(no subject)

[curgoth]

I'm worried. I'm starting to have respect for some of my government. I hadn't realised how many Catholics there were in the upper echelons of Canadian politics.
Does this seem like a bad idea do anyone else?

Comments

[thekat03.livejournal.com]

on one hand, it makes a lot of sense
high school is a very brutal place, where anyone who is too "different" gets teased and picked on constantly
being able to get a good education w/out having to worry about hiding differences could be really beneficial
i've known people who moved their kids to a different school because they were black and there weren't any other black kids in the school they were in
they wanted their kids to not have the stigma of being the only black kids

however, behaviors learned in high school can be awfully hard to erase later
how does a kid learn tolerance to something that's not there?
if all he or she knows is the "weird" kids go to that "weird" school, how does he or she learn that they are just as worth meeting and getting to know as anyone else?
then there's the flipside: how do the "weird" kids learn to deal w/ discrimination when they get sheltered by the "weird" school?
they cant hide in their little communities forever
will they learn to face the real world and all of its injustices?

i can see the benefits of having a separate school for [whatever quirk or difference], but do they outweigh the possible consequences and drawbacks?
its not a solution, but a temporary fix, and when that fix is gone, the basic problems will still be there

[eternaleponine.livejournal.com]

how does a kid learn tolerance to something that's not there?

We are talking 100 kids from a city of hundreds of thousands. A tiny fraction. Not every single gay kid is going to disappear from public schools. The kids that are going to this school are the ones who are endangered by their present school situation. We're not talking about being called names or bumped into in the halls. We're talking full physical and verbal assault. We're talking scarred for life. We're talking suicide risk.

Kids like me... I'm a gay kid who went to public school... would still be there. We would still participate in our Gay-Straight Alliances and work for acceptance, and put up with the shit. We would show the others that we are not freaks, perverts, whatever. But kids like me can, to an extent, fly under the radar when necessary. Some kids can't. Some kids will drop out for fear of their lives or their sanity. Harvey Milk keeps them in the system, gets them educated so they have the chance to grow up and become productive members of society who can then fight for GLBT acceptance.

Some of these kids are getting no support anywhere else in their lives. Should they be under attack 24/7 just so we can teach other kids a lesson? No. Absolutely not.

So yes, let them go to school and be sheltered for 8 hours out of the day. They'll have to deal with the rest of the world and all of the shit that it throws at them for the other 16. Don't you think they should get a break for 1/3 of their day for 4 years out of their entire lives, so they can learn something and get ahead?

[thekat03.livejournal.com]

that makes a lot of sense
i suppose i didnt realize how few or many people would attend such a school until i read your posts