Juilie and I were just talking with someone about those things schools and teachers are expected to teach beyond the "academic" content. And while I totally support that schools develop programs for tolerance education, etc. and implement them as early as possible, what about the home life and the community life and all those other spheres of a person's world outside of school?
Granted, in the story below, home life was rather dismal in the cases of both boys, which just makes me sad. But, again, it also raises some larger issues. Yes, the schools are a good place to reach lots of people with these programs all at one time, and is certainly better than nothing - but it is also so easy to take issues such as this and paint it in such a way that the world's problems can be resolved through school programs - they are confined to school and can be fixed in school. Why worry about it at all? Let the schools take care of it!
So I'm being a touch pessimistic - here's excerpts from what influenced that...
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Gay California student’s slaying sparks outcry:
OXNARD, Calif. - Larry King was a gay eighth-grader who used to come to school in makeup, high heels and earrings. And when the other boys made fun of him, he would boldly tease them right back by flirting with them.
That may have been what got him killed.
On Feb. 12, another student, Brandon McInerney, 14, shot him twice in the head at the back of the computer lab at their junior high school, police say.
The slaying of the 15-year-old boy has alarmed gay rights activists and led to demands that middle schools do more to educate youngsters about discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.
...
The school system said that it has tolerance programs in its middle schools, but that sexual orientation is often not dealt with until high school. Since the killing, school officials have been meeting with gay leaders about changing the program.
"With young people coming out at younger ages, our schools — especially our junior highs and middle schools — need to be proactive about teaching respect for diversity based on sexual orientation and gender identity," said Carolyn Laub, executive director of the Gay-Straight Alliance Network. "The tragic death of Larry King is a wake-up call for our schools to better protect students from harassment at school."
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I don't know, I see your point, but I look at it not as school programs fixing all the problems, but rather filling in something that's missing in many kids' home lives. If the schools didn't have tolerance programs and the like, there are way too many kids who would grow up learning homophobia and other prejudices at home without another side to balance it out.
I hate the opening of the article -- saying "that may have been what got him killed" implies that if he hadn't been so openly gay he wouldn't have been killed, when in reality the only thing that would have kept King from being killed is if the other boy had not hated/feared a gay classmate.
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