Education And Gender: Calif. Elementary School Tries Out Gender Spectrum Lessons

San Jose Mercury News:

OAKLAND -- Some girls like the color blue. Some boys like to wear things that sparkle. Not all girls play with dolls, and not all boys like to play with trucks.

Kindergartners at Redwood Heights Elementary School reached those conclusions on Monday during a lesson about gender and acceptance.

Read the whole story: San Jose Mercury News

Comments

[drmindhealer]

04:25 PM on 06/04/2011

Perhaps if some parents were actually doing their jobs in the first place it wouldn't be necessary to teach manners, anti-bullying, sexuality and tolerance in the classroom. Nine times out of ten the parent that complains the most about their "parental authority" being usurped is the one who is the most incompetent. The most intolerant kids are the product of intolerant homes.

[Jebus Chris]

03:14 PM on 05/31/2011

Some girls like the color blue. Some boys like to wear things that sparkle. Not all girls play with dolls, and not all boys like to play with trucks....Some boys like boys and some girls like girls

[Cacey]

10:32 AM on 05/31/2011

This whole thing is rediculous. Here in Latin America the most macho of men wear pink and think nothing about it. At the same time I know a straight Canadian woman who grew up playing with "boys' toys" and is now head of a construction company. Even if either of these people had turned out to be gay, there's no big deal except that they might not have had the harrassment they had as kids.

[gravity defiant]

05:36 AM on 05/31/2011

I can't believe this is even controversial. (Well, yes, I can, but it shouldn't be.)

I work with little kids. The second I hear, "Pink is for girls," I step in and say, "Pink is for people who like pink." And so on.

What those who are cowering under their beds (or, ahem, in their closets) in fear of teh gays don't get is that those of us who want to teach kids stuff like this are not trying to turn your kid gay, because we don't believe anyone can be "turned gay." It just happens. It might even have happened to your kid already, and it won't be because someone told him it was OK for him to wear pink.

[Foodgrade]

09:47 PM on 05/31/2011

Well, if it's anything a gay person said, it must be true. They're never wrong about anything. Just disagree with anything on the gay agenda and find out.

[FTracy3]

10:13 PM on 05/30/2011

Is this gonna be on the test?

[Always Conservative]

06:40 PM on 05/30/2011

We wonder why schools are failing..... Gender spectrum lessons???

http://articles.latimes.com/2011/mar/09/news/la-pn-obama-schools-20110310

[Foodgrade]

09:50 PM on 05/31/2011

Gender Spectrom is a gay organization out of San Leandro, Ca. The schools hired them with our money, to raise our kids for us. Thegays don't like the way other people raise their kids.

[hershobr]

04:13 PM on 05/30/2011

That's right lets' try and change thousands of years of human evolution and human psychology on little kids.

[Foodgrade]

02:11 PM on 05/30/2011

Wow, gender spectrum, all about how a male who identifies as a female should be allowed in the girls locker room. We wouldn't want the poor person not feel accepted after all. Yes, it's on the Gender Spectrum web site.

http://www.genderspectrum.org/

[dmherb]

02:45 PM on 05/30/2011

"We wouldn't want the poor person not to feel accepted after all."

That's the point. Keep paying attention, you might learn something.

[Foodgrade]

02:50 PM on 05/30/2011

But no. Some dude is not going to go into my daughters locker room. He can deal with his own problems with acceptance.

[carmenalex]

03:23 PM on 05/30/2011

As a straight girl, I wouldn't mind, but I guess some people like yourself are so obsessed with sex that they might..I don't know...implode?

[Foodgrade]

03:50 PM on 05/30/2011

And what if another straight girl felt violated? She needs tharapy I suppose. She must throw off the sexual hangups and spend a month or so with lesbians to get over it.

[Foodgrade]

02:08 PM on 05/30/2011

Hmmm, lets see. The school hired an outfit called "Gender Spectrum" out of San Leandro Ca.

http://www.genderspectrum.org/

Gender Spectrum is a 100% gay organization. And we have to pay taxes to have special interests push an agenda in our schools while hiding behind "tolerance".

This really sucks.

[dmherb]

02:49 PM on 05/30/2011

"Gender Spectrum is a 100% gay organization."

Actually it is a supportive non-profit for transgendered people and their families, including transgendered children and their straight parents.

[Foodgrade]

03:52 PM on 05/30/2011

Like I said. A 100% gay organization. What's wrong with that? They have a mission after all. They want to get men into the girls locker room.

[carmenalex]

03:07 PM on 05/30/2011

Yeah...we want intolerance, hatred and the beating up of different people instead!

[Foodgrade]

04:21 PM on 05/30/2011

No, it's not one or the other. People of all beliefs should have those beliefs diserve respect. Not just gay sensibilities. I didn't see any sign from the universe that said that the gay agenda is universal law and that everyone should immediately comply, believe and worship it.

[JeremiahA]

12:07 PM on 05/30/2011

So now children are to be taught to ignore the reality of the physiological, functional, and psychological differences that exist which distinguish then genders? Shall we have them spend time ignoring the math and science as well?

[carmenalex]

12:49 PM on 05/30/2011

Did you read the article...its about colors are just that..colors, and toys are just that...toys. It means you do not get to belittle or attack another child because he chooses to play with a doll (psychologically sound actually) or she likes to wear blue and hates pink, and likes to play with dolls AND transformers. In no way does this ignore the reality of physiologi­cal, functional­, and psychologi­cal difference­s. When I was a child (im a straight woman) I wanted a big bed, like my brother had in the shape of a race car...It was refused to me because its a "boys bed" I absolutely HATED the princess bed they got me instead. Its about fighting gender stereotyping.

[JeremiahA]

01:10 PM on 05/30/2011

I sympathize with your view. My concern is that when children ask questions, they will be given relativistic answers. That there are no standards. That words mean whatever we want to mean. A "princess" does not mean "a female member of a royal family" but rather "a member of a royal family." This is not education but rather indoctrination of a philosophical concept.

[Foodgrade]

01:12 PM on 05/30/2011

We already do. The thing now is to create generations of unisexual people who will be altered as young as it can be managed. That way the corporations don't have to worry about silly things like families and communities. But don't worry, people will still be educated with very narrow focus to keep the corporate wheels turning.

[carmenalex]

01:57 PM on 05/30/2011

What will you do when the store runs out of tin foil? No one is turning anyone into unisexuals! Families are still going to be families..There are different families...thats the point. Sorry, but not everyone has to have the perfect Ozzy and Harriet Stepford Wife family.

[Dayne]

07:27 PM on 05/29/2011

Political and social engineering at its worst. This is a perfect example why we have such huge problems in our youth culture and schools. Let me think, in my elementary days I remember learning the ABC's, tying my shoes, primary colors, basic arithmetics, spelling, penmanship, and other basic tools which I use just about everyday of my life. This kind of touchy, feeling, agenda driven, indoctrination is a joke. We are trying to teach young children (who don't have the tools to comprehend this subject) that it's normal for people to be non-gender specific, or both. Wow. I hope these children grow up and learn the truth of the world, if not, well, hopefully I'll be dead before they come to power.

Dayne

[williamg]

08:15 PM on 05/29/2011

Agreed.

[carmenalex]

11:29 PM on 05/29/2011

A bit melodramatic much? The kids handle it pretty well....the only heads exploding are people like you who go ug....different...bad...must close my eyes...

[Foodgrade]

12:24 PM on 05/30/2011

Well, that's the idea. Get the kids early. If their parents, don't like it, too bad. Who cares what "homophobes" think anyway. We have cops with guns to force compliance. Parental rights are to pay for it. Gay rights is access to children at a young age. It has nothing to do with personal choice, everyone will comply with every single wish of the gay community or else. There is no room for disagreement, you're either with us or against us.

[reading2009]

01:19 PM on 05/30/2011

ok, I just have to fan you!!!

[dmherb]

05:31 PM on 05/29/2011

This sounds like a good teaching tool. I can remember going to school and learning about how we shouldn't discriminate based on race, and I can't really see how this is any different.

[hershobr]

04:11 PM on 05/30/2011

Because the only difference in races is color of this skin, whereas there are massive psychological, chemical, physical, and emotional differences between the genders.

[Foodgrade]

05:19 PM on 05/30/2011

Especially after the quacks get done with you. Then the psychobabblers get a nice profitable turn, then the psychiatrists sell you drugs. There's a whole lot of money beling made off of people's sexual confusion, or just telling their parents "You can't tell me what to dooooooo".

In any case, even Gender Spectrum gets a cut for making a move on kintergardners."So you see Johnny, you really should play with dolls, it'll put you in touch with your feminine side". And you'll learn to smile when the other little boys pat you on your backside".

Stop pretending. This is a gay organization running a gay operation on children.

[angelcakesinc]

10:57 PM on 05/30/2011

The majority of the differences between boys and girls can be traced to the social construction of gender roles. There are greater differentiations between individuals within each sex than there are between the two sexes. If sex determined how one acted to such a degree... well, then, I wouldn't be who I am today. I am male but I frequently get mistaken for a woman and happen to be more feminine than the majority of my female friends. And I'm not intentionally acting a role or anything like that, I'm simply doing what comes naturally to me. But if all people with a penis are supposed to be tough and aggressive and all of that macho bullsh*t then... well, how do you explain it? And if it isn't true of EVERY male, then when is it true and when is it not true? Where do we draw the lines? What makes one male act masculine and another feminine? How can a male behave femininely at all if masculinity is supposed to be such an intrinsic, innate, and unchangeable characteristic of the male sex? Could it possibly be that gender roles are NOT so innate after all? That does seem to be the most likely explanation, doesn't it? The immense social pressure to conform to a certain way of acting explains gender roles much better than biology, because were it purely biological there could be no feminine men, but social forces CAN (at great personal risk) be resisted.

[dbrett480]

11:37 AM on 05/29/2011

It's amazing that schools are finding more ways to cram useless classes into the kindergarten schedule. And then they are surprised when kids become board and restless and need to be labeled ADD.

[DanEboi]

12:14 PM on 05/29/2011

Should've crammed some spelling into yours

[Dayne]

07:37 PM on 05/29/2011

If you want to nitpick, maybe you could use a complete sentence and punctuation. See, it's really unseemly to attack someone when you are guilty of a similar problem.

Dayne

[Foodgrade]

12:25 PM on 05/30/2011

Should have crammed some manners into yours.

[Syllogizer]

12:23 PM on 05/29/2011

Your commentary on the sad state of our education would carry a little more weight if YOU could spell! Clearly you meant 'bored', not 'board'.

[reading2009]

12:35 PM on 05/29/2011

no, no, no....he's talking about how the kids are made to do that new fad, planking!

[Foodgrade]

04:29 PM on 05/30/2011

So, the arguement is so weak that we're reduced to calling out typos, in spur of the moment posts? The fact is there's a trojan Horse by the name of Gender Spectrum running a gay agenda in an Oakland public school and being paid by the public. I think we can keep up with the posts even with a few typos. And yes, our public school system sucks. We are so bad at educating our kids that we depend on phoney half baked social engineering and drugs. Don't believe me? Our low status relative to sucessful educated is widely reported in the foreign and domestic press. This "color" operation is one of the reasons.

[tnlcallen]

11:09 AM on 05/29/2011

California is a very strange place indeed. Is it too late to give it back to Mexico?

[Foodgrade]

04:32 PM on 05/30/2011

We already did, the part that China dosen't own at least.

[tamashi]

03:03 AM on 05/29/2011

this is where i draw the line. social engineering in the military, ok, now this? why cant they let kids be kids instead of feminizing our little boys?

[xansam]

10:21 AM on 05/29/2011

comments like that are why programs like this are needed.

[Syllogizer]

12:24 PM on 05/29/2011

No,"programs like this" can only do harm, not good.

[Foodgrade]

12:46 PM on 05/30/2011

Yeah. The idea, is to have a unisexual world according to the gay manifesto. Let no impure thoughts impede the opening of childrens minds to anything goes sex. It's imperative that all children be encouraged and even pressured to experiment with homosexual sex. The poor things are being sexually stifled and sexually damaged by "homophobic" parents. All free thinking people that exposure to graphic sex at the earliest possible age is paramount to the ballanced upbringing of children. The thought that these abused children could actually be abused into thinking that there is such a thing as right or wrong is frightening! The only right and wrong are what the government and corporations say is right or wrong. The rest is only a matter of whether it feels good at the moment or not. Get those boys holding hands. Get those girls experimenting in the shower room before it's too late. first grade could be too late, we have to purge all "homophobic" thoughts before the damage is done.

[carmenalex]

11:38 PM on 05/29/2011

Its not feminizing little boys...no one is forcing boys to wear pink instead of blue. Its helping "blue" boys not want to beat up senseless "pink" boys, when they get older. Its about self acceptance and acceptance of others. In other words...respect.

[Foodgrade]

12:49 PM on 05/30/2011

It's about accepting anything gay activists say while gays are the most intolerant people on the planet. There is no grey, only pink. Buy it all or you're the enemy. Habd your kids over or you're a "homophobe". Only gays know how to raise kids.