New York Gay School: Are We Protecting or Damaging?
By Teresa Brouwer
New York City is planning to open a gay high school to ensure a safe and supportive learning environment for the gay youth.
Teenagers of all kinds deal with everyday pressures concerning drugs and alcohol, sex, family problems, fashion, and sports. Why not open a school for kids who have glasses or kids who have braces? Why not open a school for kids who are overweight or for those who are underweight? Is separating “certain” kids the answer?
Harassment should not be tolerated in any school: private or public. It doesn’t matter what the harassment is or whom it is towards; it shouldn’t be accepted in schools no matter what the issue is.
What message are we sending our kids if this school opens? Why not go back to the sixties when the blacks sat in the back of the bus or weren't allowed on the buses at all. America is supposed to be moving forward and in my opinion this kind of project makes America look like we are moving backwards.
What message are we sending to the gay community? Should they be isolated because they are “gay?” How are they supposed to learn how to deal with the real world if they are going to be isolated from it?
What about respect? How are children going to learn about respect if we are going to separate them? What effect will this have in our children’s future?
The gays will go to their private school and then what? Go out into the real world and will have to work with people other than gays and what? Will they be able to socialize and have a good working ethic with their working peers? What will happen to the kids that are heterosexual when they might work with a gay? Will they know how to deal with it if they have a problem with it?
In my opinion, a school for those who are “different” is not the answer to protect them. School isn’t the only place kids go to. What about after school? In public? The workplace?
How about teaching our youth about respect and keeping their opinions to themselves? What about instilling good morals and values in our kids? How about letting our kids form their own opinions and beliefs, but teach them class and how to act? How about teaching kids “treat others the way you want to be treated?”
Parents do teach their kids all these things, but the school board’s job is to make sure that their school is a safe environment for ALL kids and there should be a 0 tolerance for harassment no matter who you are.
About the Author:
Teresa Brouwer self-published her first book, Rainbow Wishes and Colorful Dreams: A Self-Discovery Journal for Mothers and Daughters Celebrating Life with Xlibris. She is currently writing her second book called, Teardrops on Roses: Violence Awareness and Survival Techniques for Young Women, and is researching her third book. For more information about Teresa's first book, please go to her website at www.alwaysthinkingofyou.com.
Article courtesy of www.Suite101.com.
