(no subject)

[rootofnewt]

boy punished for explaining his mother is gay to a schoolmate

AP article (basically the same)

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Comments

[alierakieron.livejournal.com]

Grr...grr.... I ... grr...

[circumspectly.livejournal.com]

holeeee shit.

*send your well adjusted kid to school and receive back one confused lil kid* words to live by in america today.

[marnanel.livejournal.com]

Here's the report his teacher sent home with him-- why the double underlining?

For the benefit of the PDF-impaired:

[evilcresyluna.livejournal.com]

So is it a bad word because of that horrible evil concept of homosexuality or is this yet another case of idiotic zero-tolerance programs. I can understand telling students you can not say "you're so gay!" and thereby it is defined as a bad word you cannot say in class. I'm thinking the assistant principal thought he [the child] was insulting the child's mother when all he [assistant principal] heard was that he'd called his mother gay in class. Context is silly, after all.

[marnanel.livejournal.com]

I'm thinking the assistant principal thought he [the child] was insulting the child's mother when all he [assistant principal] heard was that he'd called his mother gay in class. Context is silly, after all.

That's not what happened, sadly. Look at the vice-principal's behaviour report (here's a PNG of it):

Marcus decided to explain to another child in his group that his mom is gay. He told the other child that gay is when a girl likes a girl. This kind of discussion is not acceptable in my room. I feel that parents should explain things of this nature to their own children in their own way."

IOW the child was knowingly reprimanded specifically for discussing sexual orientation.

[marnanel.livejournal.com]

Oh, I'm sorry-- those words were written by the teacher. The assistant principal did sign the form, though, so he clearly either understood or didn't read very carefully.

[audiorapture.livejournal.com]

Now they make him write a certain phrase a gazillion times over the course of a week to be oh-so-PC, but they can't teach a 2nd grader to spell easy words right. Way to go.

[lady-lion.livejournal.com]

That's sickening.

[lady-lion.livejournal.com]

Heh heh... so very true! It just goes to show that the school system's (and much of society's) priorities are... well... fucked up.

[krasota.livejournal.com]

I know that news outlets can't give us all the info, but there was the alleged quote for the teacher about how explaining that "gay" meant when a girl loved another girl and that's how his mommy was and that all this wasn't appropriate for her classroom and should *not be discussed*.

I wondered about a zero tolerance policy myself--I really hate the way "gay" is used as a derogatory term and I've ranted about it in the past. Until we get more info, which we may not--this kid is a minor, after all.. we can't realy know.

[krasota.livejournal.com]

I actually wondered if that report could be legit, because I found it hard to believe a seven-year old could spell so poorly.

Then I realized that the child could be perfectly normal and just slow to learn certain things or have a learning disorder. My brother is considered to have normal to above-average intelligence, but he refused to learn to read and write until he was around seven. Children develop at different stages.

I very often have to remind myself that I was *not* a normal child and that I shouldn't hold all children to my standard. ;)

[absinthea.livejournal.com]

Its stupid that he was in so much trouble for that. Its not like the kid explained what kind of sexual acts his moms participate in! IIRC, kids got in FAR less trouble for explaining blow jobs, eating out and sodomy than they get for explaining "gay". I got in more trouble discussing "gay" with a couple kids when I was 10 then the kids going around talking about blowjobs in the lunchroom! I pretty much told the principal that I wasn't sorry and forged my mom's signature on the discipline form. Suck on that, LOL! Grr. Stupid people.

[absinthea.livejournal.com]

It looks fairly normal for a 7-yr old's spelling skill. AJ is 7 and still spells kind of wonky at times.

[mactavish.livejournal.com]

English is a really hard language to learn to spell. No one method seems ideal, what with our weird rules and exceptions and non-phonetic spellings and multi-lingual language origins.

[absinthea.livejournal.com]

Yup. I still spell like crap most of the time and Im nearing 30. Heh.