he or she lives.”

- I thought it was interesting the way the authors split service learning activities, and in this case, defining the outline of caring and giving of volunteering.

“In the political domain, the intentions of those promoting service learning activities draw from two different assumptions about political socialization and what it means to be a citizen. Those who focus primarily on charity believe that, to be properly educated in a democracy. students must undergo experiences that demonstrate the value of altruism and the dangers of exclusive self-interest. They stress the importance of civic duty and the need for responsive citizens. Volunteerism and compassion for the less fortunate are the undergirding conceptions of political socialization associated with this vision.”

-The problem with making volunteering a civic duty tends to mix the people who really don’t give a crap about those they are servicing with people who profoundly enjoy spending hours, months and years giving back to their communities. People who just go through the motions really annoy me. Even though tutoring is a requirement for this class, I spend time outside of my life trying to prepare for the once a week sessions at which I still do not feel like I am there enough. I wish I could show up everyday. Plus people have different talents. I love coaching youth sports, therefore I coach youth sports. And I take it very seriously.

“The second notion of political socialization reveals fundamentally different assumptions about the requirements of citizenship. Those promoting this vision of service learning hope to move students toward participation in what Benjamin Barber refers to as a "strong 

democracy." They call for a curriculum that emphasizes critical reflection about social policies and conditions, the acquisition of skills of political participation, and the formation of social bonds.”

“In the intellectual domain, a service learning curriculum can further a number of goals. The ability of a service learning curriculum to foster authentic, experience-based learning opportunities, to motivate students, to help students engage in higher-order thinking in contextually varied environments, and to promote interdisciplinary studies has led some, such as John Brisco, a leader in the field, to label service learning "the Trojan horse of school reform." The service component may help us get the support needed for implementation, he argues, but its real impact is seen in its ability to promote powerful learning environments.”

“He endeavored to create "a new Carnegie unit," the requirement that all students take part in volunteer activities in either their school or community as a condition for graduation from high school." 

- if this is going to be a requirement, schools should make the community connections for the students available. Part of Mr. Johnson’s class problem of certain kids who appeared to not make much of an effort of the requirement could have been due to lack of resources on finding or even knowing where to go for volunteer services. They may have had transportation issues and et cetera. 

QUESTIONS/COMMENTS/POINTS TO SHARE

I think it is pretty obvious to any one who reads this that I lacked interest in this article. It didn’t matter how I feel about volunteer which I love doing, as I read this article, not one quote really jumped at me and grabbed my attention. Every article I’ve read (besides Delpit) I felt like I had so much to agree with or disagree with. This one, I was like have I gotten through a page yet?

unlearning the myths - I am cynicism at its best.

NAME OF AUTHOR and TEXT 

Linda Christensen and Unlearning the Myths That Bind Us

AUTHOR’S ARGUMENT 

Media influences from children’s cartoons, books and all other sources provide children unrealistic expectations of life, predisposition’s based on race, economic status and cultural backgrounds. These influences portray how our lives should be. 

QUOTES

“Delivered by children's books and movies, instructs young people to accept the world as it is portrayed in these social blueprints. And often that world depicts the domination of one sex, one race, one class, or one country over a weaker counterpart”

-I remember the books, as I read them to my little sister. Beauty and the Beast, Peter Pan, Alladin, and all of the others. True, they may not culturally sensitive or represent another race period. I can see that a member of another race may feel grossly unrepresented. But as I read those books, I never really thought that I’m reading these books because they are of white people, of people with wealth and what not. I doubt little children look underneath the main message of Being Kind and say hey look there is all white people in this story. However I do know that most little girls romanticize stories such as sleeping beauty and snow white, where the charming prince comes to the rescue. Prince Charming so easily found as a child is more of a joke today. I always said well He ain’t no prince charming but he’ll do. Haha

“The messages, or "secret education," linked with the security of their homes, underscore the power these texts deliver. As Tatum's research suggests, the stereotypes and world view embedded in the stories become accepted knowledge.” 

“To help students uncover the values being planted by Disney, Mattel, and Nike, and to help them construct more just ones, I begin this "unlearning the myths" unit with two objectives.”

“Many students don't want to believe that they have been manipulated

by children's media or advertising. No one wants to admit that they've been "handled" by the media. They assure me that they make their own choices and the media has no power over them -as they sit with Fubu, Nike, Timberlands or whatever the latest fashion rage might be.”

-The media has no power over me.

I do not follow the latest fashion rage. Want to know how I know that? People constantly tell me I’m out of style. Then I smile, cuz that must mean I’m doing something right by not listening to the latest fashion magazine saying that brown is out. I wear whatever damn color I please. True, I tend to learn toward certain brands. Even then my favorite brands piss me off. Nike assumes because I’m shopping in the women section that I want everything to be pink, pastel blue and pastel green and all that other colors I can’t stand. I still wear nike because I like the way their sneakers fit on my feet. My t shirts I prefer to come from places where I’ve visited or support. I try not to pay for t shirts. I wear what I wear not because of how much they spend on advertising, but because its made with COTTON. I hate anything else. I don’t really look at the media handling kids these days. I think that some kids are more vulnerable than others yes, but advertisements I feel like merely are just SAYING HEY BUY MY PRODUCT. But sorry I’ll never be interested that product. I’m not affected by constant bombardment of product advertisements. did this have any point, I’m not sure. did this little rant have anything to do with the quote. I hope so.

“Personally, handling the dissection of dreams has been a major cause of depression (or me. Not so much dissecting --but how I react to what is found as a result of the operation. It can he overwhelming and  discouraging to find out my whole self image has been formed mostly by others or underneath my worries about what I look like are years (17 of them) of being exposed to TV images of girls and their set roles given to them by TV and the media. It's painful to deal with. The idea of not being completely responsible for how I feel about things today is scary. So why dissect the dreams! Why not stay ignorant about them and happy! The reason for me is that those dreams are not unrelated to my everyday life. They influence how I behave, think, react to things.... My dreams keep me from dealing with an unpleasant reality.”

- This quote was written by a student in the author’s class (I think). I thought it was interesting, her note about not being completely responsible for how she feels. I think these days its really impossible to be 100 percent responsible for choices made, for feelings, biases and such. Unfortunately, when you’re born, you’re born into a family that you for one thing did not choose. You didn’t choose your skin color, hair color any of that. I didn’t choose to be born hearing impaired.  So right off the bat, you didn’t get to choose the moment you entered this world. If you had serious complications, you didn’t get to choose to stay alive, your parents did. The medical community decided even though you were born without working kidneys or without a face, THEY decided you were going to live. Then I’m in a family or you’re in a family that may not be culturally aware or may be from another culture. I could go on. Pretty much you’re surrounded by everything that makes you unique, everything and everyone that made choices for you, everyone who’s ever decided you couldn’t have ice cream for bed. Then you’re educated in schools who also CHOOSE what they’re going to teach you, what they’re not. Then you turn 18, are supposed to be adult and out of everything the world has shoved at you for 18 years, you can finally choose and be responsible for every choice you make. what a joke. it’s no wonder, most people never get it right when they’re 18.

Anyway, I guess I was surprised that this student just realized that she’s not 100 percent responsible for everything she’s ever chosen. I don’t know about you, but the reason I choose to feel the way I do about things is BECAUSE of everything that has ever been presented to me. Whether it be Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, Basketball Diaries, My parents, or a lecture from any of my professors. They are all partly in a way responsible for how I feel about certain topics. And it started the day I was born.

“Students have also said that what they now see in cartoons, they also see in advertising, on prime-time TV, on the news, in school. Turning off the cartoons doesn't stop the sexism and racism. They can't escape, and now that they've started analyzing cartoons, they can't stop analyzing the rest of the world. And sometimes they want to stop. Once a student asked me, "Don't you ever get tired of analyzing everything!" 

-Recently I watched the Jetsons, the cartoon. When I was little I’m pretty sure I watched it a lot, I even have the movie which I still love. When I watched the Jetsons (the Flintstones were on that night too) I was really surprised at how sexist the show was. I do not remember it being like that. Jane had wanted to get her license, and throughout the entire show was sexist remarks about how women are bad drivers, shouldn’t be driving because they should be at home making the man dinner. Needless to say, though, I still watched the show. As an adult, I can easily ignore the message in the show and enjoy the stupidity that makes me laugh anyway. However, would some child do that? Would a kid be able to realize the implications of those remarks and say hey I don’t agree with it, that’s not right and move on? probably not, I suppose. Or would the remarks go over the kids head, and he would just laugh at the same dumb scenes I laughed at? I would hope so. Impressionable young kids though, their minds are like a sponge. 

“Without giving students an outlet for their despair, I was indeed creating  "factories of cynicism" (Bigelow, er aI., 1994) in my classroom  and it wasn't pretty. “

I am the master of cynicism. Ever so thankful to all my teachers who ask me to analyze and critique everything to death.

QUESTIONS/COMMENTS/POINTS TO SHARE

Mostly throughout reading this article I began to lose sight of her objectives because every other phrase in the article sent me on a rant. Though I believe her two main objectives were to help her students learn the hidden truths behind every innocent looking piece of literature and how the media can distort the image every living person sees. Her second objective was not only for her students to become adept at finding  the "secret education" behind every thing on this planet, but to learn how to apply it and spread the word. To help them not be bystanders of the cynicism behind Snow White but to be active with their newly found information. However, I think far too many instances people look far into things and tear them apart because of not what the message IS but because what they THINK might be a message underneath.  So lets burn every book that isn't culturally sensitive or representative of everyone on the planet. White people only write for the white people, blacks can write for the blacks and so on. And don't read my son a book that depicts black people who do not speak the so called cultural language of blacks, or White English. Sometimes I feel like in this fight to defeat racism and discrimination against not only based on race and ethnicity, but sex, disabilities, age, religion and sexual orientation, we lose sight of the REAL problem and create problems against a book or a cartoon that we confuse innocent with subliminal messages. Are we making a fight against the world, or are we so guilty for years of oppression, that we attack every little thing saying it is not good enough for our kids. How about instead of taking Disney movies off our shelves, we talk to our kids about what they see in the movie, how it makes them feel. What would they like to see different? Little kids think differently than us adults do. So maybe we should stop analyzing everything to DEATH, and I mean seriously, chill out. Little kids don't always particularly realize that the things that we see, and therefore we think they must see it too. It's not reality. Think about it. Does anyone think we're winning this battle by over analyzing and critiquing? I used to think it was helping, but the more I hear about it, the more I talk about it... The many more years I go through this same song and dance, I feel like we're losing this battle because we are attacking each other, and bringing negativity into our every day lives. Education is supposed to give us power, the power to choose... why is my education, lately, making me feel like all our battles, all our fights... we're losing? I won't be taking Alladin off my shelf, sorry. I don't have any politically correct children's books or movies. 

so if you can't tell, I'm super bored...

It's a saturday night. I am having a blast sitting here wishing I'd stop having muscle spasms in my neck. It makes it difficult to study for my exams. I'm pretty sure whiplash goes away after a week but I wish it would go away sooner. I have a rugby game tomorrow that I will be missing. I am upset about that. I'm also upset that the front right side of my car is smashed but thankful that other than my whiplash, none of us were really injured. I just hope the pain goes away soon. This week is really going to stink.  I need to bring my car to the shop so it can be fixed. But one of the things I can't stop thinking about though is that if I was actually going the speed limit (I was going 35 in a 40), we'd all still be in the hospital.  The accident would have been a lot worse. I would've gotten there faster, and seen her cut off both lanes of traffic too late. Her passenger would've been crushed. I keep thinking about how I never go home that way...

goodnight.

9 year old boy who thinks he's a girl...

So I had remembered seeing something like this on t.v. and searched for the story online. I remember thinking how strong this mother must be to allow her son to wear pink and girl clothes. I remember thinking this woman is brave and courageous. And then I started thinking, so is her son. I applaud him and hope he teaches those around him what it means to be tolerant and to be yourself. Future educators, keep in mind... you might have someone like him in your class? If we can't talk about sexuality, how can we help kids like him or other kids understand kids like him?http://www.avitale.com/SempersTwin.htmAnne Vitale PhD, EditorAugust 1, 2006 Preface:This is a composite of a series of e-mail messages I received from Ms. Danielle Alexander in the summer of 2005. She has twin boys, one of which clearly and repeatedly states that he is a girl, not a boy, while the other twin seems quite content with being male and behaving like all the other 9 year old boys. Ms Alexander has given me permission to post this synopsis of her concern and love for her child. Ms. Alexander can be reached at semperalwayz@gmail.com and welcomes comments from others who may be in a similar circumstance.

Anne Vitale Ph.D.

Letter from the mom of a gender dysphoric twin boy.
Ms. Alexander writes:
I have 9 year old twin boys. From the moment the younger one could
verbalize his thoughts he has stated he's not a boy, he's a girl.
Around the age of three he attempted to cut his penis off. His
reasoning was that girls don't have a penis. I took him to the doctor.
The doctor did a physical exam, assured me he was a boy, then referred
me to the Behavioral Science department with the diagnosis of "Gender
Identity Disorder."

When I was pregnant I had an amniocentesis performed. It came back
that both fetuses were boys. I'm assuming that means the right
chromosomes are there for them to be boys.

At this point in time I allow my son to be whomever he believes
himself to be. I allow him to dress as he wants and play with whatever
he wants. I have taught him that it's okay to be whomever you believe
you are, however, some people aren't going to like him or will be mean
to him because of choices he makes. I have fought hard to teach the
school that the person doing the teasing is the one that's in the
wrong, not the person being teased. I have been very firm with those
in my life and at his school about what they can and can't say around
him. It's an endless, confusing battle at times.

I'd love to have a test to determine if inside his brain there is something that is female and not male. Maybe then I'll have the answer as to why one
of my twin boys is extremely all macho male yet the other one is just
the opposite.

Adam is responsible for the clothing he chooses to wear to school. He's responsible for the behaviors he displays. He is responsible for decisions he makes today that may effect his future. He may ask me if it's okay that he wear one of his "girl" sweaters to school that day. I always say it's his body and his clothing - as long as it fits within the dress code for school he may wear it. Then I remind him that some may tease him or hurt him. I remind him that the person doing the teasing is the one in the wrong - however, he's also making a choice to enter into a situation that may prompt this behavior from others. 

I'll ask him how he will respond if different reactions occur due to his choices. Once we go over all of this he may decide to go ahead and wear it or he may not. The part that always blows me away is if he decided to wear the sweater to school then comes home from school beaming stating that no one teased him today because of his sweater.

Most of the time I think, "Great! Another positive outcome for acceptance of my son." Then there are the days where I'm thinking,"Damn! If they had teased him then maybe he'd choose not to wear that to school again." Inappropriate thinking on my part. However it's also a very normal response for a parent who becomes overwhelmed by facing all these issues every day.

My role as a parent is to empower my child to love himself, to have confidence in his choices, and have options available when others don't agree with him. I pick my children up from school. Occasionally Adam will get into the van and report that a classmate called him "gay" or laughed at him because he had on pink snow boots, or someone slashed his book bag because it had a pink strip on it. I listen to his words while I try to hear what's behind them. Is there pain? Sorrow? Anger? Fear? Is he just relating an incident that occurred or is he asking for comfort because he feels injured? In the few seconds I have to process this information I have to come up with an answer to his story. I usually attempt to get him to look at the big picture. There are 500 children in his school. Today two teased him. Today 498 children didn't tease him. Out of 96 classmates, 2 teased him, 94 played with him on the playground. I try to help him to remember what classmates thought his snow boots were the greatest or what child hugged him today or what classmate asked to sit by him in lunch. I relay to all my boys that sometimes when others feel threatened, are faced with the unknown, or forced into a situation they aren't familiar with that those people may lash out by teasing, hurting, becoming violent or mean. Then I try to help them problem solve what to do in those situations.

As a parent - I have to support my children. Do I want to guide them in particular directions? - YES!! If I had the inner workings to interfere with my kids I would guide Adam into believing he's not a girl - he's a boy and that's that! I would guide Jared away from his dream of going off to war as a Marine and fighting terrorist fires and snipers. In the past I would have done anything for my, now 14 year old, to have some sort of direction for his summers - the idea of him thinking about the future was way too big of a step at that time. Now he's decided he's going to become a full time auto mechanic! Guess what?? I would love to be able to direct him away from that choice :) I guess I'll have to settle for the fact that at least he has a goal and let his choice just be :)

It's my dream that Adam continues to follow the guidelines listed in the DSM-IV. That he continues to blend in with his peers as he gets older. It would be the greatest dream of mine that he's in the 25 percentile group and he ends up being a straight male. Why is that my dream for him? Because society as it is today isn't very open to non-straight ways. I don't want my child to hurt therefore I want him to be straight. If only society would change then it would no longer be a issue.

I went to Russia in April as a support person to a friend of mine. She went there to start the process to adopt a little girl. Due to society restrictions her partner couldn't go with her. No one could know she had a partner. Same sex parents aren't allowed to adopt in Russia. Since I lived at a different address I could go with her but her partner had to stay behind with their other children in silence. Is that the type of future I want for my son - to live in secrecy? NO! Do I have control over any of it? NO!

I will always remain curious as to what has occurred within the process, from conception to birth, for these children to believe/act the way they do. My pregnancy with the twins wasn't an easy one. I was in a coma for several weeks, on life support, and my parents were told the twins were "dead" and asked to abort them so I might have a chance to live. Six weeks after the twins were born I had open heart surgery. I always wonder if it could have been the drugs they had me on while I was in the coma that messed with Adam's developmental process so the ending result is he believes he is a girl. However, if that were true then why was his twin brother born without this issue? My vacillating thoughts tell me that maybe Jared was already past that developmental stage or maybe he didn't absorb as much of the medication as Adam did. Reality takes over somewhere in this thought pattern so I end up knowing it couldn't have been the coma/drugs because not all children with GID had moms in coma's while pregnant. Once again I go back to being curious – When? Why? How?

Some days I find myself counting the days until Adam and I can join Passages (http://www.kcpassages.org/index.php) group. I'd go as far as to say I "need" that group in my life now! This journey Adam has me on can be a very lonely journey for me as a parent. Passages is a youth program for gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender youth. I think they lowered the beginning age to 12. That means I have 2? more years before Adam can attend. Adam's psychiatrist, Dr. Batterson, is on the Board of Directors at Passages. He is a true blessing in many ways.

Dr. Vitale referred me to: http://www.dcchildrens.com/dcchildrens/about/subclinical/subneuroscience/subgender/guide.aspx. When I read the parent guide it felt like someone took the words out of my head and put them to print. Many of the guidelines they suggested in the Help and Pitfalls to Avoid sections are exactly what I tell others when dealing with Adam. All of the behaviors they listed have been or are presently being displayed by Adam. The only issue they don't address is the one dealing with twins where the other twin isn't facing this situation.

When Adam, first took my hand to lead me on this journey of his I almost memorized the DSM-IV 302.6. It states, "By late adolescence or adulthood, about three-quarters of boys who had a childhood history of Gender Identity Disorder report a homosexual or bisexual orientation ... " I was saddened when I read this. I was sad that if this is the course of my son's future then it can be a rough road to get there. I was sad that what lies ahead of him are many years of teasing, inner turmoil, confusion, possible depression, maybe thoughts of suicide, a non-accepting society, and a life that isn't going to be easy. I have often wondered if he will be strong enough to live through his teen years and early adulthood without too many personality scars.

There have been many days in the nine years Adam has been on this earth that I have wanted to grab him and tell him to "just stop it!"or "you are a boy get used to it!" or "why can't you be like your brothers" Those are the days that it's best Adam and I take a break from one another. There have been many times that Adam's brothers have asked me to take Adam out of their school or to keep Adam home or asked me if Adam could live with someone else. 

Adam's twin brother, Jared, has started to ask me why Adam had to be his twin. Within this last year Jared has started to become mean towards Adam. When my other son, Zach, was 11 I'd have to fight with him to get him in the same car with Adam or go any where with the family if Adam was going. Thankfully he's grown through that stage –well, he's mostly grown through it.

Honestly, at this moment – I'm not sure what the future holds for Adam. I know in public situations he has been trained by society to say, "Gross" when girl items are mentioned. I know at home he's still the Adam I have always known. Yes, he's started to blend into more boy appropriate behaviors. He's started to ask for jeans instead of dresses. Sometimes I'll find him playing with his brother's toy cars. He's following the growth pattern I have read these types of children go through. Watching Adam grow I'd have to say society/peers are behind him changing into more boy appropriate attire and desires. At home Adam will still ask me how old he has to be before he grows breast. He wants to know how big his breast will get. He still doesn't understand why he can't have a baby since he knows inside he's a girl. He still lives in a castle with unicorns, fairies, mermaids, and his 20 children that each have their own rooms with night lights in them (yes, I picked up immediately that he was stating what he needed now more than what he wanted for his kids in the future). Will Adam grow up to be a straight male that happens to have a gentle side to him? Will he be a gay male? Will he be a cross-dresser that's either gay or straight? Will he be transgender? Will he go through sex reassignment? What role will he choose? What will his choices do to the family, his twin brother, or his older brothers? Will my adoptive parents die of heart failure before Adam graduates from High School because of Adam's choices? (probably)

Jared, Adam's twin brother, is 100% all male!! About the time that Adam was trying to cut off his penis because girls don't have them –Jared was ready to sign up for the Backwoods Fireman Squad. I thought both of them were going through a stage that would last a short time. I was wrong on both counts. Seven years later Adam is looking forward to growing breast and Jared is going to be a Marine Firefighter. Adam runs around in dresses, makeup, and dreaming of giving birth to babies. Jared hides out in his fort dressed in a fireman's suit with camouflage paint on his body, play knives attached to every available loop while on the lookout for snipers.

In one week the kids go back to school. I think the first thing on my agenda is to take a long nap.

Danielle AlexanderCopyright 2006 Anne Vitale All Rights reserved.Disclaimer: Nothing on this site should be viewed as providing therapeutic advice. No formation of a client/therapist relationship with Dr. Vitale or the D Street Counseling Group is intended or to be implied or inferred. The information provided in this site is for educational purposes only. I attempt to keep the information current but make no representation or warranties in that regard. You should not rely upon this information as a substitute for consul with a qualified mental health professional.

"To be or not to be..." GAY!

I know I wrote an insane amount tonight. That's what happens when I can't move from the waist up or turn my head. I'd apologize but somehow I'm not SORRY! 

NAME OF AUTHOR and TEXT 

Dennis Carlson and Gayness, Multicultural Education and Community

AUTHOR’S ARGUMENT 

Wants public schools to lay down the bricks to the path of a community that accepts diversity and multicultural aspects that would include sexual orientation and identity. That it is educators RESPONSIBILITY to make sure all voices are heard.

QUOTES

I’m not going to comment on every quote but I wanted to put a lot of quotes here that really stood out to me.

“The president of District 24 local school board in Queens declared, among other things, that the board would not "accept two people of the same sex engaged in deviant sexual practices as 'families" 

-This quite really popped out at me while I was reading. When I think of myself as an educator I have to remember that my students are probably going to come from a variety of families and for any educator to basically say that children of gay parents are not families really throws away everything that I believe an educator is. I feel like this goes back to when single mothers were not considered suitable as a family situation. Too many people say if you don’t look like my family, how can you be a family? It’s really a shame that the board of education is basically letting anyone who comes from a gay family is not a family.

“Three techniques of normalization and (hence) marginalization have been of primary importance in this regard: (I) the erasure of gayness in the curriculum, (2) the "closeting" and "witch hunting" of gay teachers, and (3) verbal and physical intimidation of gay teachers and students.”

“At the level of state educational policy, it is noteworthy that no state currently recognizes gays and lesbians as legitimate minority or cultural groups to be considered in textbook adoption or to be included in multicultural education; and a number of states explicitly prohibit teaching about homosexuality.”

- I never really noticed that there was practically no books with displays of homosexuality in the library or mention in textbooks. I wonder if kids ever really wonder why they’re aren’t any books that display blacks. When I think back to all the english assigned books, most of them were books written a long time ago, shakespeare, greek mythology. Or books that dealt with the holocaust, some slavery. Usually tragic events in a world course. I do remember the controversy of a Massachusetts librarian in fear of losing her job for reading “And Tango Makes Three”, a book about two male penguins raising a chick. She was warned for reading a book that suggested alternative living situations. I do not see why it is so wrong to show other kids other living situations since most kids come from different family situations for many many reasons. Again, I feel like this relates to the times when white families wouldn’t allow their children to play with black children. Now its, “Oh you can’t play there, his parents are gay.” Unfortunately, it takes far too long for society to catch up and stop being a hateful homophobic bigot. Hopefully it will come around. There are good people who are helping this movement move along.

“In 1993, for example, the gay rights movement claimed a major victory in the signing into law of a Minnesota bill that makes it illegal to discriminate against lesbians and gay men in employment and housing. But what got ignored in all the celebrating was a provision in the bill that prohibits teaching about homosexuality in the public schools (Kielwascer and Wolf 1993-94, 62).”

- I don’t even know what to say to this.

“Willard Waller, in his 1932 classic The Sociology of Teaching, argued that homosexuals should not be allowed to teach for several reasons. First, employing a disease metaphor, he argued that homosexual teachers represented a danger to their students since "nothing seems more certain than that homosexuality is contagious" (Waller 1932, 147-48). Much as communist teachers were to be drummed out of 'he teaching corps because communism was "contagious." so gay teachers were to be fired because they too were understood as contagious-and in the height of the McCarthy era in the late 1940s and early 1950s, homosexuality and communism were closely linked as threats to the "American way of life. Second, homosexual teachers were presumed to be lecherous and develop "ridiculous crushes" on students. Waller observed: "the homosexual teacher develops an indelicate soppiness in his relations with his [sic] favorites ... and makes minor tragedies of little incidents when the recipient of his attentions shows himself indifferent." 

- So what do about this, considering if homosexuals can’t teach because they’re perverts. What do we do with the heterosexual perverts that also prey on young students? hmm, looks like no one is allowed to teach!

“The official policy in most school districts is in fact identical to that of the U.S. military, namely: "Don't ask, don't tell." Interestingly, while this policy is being challenged by gays in the military, it has not been forcefully challenged by gay teachers in public schools yet, perhaps because they feel (probably rightly so) they could not win if they pushed their case.”

“We need to start holding the school accountable for failing to meet the needs of these youth.”

"They [the support group members] not only want to be gay but expect to be accepted by society as gay and lesbian. They do not know if they can achieve such a cultural life-way, but they are trying very hard to find out" (xiv).”

“First, and at the most basic level, multicultural education is linked to the protection and extension of certain democratic "virtues," including the protection of minority rights and individual freedoms, equity, respect for difference, and (in its fullest form) the development of interlocking webs of caring, supportive relations among individuals. “

There’s that favorite word... EQUITY.

“Within this world view, "real men" are separated from all women and from gay men. This is the reason why it so important for many straight men to "see" gay men as the Other, and this has been accomplished by understanding gay men as less than men, as feminized men, and as sissies.” 

“Straight women, because they have developed their own critique of patriarchy and because they can relate to marginalization, have generally been most supportive of the gay movement”

-I always wondered if it was true, that women were more likely to be okay with gay people than men were. And if that was true, what the why behind the reasoning was. I am guessing that the quote I posted right before this one is the reasoning. I find it absurd but I can see a male’s logic falling in those lines, as ridiculous as it is.

“but we have a responsibility as public educators in a democratic society to engage them in a dialogue in which all voices get heard or represented and ill which gay students and teachers feel free to "come out" and find their own voices.”

-Here Carlson is reiterating his belief of educators responsibility in including gay students to be heard in a diverse democratic society.

QUESTIONS/COMMENTS/POINTS TO SHARE

Obviously this topic is kind of a hot topic to talk about. I’m glad that I live in the times where in college at least, talking about homosexuality is a little more acceptable. Unfortunately, it has not yet trickled down the school systems. Until everyone realizes oh my gosh that gay people are people too, they will be treated like second class citizens who lack rights. Gay people will continue to live in a Don’t Ask Don’t Tell world which by the way also means Don’t Display. So while heterosexuals are enjoying their freedom to show public displays of affection the gays will have to keep theirs in the closet. I don’t know what the world is so afraid of, are they afraid of what they’d find?