Age or Gender? Either is a Problem

OSN Responds To Critics

Orange Street News publisher Hilde Kate Lysiak responds to critics who tell her she is too young to be reporting news and should instead be "playing with dol...

Criticism

I do not take issue with the criticism of Hilde's actual report. Criticism is standard fare for journalist. 

Gender

However comments such as the following make my brain want to explode.

          "9 year old girls should be playing with dolls not trying to be reporters."

          "I'm disgusted that this cute little girl thinks she is a real journalist. What happened to tea parties?"

This has less to do with age than it does with "cute little girls" veering away from their social and gender imposed roles. How dare she choose to be Barbara Walters instead of a Disney Princess (awaiting her Prince).

My dear powerful girls you can do what you want to do, be what you want to be, and go where you want to go. It is not your job to make others feel comfortable with your decisions or adequate about their own. 

In the words of Hilde Kate Lysiak:  "There. Is that cute enough for you?" 

Age

Learning is about encouraging interests, curiosity, enthusiasm, and taking risks.  These qualities should be nurtured not diminish.  Our children have all of these qualities when they enter the world, yet somehow we manage to choke it out of them.  

Informally when we tell them you can't, you shouldn't, you're to young/old, etc.  

Formally, saddest of all, when they enter school and are put on a one-size-fits-all conveyor belt of education that offers them little choice or voice and makes them compete against each other in the process.  

It matters not what one's particular talents and gifts to humanity may be or could be.  School is where you will be ranked, sorted, and tracked based on an antiquated system that compare similar, yet uniquely different, individuals exactly the same.  Is it any wonder that our children enter school eager to learn then leave (graduation or otherwise) believing that learning, thus education, is a drudgery that must be suffered through.  

Our children need us to help them in search of their destiny not determine it for them.

DON'T ASK—DON'T TELL?

It is time for students to begin returning to school.  What should be an exciting time for all is, for too many, a time of anxiety and fear; fear of how they will be treated because they are (or perceived as) lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT).  Will they be bullied, laughed at, the target of slurs, or excluded?  Will they have to hide or deny who they are in order to be a valued member of their school community?

The +GLSEN  2013 National School Climate Survey concluded the vast majority of LGBT students in Missouri regularly heard anti-LGBT remarks.  Remarks such as, "gay" used in a negative way (e.g., "that's so gay"), homophobic remarks (e.g., "fag" or "dyke"), negative remarks about gender expression, and/or negative remarks about transgender people.

If asked, no one would disagree that schools should be a safe haven for ALL students.  But for LGBT students the expectation for this haven may be at the cost of cloaking their authentic selves. In other words: Don’t ask—Don’t tell.  

Some believe the best solution is to not bring attention to yourself or your circumstances as to not invite problems.  Simply put this approach is wrong.  It is dismissing the emotional wellbeing of LGBT students for the sake of individuals whom at best are uninformed or uncomfortable or at worst homo/transphobic.

In your school:

• Do the adults feel a responsibility to educating themselves to better understand LGBT individuals?
• Do teachers/administrators take the lead in meeting the needs of LGBT students or wait until there is a district policy or law enforcing it?
• Are “jokes” allowed or overlooked as long as no LGBT individuals hear it?
• Do people immediately jump to the conclusion that every image with rainbow colors is promoting a “gay agenda?”
• Are there individuals that take every available opportunity to express their personal anti-LGBT views?
• Would you confront and/or willingly report a fellow educator for discriminatory behavior toward LGBT individuals?

As educators it is our duty to advocate for all students.  That means calling out behaviors that are negative toward any individual or group.  

Silence condones.  

It is essential that we confront these behaviors in classrooms, hallways, locker rooms, fields, courts, cafeterias, teacher lounges, offices, or meetings—everywhere and always.      

Although, the focus of this writing has been on students, the reality is this is about all LGBT persons, including educators themselves.  It is naive to believe LGBT students feel welcomed, accepted, and valued in schools if LGBT teachers remain cloaked and hidden. That is a loud and clear message: "You tolerate me because you have to.  You do not value me."  

This is about human rights.  Our public schools are built on the premise of equal rights for all. As educators we must honor the sanctity of human rights above all else.  Not to do so is malpractice.  +Human Rights Campaign