Posted by Tina
Is your child a human being or a penguin? Absurd as it sounds it might be important to know if you live in Nebraska where educators have decided that teachers referring to students as “boys and girls,” ladies and gentlemen, or even the generalized slang, “you guys” is insensitive to transgendered students. They suggest calling the kids “purple penguins” instead.
The document also warns against asking students to “line up as boys or girls,” and suggests asking them to line up by whether they prefer “skateboards or bikes/milk or juice/dogs or cats/summer or winter/talking or listening.”
“Always ask yourself . . . ‘Will this configuration create a gendered space?'” the document says.
The instructions were 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.”
Other items on the list include asking all students about their preferred pronouns and decorating the classroom with “all genders welcome” door hangers.
If teachers still find it “necessary” to mention that genders exist at all, the document states, they must list them as “boy, girl, both or neither.”
Good grief! Does the education of students appear on anyone’s list of priorities in our schools anymore?