Education Values Essays

GSA groups have been around since the 1980’s and according to the Gay-Straight Alliance Network there are currently over 4,000 school based groups throughout the United States (Currie, Mayberry, and Chenneville, 2012; Tommey, Ryan, Diaz, and Russell, 2011). GSA groups came out of the Gay Rights Movement during the late 1960’s and early 1970’s. Adolescents identifying as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) or align within the context of this spectrum have been victims of bullying, discrimination, prejudice, persecution, and hate within the school system. For one decade, between 1999 and 2009, the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) in the United States asking students to describe their high school milieu. According to the findings, 61% of LGBT students feel unsafe, 72% report hearing degrading comments, 85% are verbally harassed, and 40% are physically harassed (Fetner, Elafros, Bortolin, and Drechsler, 2012). The statistics for minority high school students including Latinos and African Americans had slightly elevated rates in both verbal and physical harassment. It was not until the realization that LGBT adolescents, like other adolescents, spend the majority of their time within the confines of the American public education system and suffer, did acknowledgement of creating a safe space for LGBT students develop (Toomey et. al, 2011).

One of the most serious problems many LGBTQ students face is that they experience torment and alienation not only at school, but at home.

482). Furthermore, recent studies indicate that school staff have insufficient knowledge and tools in working with the LGBTQ community (McCabe, Rubinson, Dragowski, & Elizalde-Utncik, 2013). Therefore, the school psychologist’s goals are to establish a culture within the school that gives the LGBTQ student a right to an equal education and mental health support. At the same time providing a safe environment in which acceptance can blossom through respect and diversity free off any type of harassment with the help of the teachers and staff (Harrison & Thomas, 2014). Once an individual becomes aware, he or she can begin to realize that he or she sees the world through a filtered lens, which is from his or her own cultural perspective. For this reason, one should familiarize him or herself with current studies and topics related to the LGBTQ community. In the past it used to be the case that a school psychologist must practice within his or her scope of knowledge and refer out when necessary. However, the National Association of School Psychologists dictates that the school psychologist must become competent to work with the LGBTQ community (NASP, 2010). The school psychologist should seek out ways to continually educate him or

These chapters enlightened me on three areas about education. The first area, is the thin line that educators must walk with regards to religion. This is because as educators we have to protect the religious tolerance of every student within the public school system. For instance, the United States Supreme Court has ruled in several cases about religious freedom versus secular teachings (Koppelman, 2015, p. 153). Likewise, these chapters also shined light onto the struggle between males and females, and the fact that within our society we do not give equal support to the genders. This means that males are often giving leeway to do things that females are not. With that notion in mind, these chapters also revealed the struggle that goes on between students of different sexual orientations, and the fact that too often LGBTQ issues are not discussed or these students feel left out. For example, schools often engage in heterosexual assumption, and depict homosexuality as disgusting and devious (Koppelman, 2015, p. 264).

In DesRoches and Sweet’s article, the question of effectiveness in LGBTQ anti-bullying programs are addressed. Although good intentions are behind the methodologies used to reduce discrimination of minority with these programs, our societies heteronormative standards may counteract the effects. Therefore, to create an effective program addressing LGBTQ, society must first reconstruct its foundational base. The base in this case, is societies heteronormative outlook on life. Heteronormativity believes that heterosexuality is the natural way of life, which leads to oppression and discrimination of other sexual orientations. This view on sexual orientation may create a negative environment, homophobia and heterosexism. Society must attempt to redefine its norms in order to accommodate its citizens. Additionally, the authors suggest that societies heteronormative standard may often lead to “cloaked bullying”, which may severely impact an individual’s identity (174). Specifically, in educational institutions, LGBTQ individuals may not have the same resources as everyone else, leaving them to cope with their problems privately. All in all, there are issues with LGBTQ programs which need to be reconstructed by eliminating our heteronormative outlook.

Granting great progress has been made for the rights of our Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Queer (LGBTQ) community since the 1970’s, there is still a presence of personal and institutionalized homophobia in rural settings such as Kentucky. Evidence of such homophobia was displayed in some of the public school districts, where harassment of actual and perceived gay students is rampant, and school policies fall short of protecting the students’ rights, and in most recent events where Kentucky Clerk Kim Davis refused to issue marriage license to gay couples.

Along with verbal abuse, LGBTQ youth also experience physical violence in schools across the country everyday. Back in the 1980’s and 1990’s sociologists such as Joyce Hunter thought that much of the physical abuse happening towards the LGBTQ population stemmed from the stigma and fear that came from the AIDS epidemic that was spreading rapidly among the gay community in that time. In a study as recent as 2003, 60% of LGBTQ youth had reported being assaulted physically due to their sexual orientation (Chesir-Taran, 2003) These physical actions towards the gay and lesbian youth has caused many to fear going to school. In fact, many LGBTQ students avoid school in order to escape the physical harassment. This drop in attendance has detrimental effects on the student’s academics (American Educational Research Association).

2). As sexual minority students progress throughout their K-12 careers they are exposed to negative attitudes, language, and further marginalization of their non-heterosexual identities (p. 4). Likewise, even in districts that do not explicitly prohibit sexual minority orientations in curricula, there is potential for myth and misinformation to percolate (p. 4). Further, given that an estimated 10% of the school age population will potential grow up to identify as a sexual minority individual, there is grave potential harm to these students when a negative school climate towards LGBT orientations is fostered (p.

My research process involved intellectual engagement with the use scholarly sources to add superior knowledge. As I began researching, I searched information over the broad topic of bilingual education positives; I decided to focus on a specific topic. I decided to write about how bilingual education directly affects school children.

Secondary schools are often identified as the institutions in which youth are prepared for their roles as productive and contributing citizens of society (Horn, Szalacha & Drill, 2008). What is taught within them is often reflective of larger societal norms, beliefs, and values that are reproduced throughout the generations. However, hey are also sites of homophobic harassment and violence for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) students. It is alarming that institutions identified as key to perpetuating societal norms are also perpetrators and enablers of such marginalisation toward minorities. Heteronormativity, the societal favouring of binary sex, gender and sexuality (Smith et al., 2014), is the dominant sexual discourse perpetuated

Society is currently arguing over how to address the issue of violence against homosexuals. Many educators and activists suggest that the educational systems nationwide address the issues of sexual orientation in classrooms to combat stereotypes and myths that lead to violence against homosexuals. Within this debate, there is controversy about when to deploy educational stratagems regarding sexual orientation. In order to productively dispel stereotypes, it is necessary that queer issues be

Schools that discriminate against transgender individuals do not care how they mistreat them. This is a huge problem in the world because students that establish different genders are forced to use restricted restrooms and alternate facilities. Parents and attorneys consider that discrimination. A high school in Chicago has 30 days to handle a situation involving a transgender student who classifies themselves as girls, and wants to shower and get ready in the girls’ locker rooms. “Thad Ballard elected to keep transgender students from using the facilities that match their identities, and he want other students to respect other people’s sexual orientations” (Bosman & Rich, 2015 p. 2).

For the past thirty years in the State of California, bilingual education has been undertaken by all the public schools of the state. Under such system, children of non-American ethnic have had a special treatment in their early academic career. Children of minority groups have been thought various subjects in their native tongues. Such subjects are Math, History and some Science classes. The bilingual program presented the student a scholastic curriculum that simultaneously instructed students all the required classes while teaching them the English language. For such method, bilingual teachers were the focal point for the success of individual students of any class level.

Education is an important factor in life in order to thrive, but LGBT students face harassment in school due to their identity. According to a Human Rights report conducted in 2001, two million American students in

Traditionally, school is known for providing a safe space for all students, no what their gender is. However, due to the increasing diversity in genders that is changing so fast that it made difficult for everyone to keep up with them. 24% of students had faced bullying in the school at least once (Toomey, McGuire & Russell, 2012) The problem seem to be targeted toward the poor approach of the school to establish a policies that protects the students who fall into LGBTQ* categoties. It was discovered that to require for the school’s policy to protect LGBTQ* students to be