GLSEN releases its Curriculum for Elementary Students Aligning with Common Core Standards for English Language Arts

Long time readers of this blog know we have been calling for the legislators to provide relief from the implementation of the Common Core standards.  

If you, as a parent, appreciate your elementary student being taught about LGBT issues through Common Core standards via English Language Arts, you applaud Missouri's adoption of Common Core standards.

If you, as a parent, believe this is an issue to be taught at home at an age appropriate time determined by you, then the Common Core curriculum is not curriculum you should support.  It probably won't do much good to talk to your school principal if this is adopted, nor DESE.  This will be implemented by our 26 state consortia for students to learn and teachers to teach.

From the article in Education News:

The GLSEN toolkit outlines its application within the Common Core States Standards for English Language Arts and the Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning (McREL) Standards (4th Edition).


What happened to schools telling children to be nice to everyone because they were  a human being?  Why are we demanding children to be nice to everyone based on their sexual orientation to the world? Students should be taught to be respectful to each other because of a shared humanity, not because of a particular trait. 

“Our latest research on bias-based remarks and bullying in America’s elementary schools provides new understanding of the experiences facing our youngest students,” said GLSEN Executive Director Eliza Byard. “Ready, Set, Respect!is a new instructional resource informed by our findings to address homophobia, gender expression and LGBT-inclusive family diversity at the elementary school level.”

Ready, Set, Respect! contains suggested lesson plans that focus on name-calling, bullying and bias, LGBT-inclusive family diversity and gender roles and diversity. The templates are designed for teachers to use as either standalone lessons or for integration into existing curriculum content or school-wide anti-bullying programs. The toolkit also contains helpful tips for teaching more inclusively and intervening in bullying and promoting respectful recess playtime and physical education.
 

Do you just possibly think there is a different agenda present in this push to teach 1st graders about these issues?  The 68 page report from GLSEN may be found here.

Will Your School Celebrate "Day of Silence" on April 15?

April 15 is not just the deadline for paying taxes; it's also the "Day of Silence" promoted at public schools by GLSEN, the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network. The organization states 8,000 schools are participating, although no list of schools is provided.

What is the purpose of a Day of Silence and how does it work?

The Day of Silence is a student-led national event that brings attention to anti-LGBT name-calling, bullying and harassment in schools. Students from middle school to college take some form of a vow of silence in an effort to encourage schools and classmates to address the problem of anti-LGBT behavior. The event is designed to illustrate the silencing effect of this bullying and harassment on LGBT students and those perceived to be LGBT.

Who sponsors this event?

GLSEN, the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network, is the leading national education organization focused on ensuring safe schools for all students. Established nationally in 1995, GLSEN envisions a world in which every child learns to respect and accept all people, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity/expression. For more information on GLSEN’s educational resources, public policy agenda, student organizing programs, research, public education or development initiatives, visit www.glsen.org


The above link is the official website for GLSEN. Here is some information on GLSEN and its founder Kevin Jennings from another website that questions Kevin Jennings' teachings and purpose:

GLSEN’s stated mission is to empower gay youth in the schools and to stop harassment by other students. It encourages the formation of Gay Student Alliances and condemns the use of hateful words. GLSEN also strives to influence the educational curriculum to include materials which the group believes will increase tolerance of gay students and decrease bullying. To that end, GLSEN maintains a recommended reading list of books that it claims “furthers our mission to ensure safe schools for all students.” In other words, these are the books that GLSEN’s directors think all kids should be reading: gay kids should read them to raise their self-esteem, and straight kids should read them in order to become more aware and tolerant and stop bullying gay kids. Through GLSEN’s online ordering system, called “GLSEN BookLink,” featured prominently on their Web site, teachers can buy the books to use as required classroom assignments, or students can buy them to read on their own…

What we discovered shocked us. We were flabbergasted. Rendered speechless.

We were unprepared for what we encountered. Book after book after book contained stories and anecdotes that weren’t merely X-rated and pornographic, but which featured explicit descriptions of sex acts between pre-schoolers; stories that seemed to promote and recommend child-adult sexual relationships; stories of public masturbation, anal sex in restrooms, affairs between students and teachers, five-year-olds playing sex games. One memoir even praised becoming a prostitute as a way to increase one’s self-esteem. Above all, the books seemed to have less to do with promoting tolerance than with an unabashed attempt to indoctrinate students into a hyper-sexualized worldview.

You have two very different stated purposes of GLSEN, the organization responsible for promoting "Day of Silence" in public schools. Research the organization and Kevin Jennings and determine if you believe your school district should be allowing this to occur in your local schools.

Is the purpose of "Day of Silence" to promote tolerance or is it to promote an alternative agenda?