Safe Schools Coalition: Annotated Bibliography

gave handful examples on how political correctness as “social justice” principals affected the elementary education in Canada, and brought up “who gets to decide the best way to educate our young?” Social justice is a broad term, and it encompasses diversity, sustainability, global affairs and issues of race and class. The elementary school children have been given this information and asked to make analyzation were far beyond their capacity for understanding these subjects at their age. For example, the webpage of the Toronto District School Board, in order to promote health education, posted sex toys and vegetables to help kids explore their sexuality; the Durham Board of Education in Ontario discouraging the terms “wife” and “husband” in class in favour of the gender-neutral “spouse,” and the words “boyfriend” and “girlfriend” in favour of “partner.” The teachers of primary schools have been taught to get rid of the “old-fashion” values, and pushed by the “social justice”. In the meanwhile, children, at their unsuitable age, are threatened and brainwashed by this education. Even the worse, they might be misled for now and their

A troubling issue for schools now is how to deal with the issue of homosexuality. The struggle for gay rights often causes heated opposition, particularly on moral grounds from members of religious groups. (Essex, 2005, p. 43) Schools have an obligation to maintain a peaceful environment free of significant disruption, while supporting students' rights of free speech. Schools should ". . . create an environment that is characterized by respect for individual views and divergent forms of expression within reasonable limits. The challenge seems to involve achieving a reasonable balance between an orderly educational environment and respect for the free speech rights of students. Precisely, where do they draw the line?" (Essex, 2005, p. 44)

Ann Oakley believes that the New Right’s view of family diversity is a ‘negative reaction against the Feminists campaign for women’s equality’. Feminists believe that any type of family type can provide a child with a loving, stable environment in which it can grow.

In Canadian society, there are certain things that are expected to happen. Any type of public hatred against the LGBTQ+ community, or any other cultural, or religious group, is completely not acceptable. As well as sexual education is to be taught in the school system. Beginning September of 2015, the Ontario school system implemented an upgrade to the province’s sexual health education curriculum. The updated curriculum contains a more progressive outlook than the old curriculum, which had not been updated since 1998 Today’s society is sexually explicit, and because of this, Ontario has tapered their sexual education towards this fact. This essay will explore the differences in how the curriculum has been received, and how the sexual education

Equity and respect for others are two of the main values that are instantly presented to the audience. Wong makes it clear that they are two beliefs of hers that are not displayed frequently enough in Parliament, as if same sex couples were in a world where they were treated with a sense of egalitarianism and respect, then gay marriage would be unquestionably legalized. Improvement is also a prominent theme displayed by the author, who utilizes quotes such as ‘marriage equality is both necessary and overdue’ (Wong, 2016) and ‘gay and lesbian Australians can vote, serve in the military, represent our country on the sporting field, teach in our universities, preside as judges, staff our hospitals, and be a member of the federal cabinet. Yet we cannot marry the person we love’. (Wong, 2016) These two quotations are clear demonstrations of the author’s conviction that Australia can be undoubtedly improved with the introduction of new laws that allow citizens of all sexualities to

Until quite recently, the traditional view of family that has predominated society has been comprised of gender roles. The “ideal” family in the past has consisted of a white, middle-class, heterosexual couple with about 2.5 children. In this heteronormative nuclear family, the father is the head of the household and the breadwinner of the family, while the mother is the one who cares for the children and completes household duties. Of course, most families do not fit into this mould and those who do not fit have been repeatedly marginalized due to their differences. It is no question that race, class, sexuality, ability, and many other identity markers intersect in how forms of family may vary. As explained by the concept of intersectionality, gender must be analyzed through a lens that includes various identity markers which contribute to how an individual experiences oppression. It is through the use of intersectionality, the discussion of patriarchy, and the deconstruction of “family” that bell hooks (1990) and Michelle K. Owen (2001) paint family as a site of belonging and contestation.

In this article Michael Koziol discusses the conflict of the church when it comes to enacting legal protections for the LGBTI+ community. It particularly focuses the fact that both major political parties carry a fear of getting on the wrong side of church lobby groups and the effect that this has had the development, or lack there of, of the rights of the LGBTI+ community. He directly references times where this has been an issue for this community like the fact that the NSW Anti-Discrimination Act exempts private schools from the section on homosexuality and when this issue was brought to parliament by Alex Greenwich it had to be shelved due to the lack of support from the coalition.

The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) is a registered charity which aims to prevent and stop any form of cruelty or harm to children. 90% of their funding comes from public donations, and in 2014 they managed to reach out to 278,700 children through their school`s service. They work to prevent abuse from ever happening, protect those who are at risk and help children who have been abused to try and rebuild their lives. £600 pays for the NSPCC School`s Service to talk to 1 class of primary school children about the signs and dangers of abuse and

The responsibilities of the students are to maintain the coherence of the school community and to keep the school a safe and productive environment. It is necessary for students to follow the code of conduct supplied by the school, and must advocate anti-bullying within the school community. It is the student’s responsibility to, alongside teachers and parents, commit to create and maintain an environment that promotes learning. Students must show responsibility in achieving their full academic potential.

Today, non-traditional families dominate the scene. The “normal” family is now uncommon in our society (Shields 562). Teachers have to be cautious when assuming every child has a mommy or daddy. Social workers must no longer be surprised when their clients are actually grandparents taking care of their grandchildren. Some children may have two daddies, or some only have a mommy. The list goes on. The culprit creating these unusual families is not always divorce and can include the death of a parent, unwed mothers, or single-sex parents (Shields 562). New families are not required to be biologically related. In an article about her non-traditional family, “Why Do We Marry?” Jane Smiley points out that people with numerous marriages or partners extend the definition of family (564). She writes, family dinners consisted of “me, my boyfriend, his daughter and son by his second wife, my daughters by my second husband, and my seven-year-old son by my third husband” (563, 564). Relationships begin to resemble several broken, rerouted, and

Andrew J cherlin, in his textbook public and private family lives seventh edition, has compiled a plethora of knowledge concerning the roles weeds taken a family as well as how families have changed in the modern era. As I read through the textbook about his theories and perspectives, I found myself looking back to my own childhood I’ve lived through or seen others live through. In just eight short weeks my perspective on many things this changed on issues such as the feminist perspective, postmodern times and how it’s affected marriage, the role of education in our family lives, and declining parental control. These few among many other things that really change my thinking on marriage and family in today’s society, as well as the role that

Whether a parent in question is for or against the censorship of And Tango Makes Two, they have the best interest of their child in mind, and are encompassing what they believe to be their “parental rights” (Magnuson 12). In The Courier’s article, Bengu Tekinalp, a Drake University professor and parent fighting to keep the book on the shelves argues that the message given out with censorship is that, “it's not OK to be different, it's not OK to be unique”. Although Tekinalp is not explicitly advocating the normality of homosexuality, she is emphasizing on promoting acceptance of differences and diversity to her 3-year-old daughter, rather than preaching discrimination. However, the main concern for those adamant on censorship is that parents wish to be able to decide when it is appropriate for their children to be introduced to controversial material and content, such as homosexuality. Whether a parent believes that homosexuality is too mature of a topic, or if they simply consider any non-heterosexual relationship to be wrong due to religious beliefs, it is still in their best interests to protect their children from being what they believe to be ‘wrongfully

The other students agreed, but the body language of the interviewer implied she did not share the concern. As questions continued to come in, primarily about religion and what God would think of their actions, another trend emerged. Parenting, and with it the desires of the students to have children or not. The interviewer initially only asked the women, but one of the men interrupted to point out the sexism. The responses were mixed, not surprising for a group of young people. The questions mainly involved how or why someone would functioning outside of the heteronormative, whether the people at home posing them knew this or not. The local battle of what gender and sexuality played in people’s lives was taking place on television for people residing outside of the “liberal bubble” surrounding the

In this article Surtees, N. highlights the initial findings from a qualitative research study regarding exploring the discursive production of children’s sexuality in early childhood education. The article draws attention to instructor public lecture about and around sexuality. Drawing from heteronormative, developmentalist and biological treatment and discourses of children as asexual and innocent, this article show that such talk acts to patternize or minimize children. Teacher resistivity towards and silencing of sexuality, the functions the silences serve and the ways in which silences mark the borders of ‘normal’ and ‘abnormal’ are uncovered. The article suggests that the marking of borders jeopardizes teacher acknowledgment and solemnization of difference and diversity.

The continuation of the Safe Schools program in New South Wales was a failure due to a lack of proper civic engagement. The outcome was caused by a number of contributing factors including a lack of communication between campaigners and the public, the government’s poor representation of young Australian citizens, and the lack of cohesion between school communities. The Safe Schools program had a primary objective to create an inclusive and supportive school environment for LGBTI+ students by educating students on the issues faced by the LGBTI+ community which would then, in turn, reduce LGBTI+ related bullying, harassment, and self-harm in schools. The program was created in an effort to help same-sex attracted, and gender diverse students