Focus on Ethics: Gender Expression and Identity (parents need not be consulted)

NAEYC ^ | November 2019 | STEPHANIE FEENEY NANCY K. FREEMAN KATIE SCHAFFER

[DoodleBob]

...The case

Four-year-old Michael usually comes to school in jeans and a T-shirt but always goes to the dress-up area as soon as he arrives and puts on a dress or skirt.

On the day his mother was volunteering in the classroom, he walked in and immediately put on a ballerina skirt and sparkly shoes. She firmly told him to take them off and instead put on the firefighter’s hat and boots, try on the cowboy hat, or do “something that boys do.” Michael complied with his mother’s demand but soon left the dramatic play area.

When the children went outside to play, Michael’s mother told Ana, Michael’s teacher, that he consistently plays female roles at home and shows little interest in toys and activities typically associated with boys. She and her husband were very concerned about his behavior, and she asked Ana not to allow Michael to play with any “girl stuff” at school.

Ana also has observed that Michael strongly prefers playing with girls and chooses activities that are stereotypically feminine, like having tea parties and wearing dress-up clothes that have lots of ribbons and sequins. He also frequently tells the other children that he is really a girl and that he wants to be called “Michelle.”

What is (teacher/Ana's) most ethical response?

...The groups who discussed this situation both concluded that they could not...comply with this family’s request to keep her from activities associated with girls or femininity. They agreed that Ana’s primary responsibility was to Michelle...

... teachers must carefully balance their responsibilities to children and to their families...Additional challenges arise when a child’s gender preference is at odds with their family culture and values. Those situations will call for exceptional cultural navigation skills and, most likely, additional support from experts and organizations in the community

[DoodleBob]

The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) is a professional membership organization that works to promote high-quality early learning for all young children, birth through age 8, by connecting early childhood practice, policy, and research. We advance a diverse, dynamic early childhood profession and support all who care for, educate, and work on behalf of young children. The association comprises nearly 60,000 individual members of the early childhood community and 52 Affiliates, all committed to delivering on the promise of high-quality early learning. Together, we work to achieve a collective vision: that all young children thrive and learn in a society dedicated to ensuring they reach their full potential.

Based on this reasoning, all a teacher needs to do is

1) define a problems as an "ethical responsibility" (a situation with just one morally justified course of action), and

2) declare the problem is not an "ethical dilemma" (a situation for which there is more than one possible resolution, which can be justified in moral terms), and then

3) bypass the parents.

The destructive possibilities with this framework are endless...for a teacher to quash individualism and promote collectivism as a virtue is an "ethical responsibility." Same with "gun control" and "environmentalism" and "reproductive rights."

[Wuli]

In the vast majority of such cases, something - someone or a series of events - has influenced the gender-bender behavior, particular the dress-up role playing element more than just not liking usual boys activities as much as most boys. The dress-up and role playing stuff is more serious of an issue. When the concern does not have the dress up and role playing elements to it, such boys for the most part are no different than most “tomboys” have always been - girls that liked a lot of “boys” activities but were not and did not become Lesbians.

Scolding against the “wrong” activity for most boys does not work as well as encouraging the “right” activity, Boys are natural rebels, but with encouragement from heir dads are eager to please.

[Chewbarkah]

Let me guess. The child’s interest in girliness dates from the moment he started attending this school.

[DoodleBob]

Ping

[CFW]

Is the only thing taught in school these days either Critical Race Theory or Gender Identity? Do they even make time for reading, spelling, American and World-wide (true) History, English, science, or math? For those are the frameworks for learning almost everything else. Then add in a few electives in middle school. Those six items I listed above should be the main things taught in schools until you reach about seventh or eighth grade. At that point, more advanced students should move on to higher classes according to their skills.

I’m beginning to think “un-schooling” is a better choice than public schools. If properly channeled and supervised by caring parents, simple everyday life with no structured learning curriculum would be a better education than what children are now receiving.

[metmom]

ANOTHER REASON TO HOMESCHOOL

This ping list is for the other articles of interest to homeschoolers about education and public school. This can occasionally be a fairly high volume list. Articles pinged to the Another Reason to Homeschool List will be given the keyword of ARTH. (If I remember. If I forget, please feel free to add it yourself)

The main Homeschool Ping List handles the homeschool-specific articles. I hold both the Homeschool Ping List and the Another Reason to Homeschool Ping list. Please freepmail me to let me know if you would like to be added to or removed from either list, or both.