Posted on 01/24/2005 10:57:13 AM PST by missyme
NEW YORK - Using a young readers' novel called "The Misfits" as its centerpiece, middle schools nationwide will participate in a "No Name-Calling Week" initiative starting Monday. The program, now in its second year, has the backing of groups from the Girl Scouts to Amnesty International but has also drawn complaints that it overemphasizes harassment of gay youths.
The initiative was developed by the New York-based Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network, which seeks to ensure that schools safely accommodate students of all sexual orientations. GLSEN worked with James Howe, the openly gay author of "The Misfits" and many other popular children's books.
"Gay students aren't the only kids targeted — this isn't about special rights for them," Howe said. "But the fact is that 'faggot' is probably the most common insult at schools."
"The Misfits" deals with four much-taunted middle schoolers — one of them gay — who run for the student council on a platform advocating an end to nasty name-calling.
GLSEN is unsure how many schools will participate in this week's event, but says 5,100 educators from 36 states have registered, up from 4,000 last year. Participation in a related writing-music-art contest rose from 100 students last year to 1,600 this year; the winning poem was written by Sue Anna Yeh, a 13-year-old from Sugar Land, Texas.
"No Name-calling Week" takes aim at insults of all kinds — whether based on a child's appearance, background or behavior. But a handful of conservative critics have zeroed in on the references to harassment based on sexual orientation.
"I hope schools will realize it's less an exercise in tolerance than a platform for liberal groups to promote their pan-sexual agenda," said Robert Knight, director of Concerned Women for America's Culture and Family Institute.
"Schools should be steering kids away from identifying as gay," Knight said. "You can teach civility to kids and tell them every child is valued without conveying the message that failure to accept homosexuality as normal is a sign of bigotry."
In Iowa, complaints by scores of parents about the gay themes in "The Misfits" prompted the Pleasant Valley School Board to rule that teachers could no longer read it aloud to elementary school classes, although it could remain in school libraries.
In Colorado, lawmakers last year rejected a proposal to declare a statewide "No-Name Calling Week" in conjunction with the inaugural GLSEN-backed event. House Majority Leader Keith King said he was concerned about fostering a "victim's mentality" and argued that children should be taught to ignore taunts.
In contrast, Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm issued a proclamation recognizing the event, and more than 40 national organizations have enlisted as partners, including the Girl Scouts, the national associations of elementary and secondary school principals, and the National Education Association.
"People who would criticize this, regardless of who came out with it, are people with bad hearts," said Jerald Newberry, who directs the NEA's health information network.
"This is as vanilla as you get in terms of creating safe environments in schools," Newberry said. "To criticize this program would, almost without exception, be a political attack, not an attack on its content."
James Garbarino, a Cornell University professor who has studied school bullying, said harassment based on sexual orientation "ought to be No. 1 on the list" as educators combat name-calling. Such taunting has led to violence and suicides, he said.
Whether programs like "No Name-Calling Week" work depends on whether staff and students heed the lessons yearlong, not just during special events, Garbarino said. "When it's done in a mechanical, mindless way, when it's just for show, kids see the hypocrisy of it," he said.
GLSEN executive director Kevin Jennings agreed that schools should do more than hold a one-week event; he hopes to evaluate systematically whether the initiative indeed reduces name-calling. "Every week should be 'No Name-Calling Week', but having one week at least raises the visibility of the issue," he said.
One of GLSEN's most persistent critics is Warren Throckmorton, director of counseling at Grove City College, a Christian school outside Pittsburgh. His skeptical comments about "No Name-Calling Week" have been widely circulated this month on conservative Web sites.
"There's no question middle school can be a difficult place — I'm not advocating that any group gets mistreated," Throckmorton said in a telephone interview.
"But it will definitely make traditionally oriented teachers and parents and kids feel very uncomfortable, if they happen to object to homosexuality on moral grounds," he said of GLSEN's program. "If you disagree, you're hateful, you're bigoted, you're a homophobe. They're using name-calling to combat name-calling."
Another critic is Brenda High of Pasco, Wash., an anti-bullying activist since her 13-year-old son committed suicide in 1998 following harassment at school.
"The use of 'The Misfits' as a basis for this teaching puts the emphasis on the subgroup of the harassment victim instead of on the perpetrator of harassment — the bully," she said.
But Howe said critics of "No Name-Calling Week" seem reluctant to acknowledge the scope of anti-gay harassment in schools.
"Homosexuality is not a moral issue — it's a fact, and kids who are gay, or maybe just different, need to be allowed to grow up in a safe environment just like everybody else," he said.
___
Then things ought to be left alone.
Seems like it might be an incentive NOT to be a fag.
Does that include the teacher in our school who wore black to protest the inauguration? Or is that "protected speech?"
hey fartknocker, pull my finger thread...
This from a group (GLSEN) whose leader once said that the "religious right can just die." Can you say "hypocrite?"
I don't mind a no-name calling week as a teacher, but it shouldn't be an excuse to promote political agendas from either side. I think the term "diversity" has been hit over the head by both the PC crowd and conservatives. I do bring in some to my kids, but just in saying that we shouldn't judge a person by their color or nationality (I DO NOT MENTION SEXUAL ORIENTATION because I don't believe that should be talked about). I also teach my kids to respect their families, parents, and country (which actually receive more of an emphasis). When I bring "diversity" into the classroom, I am mainly referring to not judging people because they are different from us (i.e. those with disabilities). Those people who are different are some of my biggest heroes (Down's syndrom especially because of all the love they show). Many of them could teach us a lesson or two on how to look at life and how to treat people. I think God put some of his best Spirits into such.
The only thing that seems to be mandatory is Gay and liberal rights when it comes to the public school system.
Hardly.... But then we'll believe anything from a biased media I guess.......
Yet another reason (as if anyone needed any more) to rip, snatch, grab, extricate your kids from public school. Unless you like the idea of pro-homosexual propaganda injected not only into sex-ed class, but actually each and every class and subject, ideally:
Yet another reason for the education liberals to promote their agenda against public schools using a biased media like the other liberals they despise. I am a teacher who teaches the agenda to my kids every day--that of respecting parents, working hard, being honest, working together, making decisions, having strong families, looking at the positive side of things, and oh yeah, don't forget the 3 R's. Yeah, it's all over my curriculum just like it is everywhere..... (Oh brother.....)
And then people wonder why True ConservatismTM doesn't have better PR...
Looks like he wants back in....
BOOGER EATERS!
What a joke.........
The prohibition will only increase the practice and like FReepers flocking to a nearly zotted thread, the humor created will add zest to the boring middle school existance.
Does this mean no name calling of Bush, conservatives and white males for a week?
How come you appear on threads discussing the promotion of homosexuality in schools and deny its existence? Why do you call me and others like me who have legitimate concerns about "gay" organizations who are promoting homosexuality in schools, right now, "liberals"?
What on earth is your trip?
I don't despise liberals as persons; I despise their thought processes, agendas, values, dishonesty, love and support of the ACLU, vice in general, homosexuality, Saddam Hussein, their hatred of Bush, their love of taxation and uber-control, their dominance in the media and various profressions, their sucking up to the lawyer class, their influence on courts and among judges, their infatuation with killing unborn infants and now the disabled, etc.
You do nothing except disrupt whenever I see you.
Try to deny that GLSEN is promoting homosexuality in public schools across the country.
I am not saying there are no good teachers. But even a good teacher has to teach what he or she is told to teach.
;)
Quit stalking the children you insidious perverts!
I suspect that you won't. And good for you for not backing down.
As I age, I find my "friends" list is changing...
Yep. My wife and I lost a lot of "friends" when we became publicly active in the pro-life movement. It's good to know that the ones who stick around are really worth having as friends. I mean, if people won't stand up for defenseless babies, they're probably not going to stand up for you.
Pre- or post-op?
BTTT
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.