Posted on 09/12/2003 9:02:44 AM PDT by Scenic Sounds
I grew up thinking that segregation was over, done with, a thing of the past, but apparently I was mistaken. It seems that we have a new form of segregation here in the United States. The Harvey Milk High School in New York City underwent 3.2 million dollars in renovations this summer and has opened now as the first ever taxpayer funded school for gays and lesbians. Its been around for twenty years as an alternative program, but now its an official public school, and its expected to have 170 students by September 2004.
NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg thinks its a wonderful idea, which is not surprising coming from someone who once said that he couldnt understand why anyone would carry a gun; guns kill people His take on Harvey Milk: "It lets them (gays and lesbians) get an education without having to worry. It solves a discipline problem. And from a pedagogical point of view, this administration and previous administrations have thought it was a good idea and we'll continue with that."
Its an interesting perspective. Here we have a school that is founded and based solely on the basis of the students sexual orientation. There is no pretense of academics playing a role in who is admitted you simply have to be a gay, lesbian, transgender in other words, you have to be something other than a homophobic (because you know, we all are) straight person.
The reasoning behind the school is that many gay and lesbians are made fun of and ridiculed for their lifestyle choices and Im sure thats true. Just like I was made fun of because I wore different colored socks every day to school when I was in high school. That was a lifestyle choice, too, and I didnt ask for a school where I would only be with other people who were colorblind. That seems ridiculous. Somehow, however, people dont find this idea ridiculous despite the fact that this is a public school which is allowing segregation based strictly on one aspect of the students life an aspect that has nothing to do with education. It smells putridly of racial segregation and members of both sides, blacks and whites, supported that segregation, just as gays and lesbians and straights support this segregation.
My question is what is next? Will New York next create individual public schools based on things like religion or race in order to keep kids from being made fun of? Are we going to see all Christian or all Muslim or all Hispanic schools? Its a distinct possibility, because our government has a nature that is ravenously hungry for power. When you give it an inch, as the saying goes, it takes a mile. If you set a precedent that says that its all right to segregate children for their sexual orientation, it is going to inevitably lead to other things, because that is the very nature of our government. Thats why there are limits and laws thats why we have a Constitution. If we allow this to happen in this one small school in New York City if we allow the government to fund segregation yet again we are taking the first step backwards on a long road that we were beginning to near the end of. Is it worth it?
Cathryn Crawford is a student at the University of Texas. She can be reached with comment at feedback@washingtondispatch.com.
Child Welfare officials removing kids from your house because you refuse to sacrifice them to the Diversity Gods...that could be next.
So what is the entrance test?
I mean, how does one "prove" that they meet this requirement?
How can we be sure that someone is not lying just to get in?
Never mind, I don't really want to know...
Well, I guess there is some reason to be hopeful in that there is a limit to the number of kids that the government can afford to take on. ;-)
They took Twinkies off the menu?
I don't know, but I should think that maybe just being tempted is enough. ;-)
I'm, shall we say, height challenged, and had trouble with the bullies for that. So, do shorties like me get our own high school? (I don't carry a grudge. When I go to class reunions most of the bullies are digging ditches.)
I heard this school justified on the basis that "gay youth" in NYC allegedly graduate at below 50% but this school graduates above 90%. Never mind whether the statistics are accurate. The point is the same thing could be said for most NYC students, who would love the chance to attend a college prep academy, but the anti-school-choice crowd won't let 'em. So why do the gays get special privileges? Never mind, I know . . .
This is just the bold new world of diversity and we should embrace it! Sometimes we need to be more exclusive for certain cultures than others. It's all a part of the grand scheme of things. You know... like making sodomy a virtue and vilifying the 10 Commandments. I'm getting excited just thinking about it!
/sarcasm
[sarcasm]
Bloomberg continued, "And from a pedophilic point of view, it a great idea! The school has been flooded with job applications from the members of NAMBLA. Yes, these little kids are really going to have their education pounded into them!"
[/sarcasm]
Well, I should certainly hope so. A girl who flaunts her ankles is just asking for trouble!! ;-)
They go to the school nurse-proctologist.
I don't think you'll have any problem so long as you're willing to go to the prom with a straight woman who is trapped in a man's body. ;-)
There already are private Christian schools. A public Christian school is an impossibility, when the government believes that the separation of church and state is a valid argument for removing prayer from the schools.
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