The Special Ed department funding grows by 20% a year and they complain they're swamped.
Wonder how we ever made it out of school!
Posted on 12/18/2006 4:31:51 PM PST by wagglebee
(AgapePress) - A former chairman of the National Education Association's Ex-Gay Educators Caucus says the NEA is engaging in a "big misinformation campaign" with the goal of changing public opinion on homosexuality, starting with the youngest generation.
The NEA has unveiled a new web page [Caution: This page contains pro-homosexual material] on "gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered students," stating that the educators' union is "committed" to fighting harassment, bullying, and discrimination aimed at those students. The page cites statistics from a study published by the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network, or GLSEN, and even provides a link to an interview with that group's founder, homosexual activist Kevin Jennings.
Conservative critics of Jennings have blasted him for promoting what they see as radical pro-homosexual policies and ideas. Culture and media critic Bob Knight of the Media Research Center calls the GLSEN founder a "very controversial" figure, one "who has covered up an incident of molestation [of a 15-year-old boy by a homosexual man], who presided over a session in Massachusetts in which kids as young as 14 were exposed to graphic descriptions of homosexual sex acts," and who has said he wants children, even kindergartners, to be acquainted with homosexuality.
The NEA's web page on GLBT students provides a link to an NEA Today article and interview with Jennings called "Safe Schools for Everyone." In it, the homosexual activist advocates teachers helping to combat the problem of harassment faced by GLBT students -- by working "to create a classroom culture of respect and acceptance from day one."
California teacher Jeralee Smith, who founded the NEA's Conservative Educator Caucus and formerly chaired the union's Ex-Gay Educators Caucus, says the new web page on GLBT students is all part of the union's ongoing agenda to legitimize homosexuality. However, she says she hopes this latest move by the national organization will finally open the eyes of some of its members.
"Maybe, finally," Smith comments, "some of the conservative and Christian teachers and other faiths who take issue with children being urged to adopt a gay identity" will recognize the NEA's pro-homosexual agenda for what it is. "Maybe, finally, some of these people will really believe that this is what their dues money is going for," she says.
Is the NEA Helping to Spread GLSEN Misinformation?
In July, at the NEA's annual convention, the educators union voted overwhelmingly to endorse legal same-sex civil unions and same-sex "marriages." And now, with its new web page on GLBT students, Smith feels the NEA is using misinformation in an effort to change public attitudes toward homosexuality, and she suspects the union's embrace of GLSEN's "safe schools" rhetoric is little more than a smokescreen for its support for and collaboration with the activist organization's agenda.
According to GLSEN's 2005 National School Climate Survey, homosexual students were five times more likely than the general population of students to report having skipped school in the last month because of safety concerns and were twice as likely as the general population of students to report having no plans to pursue any post-secondary education. The survey also found homosexual students who reported experiencing harassment had an average grade point average a half point lower than that of homosexual students who were not harassed.
Jennings, as quoted in NEA Today, says the "safe schools" initiative is "not about how you feel about gay people, it’s about making sure all of our students achieve.” However, Smith believes the NEA's and GLSEN's special emphasis on GLBT youth is telling. She says the NEA has no business encouraging students to adopt a homosexual identity, and the organization needs to recognize that all students are equally deserving of a safe learning environment.
"Children -- by children, I mean anyone younger than 18 -- need to all be protected from any kind of harassment at school," the California teacher insists. "I teach physically handicapped children," she notes; "my kids look different from everyone else in very obvious ways, and kids like mine are much more likely to get bullied and harassed at school."
Also telling, Smith suggests, is which data the National Education Association chooses to report about GLBT students, and what it chooses to omit. She notes, for instance, that the NEA's new web page does not provide statistics about the many young people who have had same-sex sexual encounters in the past but have since abandoned such behavior.
No. But (we) they could shut off the lights at the next NEA convention, if we wanted to.
who has said he wants children, even kindergartners, to be acquainted with homosexuality.
Not my child for sure. I agree with your post 100 %.
Bull. It's about making everyone feel "adequate" and letting nobody "excel". One student's success might make another one feel badly about his/herself. BARF.
Gee, I hate to bring this up, but speaking as an English and history teacher, my plate is full trying to teach students how to read, write, and think rationally. If a student is a homosexual, I can't imagine at any time when their sexuality is any business of me or has any business being in my classroom. The same goes for the vast group of hetereosexuals, the tiny group of asexuals, and the small community of insightful teenagers who are extremely bored with everything, especially the dull drumbeat of narrow leftist thinking that they call "fascism lite."
Interested in writing an essay? Comparing the Roman republic with the men who composed the American constitution? Want to know how to spell and use proper grammar in a sentence? I'm your man. Otherwise, I want to have nothing to do with the sexuality of any student, in any form, in any manner. That's the province of the family, the parents, the community, and the church.
I must be a bigot.
You're a homophobe. As an English teacher, you should know the difference. /sarcasm off
Great post!
English grammer, literature, math, history, economics (though this creates a whole new set of problems), foreign languages and science are all public schools need to teach. Everything else should be learned outside of school (hopefully in church or from one's parents).
Seriously, though, you're right. Why should any teacher really care?
Glad to hear that. I was refering to those in the NEA who do, and GLDSEN.
Absolutely right. One of the reasons my profession has sunk into the depths is the constant social engineering and pop psychology I'm confronted with daily. My job is to teach, period. Like the Constitution, my job has certain enumerated duties, and everything else is left to other institutions or people.
On a related subject: If I'm caught talking about heterosexual topics with a female student, they can fire me, take my license, and take my pension. Yet I'm supposed to be openly aggressive about discussions of homosexual behevior with students who are, for the most part, disgusted with homosexuality or embarressed about it being discussed at all.
Here's my sarcasm for the day. They wanted to have a gay and lesbian student association. I said I'd be in favor of it as long as I could be the class advisor for the fellatio club.
Think of all the lives that could be saved if educators encouraged kids to smoke cigarettes instead of experimenting with homosexuality. You can't smoke enough tobacco to reduce your life expectancy to that of the average gay male...
The Special Ed department funding grows by 20% a year and they complain they're swamped.
Wonder how we ever made it out of school!
It stuns me that anyone on this website still entrusts their children to the government funded, liberal indoctrination institutions commonly known as public schools.
"she suspects the union's embrace of GLSEN's "safe schools" rhetoric is little more than a smokescreen for its support for and collaboration with the activist organization's agenda."
Suspects? It's transparent.
Conservatives don't let conservatives send their kids to public schools.
THanks for posting this; everyone needs to see what's going on with OUR tax money.
I don't eat animals.
To compare being vegetarian to engaging in homosexual acts is pretty strange. There are plenty of conservatives who are vegetarian.
Being vegetarian doesn't cause any harm to anyone. Sure, plenty of wackos give us conservative vegetarians a bad name; but please use your brain! All we're doing is NOT killing! How does this cause anyone harm?
Because they're being brainwashed by the schools to think that way, not because they've made an independent decision, I have no problem if someone wants to be a vegetarian by choice.
I'm comparing the power of suggestion and the authority figure of the school to influence minds whether that homosexuality is normal "maybe I'll give it a try" or that one shouldn't eat animals.
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