Just when you think you’ve heard the most outrageous example of progressive
irrationality in our public schools – usually something to do with anti-gun hysteria – along comes word that a school district in Nebraska is training teachers to abandon
“gendered expressions” such as “boys and girls” in favor of “gender inclusive” euphemisms
like “purple penguins” instead. You read that right.
“Don’t use phrases such as ‘boys and girls,’ ‘you guys,’ ‘ladies and
gentlemen,’ and similarly gendered expressions to get kids’ attention,”
instructs a training document given out by a staffer on a “district equity team” to middle-school teachers at
Lincoln public schools. Instead, say “hey campers” or “create classroom names
and then ask all of the ‘purple penguins’ to meet on the rug,” it advises.
“When I read about this,” said a friend of mine, “I was sure it was
satire.” Well, we inhabit a satirical world now, and our children inhabit an
educational culture perverted and dumbed-down over the last several decades by political
correctness and social justice progressives. Our schools are no longer focused
on educational standards that will make us competitive in the real world;
instead, they are obsessed with pushing social justice – and that includes a
radical agenda to indoctrinate kids as early as kindergarten about sex. Its ultimate goal is the promotion
of promiscuity and the dissolution of the very concept of gender, thereby
destroying “patriarchal” culture, delegitimizing parental authority, and dismantling
the family unit.
The instructions distributed to Lincoln teachers are part of a list
called “12 steps on the way to gender inclusiveness” developed by Gender
Spectrum, an organization that “provides education, training and
support to help create a gender sensitive and inclusive environment for
children of all ages.” All ages. The
document warns against asking students to “line up as boys or girls,” and
suggests organizing them instead by whether they prefer “skateboards or
bikes/milk or juice/dogs or cats/summer or winter/talking or listening… Always
ask yourself,” the document says, “‘Will this configuration create a
gendered space?’” Actually, what teachers should always be asking themselves
is, “Are my students learning?”
Also on the list? Decorating the classroom with “all genders welcome”
door hangers and asking all students about their preferred pronouns – because the
gender spectrum is apparently so broad now that our current set of pronouns is
insufficient. If teachers absolutely have to mention that genders exist at all,
the document advises that they be listed as “boy, girl, both or neither.” Both?
Neither?
“Avoid using ‘normal’ to define any behaviors,” the document urges. By
all means, children should be taught to tolerate others who are different; but eradicating
the very notion that normal behavior even exists is not tolerance – it is a
denial of reality and an irrational reorienting of children’s understanding of
themselves and the natural order.
Speaking of tolerance, the training materials instruct teachers to be
intolerant of anyone who references gender “in a binary manner… Provide
counter-narratives that challenge students to think more expansively about
their notions of gender.” It’s unclear how teachers are supposed to find so
much time to discuss gender with students without cutting back on their
readin’, writin’, and ‘rithmetic.
The teachers were also given a handout created by the ironically-named Center
for Gender Sanity which explains to them that “gender identity... can’t be
observed or measured, only reported by the individual.” And they received an
infographic called “The Genderbread Person” produced by Sam Killermann,
who describes himself as “a social justice comedian” and is the author of The Social Justice Advocate’s Handbook: A
Guide to Gender.
Al Riskowski, executive director of the Nebraska Family Alliance, said his group has
supported legislation to combat bullying, but that these training materials go
“way beyond trying to teach someone how to respect another individual” to a
“whole new idea of boy-girl.” The idea that “your biology at birth doesn’t
designate who you are” is at odds with the beliefs of “almost everyone in the
community.” He said that the school district shouldn’t have to re-educate the
99% who aren’t transgender. Clearly Riskowski must be re-educated to understand
that there is no such thing as normal behavior.
He noted correctly that the materials seemed geared to children younger
than those in middle school. A sister organization that works on such issues
nationwide told Riskowski that it’s “some of the most radical material we’ve
ever seen.”
Lincoln Superintendent Steve Joel noted that the training documents are
not intended as hard-and-fast rules, only recommendations, and he has declared
that he is “happy” and “pleased” with them. As for the controversy those
documents have engendered (pun intended), he explains that “We
don’t get involved with politics… We don’t get involved with gender preferences.
We’re educating all kids... and we can’t be judgmental,” he said.
But by sitting back and letting these gender radicals insert their
indoctrinating materials into the classroom, Mr. Joel is caving in to people
who are consumed with politics and
gender preferences. That’s the problem with not being “judgmental” – moral
neutrality equals moral impotence.
These are our schools now. Our educational system, in the grip of social
justice missionaries, is hopelessly broken. Homeschooling is increasingly
becoming the best option for raising educated, free children with actual critical
thinking skills instead of progressive brainwashing. So of course, the
progressives are beginning to target homeschooling – as in Connecticut,
where the state intends to increase its oversight of homeschooled
children, purportedly because they are considered to be potential Adam Lanzas.
The truth is that they are a threat not to other students but to the
state’s authority. As National Review’s
Kevin D. Williamson put it in his forceful article, “They Are Coming for Your Children”:
Home-schooling isn’t for everyone, but every
home-school student, like every firearm in private hands, is a quiet little
declaration of independence. It’s no accident that the people who want to seize
your guns are also the ones who want to seize your children.
It’s also no accident that the people who want to indoctrinate your
children about sex want them too.
(This article originally appeared here on FrontPage Mag, 10/15/14)
