Gender Identity Curriculum in Virginia
So, I recently ran into some news about a new Gender Identity Curriculum in Virginia and how it angered many people. I'm curious on the opinions of the Forum on this. Here is the article, while there is also a video...I couldn't get it to work on here but I'll add a link to the page where I got the article so people can watch it if they want:
Public schools in Fairfax County, Virginia, are preparing to include gender identity in its curriculum, despite objections from parents.
The district's Family Life Education (FLE) lessons will include teachings on heterosexual, homosexual, and bisexual, and transgender identity. The school board voted in May to add gender identity to the list.
The move has angered many parents over what they see as forcing them to expose their children to issues that are not even part of state requirements.
"Starting in kindergarten, students will be taught about same-sex or gay marriage and the parents will not be able to opt out," Andrea Lafferty, president of the Traditional Values Coalition, told CBN News.
Fairfax County Public Schools wrote a letter to parents in response to misperceptions about the new curriculum.
"Most sections in the FLECAC committee's report have been a part of the curriculum in past years, with the difference being that many of the instructional objectives now meet the Virginia Dept. of Education's (VDOE) general Health Standards of Learning," the board wrote.
"As-such (they) no longer have an opt-out option. These topics include conflict resolution skills, respecting individual differences such as disabilities, ethnicities and cultures and mental health areas," they wrote.
Lafferty said students in 8th grade will be discussing President Bill Clinton's "activity, along with oral and anal." Fourth graders will receive instruction about incest, she said.
"One of the big issues is in Virginia parents can opt their children out of certain parts of the Family Life Education. And so now what they're doing is trying to move parts of it from FLE to Health, which means parents cannot opt their children out," she said.
Some parents are outraged that the proposed lessons are not even required by law but they are still being forced upon them.
"It's not a part of the state law, it's not a part of the state school board instruction, but they've decided to add it against the will of many of the parents. We are very concerned that they are doing it here in Fairfax County and perhaps other places without the parents' knowledge or consent," Lafferty said.
"It's just bizarre. They want to force this on the kids in Fairfax County when in fact it's not a part of SOLs or the required education," Lafferty added.
CBN News reporter Charlene Aaron spoke with Lafferty about the school district's motivation and how the controversial curriculum could spread to other school districts across the country.
"A message from FAIRFAX COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS
Dear Parents,
We would like to ensure that all Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) families have the correct information regarding the proposed lesson objectives and curriculum for our Family Life Education (FLE) program. The changes under consideration by the School Board are the result of a series of recommendations from the Family Life Education Curriculum Advisory Committee (FLECAC), which is a standing citizen advisory committee that reviews the FLE curriculum on a regular basis and is comprised of school board appointees, community members, students, teachers and administrators. The committee has been working on the curriculum recommendations for more than a year.
Most sections in the FLECAC committee's report have been a part of the curriculum in past years, with the difference being that many of the instructional objectives now meet the Virginia Dept. of Education's (VDOE) general Health Standards of Learning, and as-such no longer have an opt-out option. These topics include conflict resolution skills, respecting individual differences such as disabilities, ethnicities and cultures and mental health areas.
The question has been asked: "Will parents still be able to opt their child out of Family Life Education lessons?" The answer is yes. Parents have been able to opt their students out of FLE designated lessons in the past and will continue to have that ability under the FLECAC committee's recommendations - including the sexual orientation and gender identity lessons. Other topics that parents will be able to opt their child out of include reproductive anatomy, contraception, abstinence, STIs, and many others.
Parents and community members will have the opportunity to review and comment on the proposed curriculum revisions during a 30 day period, which begins May 21. I encourage you to visit our web page for additional information about the FLE curriculum and to learn how you can participate in the comment process:
Our parents' role in determining if their child will receive Family Life Education lessons has not changed. As parents, you continue to have the final say. I hope you find this information helpful and that it dispels many of the misperceptions that are currently being posted regarding our FLE curriculum in the media and elsewhere.
Thank you for your support and understanding.
Karen Garza
Superintendent
Fairfax County Public Schools"
http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/us/2015/June/Gender-Identity-Curriculum-Angers-Parents-in-Fairfax/
Comments
I understand that parents are able to opt their child out of lessons about abstinence because it might not follow the guidelines of their religion (if any), but lessons regarding anatomy, contraception and STIs should be a vital part of the sexual education program in schools, given that these are public schools, which means that everyone is allowed inside them. If parents really want to enforce abstinence on their children, they have every right to take the necessary steps to teach it themselves or enroll them in a school better suited to their moral and/or religious beliefs, though I believe that schools should teach kids all of the facts before letting them decide. How things stand now, children are missing out on important information which in turn allows them to act out of ignorance, resulting in issues like teen pregnancy and sexually-transmitted infections and diseases.
As for the gender identity course, I think it's a good thing. Who cares if it's not part of the "required" education? It's a known part of life. Thousands of kids have issues with their gender/sexual identity and have resorted to self harm and even suicide because they weren't taught that what they feel is normal and part of nature's design. Anyone who believes that the intended "rules" of a school is more important than the happiness, safety and general wellbeing of its students needs a serious reality check.
Where did she pull oral, anal and incest out of
?
Why are parents pissed about their children being exposed to things that will be inevitably exposed to them in other ways later on? It's better if you're taught those things at school, but I hope they don't have an information bias.
Learning about this won't make them "decide" that they're homosexual or that they want to "change" their sex, the focus should be on mutual respect and coexistence.
What?? I'd like to know where she got that from. Seriously.
Okay, so it's not part of state requirements, but IT IS a largely growing part of everyday life and it's only growing amongst the population today. Why is it so important that they keep things "traditional" at the risk of needlessly harming people because they feel their feelings are "unnatural" and "not right," because they lacked the proper education and teachings? Just because it's been like that for a long time, doesn't mean that it should stay like that. Times are changing and you've got to either adapt and change your mindset or get left behind, because hey guess what, your way of thinking is outdated and quite possibly, holding back the development of a more tolerant future if they can properly manage the teachings in a non-biased manner.
I get that this Lafferty feels like her rights are being violated or whatever as she mentions that "parent cannot opt out" and that "it's being forced on them" in at least every statement, but that's her only argument. Add on that she randomly mentions Clinton AND "oral, anal and incest," without mentioning any proof in her arguments, she just seems to be spouting nonsensical interjections with no factual reasoning behind it, after a point.
I don't see what's wrong with it, although some people might deem this unnecessary as many people have come fine without learning about Gender Identity, I think it would benefit children and teens in the long-run, people are often forced to deal with finding out new things about themselves that they're scared of, or don't fully know about and they make these discoveries usually on their own and sometimes don't really have anyone to turn to. I personally think this may help people be themselves more at a younger age and be more accepting of who others are as individuals. But that's only opinion.
they probably don't have faith in schools being able to treat the matter without turning those lessons into gender studies propaganda
i wonder how many lessons these courses run for? it's not really a complicated subject
Why is there always a thread about transgendered people on the first page of this forum?
And since when did Clinton have anal? The whole point is they were going to fire him because he got a blowjob.
Before people chime in "no, it wasn't about the affair, it was because of perjury" (it wasn't what you did, it's that you lied!). No, No, it was the blowjob. They tried to impeach him for perjury because Republicans haven't outlawed blowjobs. Yet. That and to scare him into 'reforming' welfare and repealing Glass-Stegal.
Kids can't even fucking add 7 +3 together , but you want to teach them about Catelyn Jenner.
Makes Sense TO ME.
lmfao, true.
I think it should be around the time they get sex ed, so they're not that stupid when they learn about it.
reminds me of the whole common core bullshit
I suppose this will be taught alongside the other courses but don't quote me on this.
@torkahn808
I'll tag you in this since you asked the same thing.
I have but one thing to say. West Virginia is superior Virginia.
Funny coming from the actual rebels.
Oh yeah? Googles West Virginia generals during civil war. Finds nothing but West Virginia generals that fought for the confederates
Um...Lincoln wouldn't have let that happen? Probably? Maybe?
Because transgendered people = screwing their brothers and sisters. Gotcha.
Your knees must be sore....from jumping to conclusions. I never said that, neither did they. I think you misunderstand that just because they'll be teaching those things alongside the transgender courses doesn't mean that they'll say that being transgender means incest.
First of all, I was trying to be funny, so calm down. Second, I knew what you meant. Thanks.
I was obviously trying to be funny too, "Your knees must be sore....from jumping to conclusions."...Mainly with this line. The rest was serious. By the way, I am calm, don't know how I wasn't.
Glad we're on the same page.
my point is, the United States is like last place in Math/Science because most kids in America are selfish entitled brats. They don't do their homework, they don't try, they end up another dumbass.
Yes, cause Caitlyn is the only transgender in the world, right?
ABC , Daily Mail, Cnn... etc.... seems to think so.
And it begins . So when they ask why do you object to the trans/gay/etc. How does it affect you? This is how .Now it's starting .
Of course parents are against it. My child won't be apart of that bullshit...
It still doesn't. Your children will NOT ''become'' gay because of that, they will learn how to RESPECT gay/trans/etc.
...and apparently you too. They don't wanna teach the children about Caitlyn Jenner, they wanna teach the children how to respect ALL transgender people and how to live respecting the differences.
Not my child...
Your child won't learn how to respect other people?
No . My child won't be participating in that class . But of course he will learn to respect people.
i wonder if they'll accidentally omit the part where post-op transexuals have some pretty high suicide/suicide attempt ratios compared to the rest of the population
or the part where it's still not clear how similar transgender dysphoria actually is to body integrity disorder
I wonder what ''respect'' means to you. Objecting to gay people marrying whoever they want, is that respect to you?
https://youtu.be/nmbypEPvtyU
I am well within my rights to object it Wolf. It's no secret that I don't approve of it . And that's ok.
I respect that you support it .Now respect that I don't . Now I'm done discussing it . Goodbye.
From the moment you posted your opinion about that, you were willing to hear other people's opinion too, Cope. So I have the right to object too. Goodbye.
Pre-op transsexuals have a pretty high suicide rate too.
And as to gender dysphoria being similar to Body Integrity Disorder - sources or it didn't happen.
The suicide rate is due to the poor treatment that any transgender person faces in today's society, pre or post-op. When transgender people have a supportive environment and are given access to good health care, the rates of suicide of male to female transsexuals who have had facial feminization surgery, gender reassignment surgery, or both, improve to the point where the rates are not significantly different from the rest of the population.
And, the gender dysphoria is body integrity disorder conspiracy doesn't make sense. Body integrity disorder is the psychological disorder wherein sufferers feel they would be happier living as an amputee. In female to male transsexuals, they want their genitalia enlarged, so the comparison of a disorder that causes a person to want to live as an amputee is baseless. Besides, the male to female gender reassignment surgery doesn't actually remove anything, so it's not amputation either. It just reduces the size of the genitalia and rearranges the scrotum skin into a labia (which is exactly the same surgery they do with intersex patients with congenital adrenal hyperplasia, as the skin is present in both sexes, it's just the chromosomes and amount of testosterone in the infant's system that determines the configuration). There is no amputation required, as all of the parts are actually there already (since the default form of humans is female).
Thank you, yes, I meant the higher suicide rate was predominantly the product of social discrimination. I just pointed to pre-op since I thought I was responding to the myth that 'lots of transsexuals regret it.' I'm sure there are some that do, but there are safeguards in the treatment system (IE therapy prior to SRS), but that line is too often thrown out to discredit transsexuals - sort of like saying 'oh, it's just a phase.'
And thanks for the links, now that I've graduated I'm trying to get back my access so I can read full articles... I miss you PubMed, and Elsevier even more T___T
.... and apparently you are a Cat that mated with a wolf, See i can make baseless assumptions too.
Instead of LEARNING basic Math, we should Learn about Transgenders. MAKES SENSE TO m3.
They'll still have basic math.
That's not true in Virginia. They actually have an excellent track record for improving education. They implemented the Standards of Learning in 1998, which focuses on four critical areas: English, mathematics, science, and history/social science.
Since the implementation, more students have met or exceeded the standards. In 1998, the first year of SOL testing, only 2 percent of the Virginia Commonwealth’s public schools met the standard for full accreditation. The percentage of schools meeting the state’s accreditation standards increased to 6.5 percent in 1999, 22 percent in 2000, 40 percent in 2001, 64 percent in 2002, 78 percent in 2003, 84 percent in 2004, and 92 percent in 2005.
So adding a gender identity curriculum to schools in Virginia won't adversely affect the other areas of education. Since the state has the primary focus on the four critical areas of education, and it has a track record of reaching those goals, the standards of education are high enough there to warrant additional curriculum to the school program.
It's not baseless since you talk about Caitlyn even when it has nothing to do with her. They want to teach about all transgenders, not about Caitlyn.
So you're saying that kids will no longer have basic math because of that? THAT is baseless assumption.
And Fairfax County in particular has some of the best schools in the state, and country (See Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology).
all of the sources, ALL OF THE SOURCES
http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0016885
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2004/jul/30/health.mentalhealth
http://drtepp.com/features/gender-re-assignment-surgery -psychological-issues/
http://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/2015/04/14905/
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3043071/?tool=pubmed
http://www.wsj.com/articles/paul-mchugh-transgender-surgery-isnt-the-solution-1402615120
http://www.virtueonline.org/gc2012-transgender-truth-about-gender-identity-disorder
http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/3066/are-transsexuals-mentally-ill
http://www.firstthings.com/article/2004/11/surgical-sex
and hey, my point isn't wether or not transexuals are mentally ill, just that the whole matter is way, WAY too complicated for elementary schools to teach kids