...the students might be able to watch the process. From thetuscaloosanews.com:
The Tuscaloosa City Board of Education is considering changing its
policies against discrimination and harassment to include students and
employees who change genders or wear clothing of the opposite sex.
In a four-hour meeting held
Thursday evening at Westlawn Middle School, the board heard from school
board attorney Dave Ryan. He explained why the board should add “gender
nonconformity” to the list of classes — race, color, religion, gender,
age, disability, etc. — that are protected in the school systems
anti-discrimination and anti-harassment policies.
Ryan
cited a case in Atlanta in which a male employee of the Georgia
Assembly's Office of Legislative Counsel was fired in 2007 for wearing
women's clothing to work. According to case files, the employee wore
women's clothes to work because he was planning a sex change operation
and part of that process is dressing like the opposite sex before the
operation.
Ryan said the employee sued and the district court ruled in the employee's favor.
As
a result of the case, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, which Alabama
is a part of, ruled on Dec. 11, 2011, that a state agency cannot
discriminate against a person for gender nonconformity.
“Prior to this case, gender non-conformity
was never recognized as a protected class,” Ryan said. “When this
opinion came out, it changed the law. So we have to go back and change
our policies to reflect that.”
No one objected to the possible policy changes.
Maybe that's why the schools need to introduce sex education classes in kindergarten. This has been an issue the current Federal Administration has been pushing, and the President has been supporting sex education from kindergarten since he was a state Senator.
Will these "gender nonconformity" policies make our students globally and STEM competitive? What is the primary goal of public education?
I have been thinking about what might be the unintended consequences of adding “gender noncomformity” to a school system’s anti-discrimination and anti-harassment policies. First, I think it would cause some people to withdraw their children; it will likely decrease public support (as in not voting to raise taxes); and it is also very likely to create division in the community and in the classroom.
ReplyDeleteThe big question, though, is will this improve learning and enhance the career opportunities of the students of the school system? I certainly cannot imagine how changing the policy is going to help; after all, in recent years more schools have opted for school uniforms for students and a professional dress code for faculty. “Dressing for success” often does bring success, and we do want our students to be successful, don’t we? Why do schools usually tighten dress codes? Because they have had so many complaints about the disruptive influence of provocative or otherwise controversial clothing.
Since the goal of education is to prepare students for future jobs, shouldn’t we be doing all we can in our schools to encourage proper attire, grooming and behavior that do not draw negative attention to students but which prepare them for acceptance when they apply for a job (or college) after high school? If you talk to employers as I do, you will find that many of them complain about the appearance of our graduates, including hair, makeup, shoes, gum chewing, too-short mini skirts, tattoos, saggy pants, etc. .when they come for interviews. Even if this proposed policy could reduce harassment (and I do not have any proof that it would or would not), encouraging students to dress in any way they choose will not help them get hired or keep a job. .
The bottom line is this policy change will hinder student career preparedness as well as job offers. Those who are already some of our most vulnerable students will be at even more of a disadvantage in the job market of the future.