Urban Vancouver

Gay education

By samanthaorwell on March 28, 2008 - 2:08pm

Read full post here: http://thevancouvermanifesto.blogspot.com/2008/03/gay-education.html

I love reading the opinion letters in newspapers. I love how they show incredible intelligence AND incredible ignorance in such a small space that, hopefully the latter doesn't, represent Vancovouver citizens.
I've been published a few times in the letters pages, and I must say it IS kind of hard to get a letter published there- it has to be some sort of sensational, of course and once I got the hang of knowing how to be sensational wriing letters to newspapers got old.

Anyhow, two letters in particular got me interested enough to dicuss here.

I read this one first:

Gay taxpayers tired of subsidizng their critics:
It is bad enough that we gay British Columbians subsidize private Catholic schools with our tax dollars, but they now object to gays being included in diversity programs in public schools. Our thousands of dollars are gleefully accepted, but we are considered inferior and unworthy. I don't think so. It's time all taxpayers took a close look at private schools that inevitably teach that they are the only ones worthy of anything.
Hugh (Bart) Vincelette, Vancouver

I had a "huh..that's interesting" moment.
Ad at first I agreed whole heartely- WHY do we as taxpayers pay for things that will demoralize our community and/or bash and/or potentially spread hate?

But also at the same time a taxpayers we fund a lot of public programming that we may not personally believe is morally justifiable (help me out here..I can't hink of any at the moment). I think it is safe to say though that we should respect other people's thoughts and opinions even though they may be against our own. Isn't that what Canada is all about? We're a mosaic right? meaning that there is a lot of diversity but we still exist in segregated "tiles" and retain our uniqueness within a broader picture (unlike the below 49th parallel melting pot).

BUT this is different because education is PUBLIC, and yes, even though private schools can teach with different philosophies or different curiculum even private schools are supported by public tax dollars to some extent- if you want me to explain the reason why I can, but for now that discussion is best saved for if you really give a damn.

So if education is PUBLIC, then we should be giving children content that will make our society more cohesive, supportive and tolerant- no?
That being said I don't believe Catholic schools are teaching HATE or anti-gay messages per se, I think they may just be staying quiet on the issue- (I'm not sure..I'll have to ask my Cath teacher friend)- but even if they do stay quiet on the issue that may be spreading ignorance.

But what if some segments of Catholicism DO believe that homosexuality gets in the way of cohesiveness in a functional society? There's an argument to be made there, one that I can make, but I don't believe in so I won't make it.

(Ok, that's a lot of thinking out loud). I totally understand these points raised by Vincelette (what a name, by the way..).

But say he is right, how would it be feasible to NOT have gay people, or any minority, special rights groups, not pay towards a public program? First you would have to justify why you should not pay, and then you would have to uh...check off "gay- don't want my money in Catholic schools" box on you tax form? yeah...and that would begin to breed MAJOR inequalities in funding in ANY publicprogram if minority groups were able to do that.

...i don't think the word "minority" is quite correct..I'm beginning to think we should be inclusive of any group n o matter what size..but then stakeholder models...ok.. NEXT

SO, I THEN read this:

Powerful minorities shouldn't influence school courses:
Diversity? Nothing could be farther from the truth of what the guide Making Space, Giving Voice suggests. The "guide," which is the result of the Corren agreement with the ministry of education that gave two homosexuals the special privilege of reviewing the K-12 curriculum, is focused on advancing an agenda including approval of homosexual lifestyles, using "social justice" as a convenient publicly accepted concurrence. No other group, "diverse" or conventional, has been given the licence to promote their beliefs within the curriculum as has been accorded to the Correns.
Of course, homosexuals are entitled to the same rights as all other Canadians, but it should not be at the expense of an already time-challenging curriculum, nor should a curriculum be so powerfully influenced by a special minority. The guide advances the ethics of homosexuals at variance with the ethics of other majority and minority groups, be they Christians, Jews, Muslims, atheists, agnostics or Canuck fans. Having carefully read Catholic Civil Rights League director Sean Murphy's Making Sense of Making Space, Giving Voice, noting the misinformation and exclusion of facts not in harmony with the Corren Creed, and all its negative consequences, I believe it is imperative that parents take action to prevent the creed from becoming the "guide" for the education of their children.
Walter Szetela, Delta

Now I get this person's point- there are SO many groups that can influence or curriculum so when does it get so far that we're being TOO inclusive such that we have a horribly broad curriculum?

I agree it may get TOO much, but it's not right to close the doors and say no minority group can TRY to influence the curriculum. We have to be able to at least give groups a process where they can show grievance and go through a process inclusion in curriculum. It is our right to be able to influence the curriculum- any taxpayer ad citizen has a right to say what we teach our yout and we should not take away that process of expressing disapproval and subsequent revision of the curriculum.

The curriculum IS time consuming, but good teachers will figure out a way to hear minority voices- remember that teaching has gone FAR since the days of old person lecturing in front of rows of kids- Kids can pick minority groups that they are interested in, do group projects on it and present them to the class much like we do with different cultures/countries, and even different systems in the body.

I dunno, just an issue I thought was interesting- what do you think? who's right? and is it even feasible to be inclusive of ALL minority groups?

KEEP READING:
http://thevancouvermanifesto.blogspot.com/