(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]

i think what is scary about a separate school for glbt kids isnt what it is now; its what it could be
at its best, which is Harvey Milk now, this school can do wonders for the kids that need it most
however, nothing is static
there is the chance that things could change; that instead of being an opt-in school for a very small percentage of kids, it becomes the "recommended" way to deal with things
other schools, with albeit good intentions, may start recommending that kids who normally would survive their current school just fine transfer even if it isnt neccessary
if this happens, which i think is very possible, there are 3 possibilities that could happen
1) those kids may get turned away because "they dont really need it"
"gee, i'm weird, but not weird enough?" d:
2) those kids are all accepted, causing the school to grow
ideally, the school will scale and be able to accommodate this influx of students, but eventually, they will need more teachers and administration to handle the added load
can they scale to a much larger school and keep up its quality and level of service?
part of what is good about Harvey Milk is it is a very small school, so the handful of people dedicated to saving this kids is enough to do it well
in the past, around 30 kids went to Harvey Milk
now, around 100 will attend
i would assume that it can handle scaling up to this level
but what about 500? 1000?
what if the demands to scale up are greater than the capabilities of Harvey Milk?
if it grows too fast, then its pretty much doomed to drop in quality
3) more schools may form
if Harvey Milk cant grow to accomodate the demand, more schools may pop up, created by people who's intentions may be good, but the implementation might not be up to par with Harvey Milk today
also, with all this publicity, other people are bound to get the idea that other cities need something like this
Los Angeles, Chicago, and other comparably large cities may start to see local glbt schools
sure, at first, they may (ideally once again) start off like Harvey Milk, a small school designed to service the needs of the 1.something percent of the glbt kids that need a safe school
but with more schools, the possibility of corruption, of getting swamped, of becoming "the place to send the queer kids," the victims, etc is greatly magnified

its this potential that is scary
thats not to say that because a special school for glbt kids should be stomped out because of its potential
that would be like stomping out nuclear technology when it was first discovered because of what terrible potential it had, dispite the potential benefits
i dont know if it could be done, and even if it could, i dont think it should
but the risks, the potential for trouble, should be known and recognized
thats the only way that there's a chance to avoid them

[eternaleponine.livejournal.com]

::nods:: In that I fully agree with you. There is a potential for trouble. However, I do have faith in the GLBT community who is providing these services to see these potential problems and do their best to avoid them.

I wouldn't say that a smaller-scale school of this type in other large cities (LA in particular) would be amiss, as long as it was implemented properly (as I feel Harvey Milk is doing).

I also have some faith in society... if you can call it faith... that they won't allow these schools to become the norm. Sure, they may not want queer kids in their schools... but they would probably rather have that than these schools being allowed to exist so those Perverted Homosexuals can Convert the Youth of America... or whatever.

I think the biggest problem here isn't with the school at all, but with the reporting that is being done about it. People who are going on about segregation and the like haven't gotten all of the facts, and that's the fault of the reporters, I think. But c'est la vie, I suppose. If we could count oon the media to present things accurately, I don't think the American government would be as messed up as it is... but that's a whole other rant that I won't be getting into. :)

[kalivor.livejournal.com]

*nods*

Another thing that worries me is the way in which politicians and policy makers think. It's very possible that they'll say "Oh good! The problem's being dealt with by Harvey Milk, so let's not waste our time doing anything else." Harvey Milk is a big sign that a lot of fixing needs to be done, but most politicians won't care about that, they just want something to point at that makes it look like the problem's being addressed.

Outside of New York, I worry that politicians that see a similar problem in their own communities will say "Well, why don't we just build a school like Harvey Milk in New York?", and find the worst possible way to implement it.

These things are made much more likely by the media exposure Harvey Milk is currently receiving. I know they didn't ask for it, but it's done.