I absolutely loved the discussion we had in our last seminar meeting. My group touched on so many issues of the topic in the limited amount of time we had. Everyone offered thoughtful critical insights and multiple perspectives on the issue of "censorship." I could tell we were all very passionate about the discussion....and EVERYONE was actively engaged!
As a parent, this discussion made me really think about what I would want my son to be taught come his time to start school. I do want to have a say about what he should and shouldn't be learning in school. I do realize there may be few things in the curriculum I may not agree with, but in one way or another he will encounter members of the GLBTQ community and other minority groups and I would want him to be educated about it. I want him to be informed and from that formulate his own opinion about it. Shunning or sheltering him from a reality of a diverse society is just unrealistic and ridiculous.
I was rather appalled after reading the Dobson article. Yes I understand he has his beliefs and feels strongly about marriage, education, and opposes homosexuality, but he never explained HOW teaching this in classrooms would negatively affect young children. What is the correlation between teaching about homosexuality and the promotion of "perverse behavior?" Children are unaware of others' differences unless it is pointed out to them and interpreted as bad or taboo. Exposing children at a young age will give them the freedom to determine what they think about it; acceptance, toleration, or rejection. Also, Dobson seems to be stuck in his ways and frankly I cannot begin to wonder where he lives. We live in a very diverse nation made up of multicultural communities and times have changed. He posed the question: If it's okay to teach about sexuality or in this case homosexuality than why not include religion in the curriculum? From his article he stated in explaining his scenario of Mrs. Jones, a kindergarten teacher, "...Mrs. Jones cannot mention the contributions to society made by people pf faith, or the role that Christianity played in the lives of Pilgrims and the Founding Fathers, or the meaning of the Judeo-Christian concept of morality." I can understand where Dobson is coming from with this, but I think he is also missing the central point of all of this. I don't think it has anything to do with promoting homosexual behavior, rather by teaching about an overall difficult reality to understand that is not popularly accepted, children and staff who are homosexual or some who are sexually confused can find this space to be comfortable; some won't have to be passive about it. Which leads me to this...If religion was taught in a public classroom (Christianity) Dobson would say we are preparing children to be Christian role models and instilling them with good morals and values. But what about the Crusades, missionaries forcibly converting non-Christians with violence, and killing in the name of God? Wouldn't that influence children to be violent and condemn others who are Christian? How would this promote good Christian morals and values?
I could honestly go on and on about this topic. Like Dave said, there are just too many elements playing into this issue; from teachers, students, the government, parents. What we teach our children is important because they are our investments for our futures. They are the future leaders of tomorrow. We don't want them to be cookie cuts; we'd leave no room for change.
2 comments:
I really enjoyed the seminar discussion as well. It was the first occassion where all of the group members were actively contributing to the discussion. It was nice to see some of our "quieter" group members get into the dialogue. Of all the issues that we have discussed to date, the free speech issues that directly effect students seemed to create a common ground that we are all concerned about. It is much easier to get involved when you are personally affected. That was the moving thing about watching the film on the UC Berkeley protests. It starts with commonplaces. Good seminar discussion!
I liked how you put your personal spin of being a parent into your blog and posing the question of what you want your son to be taught in school.
I agree that kids are blissfully unaware of others differences until they are pointed out and in my opinion I think just like you where they should be exposed at a young age to different types of people, lifestyles, and cultures and then let them formulate their own opinion about those around them. Whether that opinion is positive or negative at least they made it on their own.
I couldn't have said it better myself when you said "we don't want them to be cookie cuts, we'd leave no room for change."
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