During Advisory this morning in light of National Coming Out Day, we discussed an article that ran in the Chicago Tribune a few days ago, entitled City leaders to recommend approval of gay high school. The main topic covered is the "approval of the School for Social Justice Pride Campus, designed as the city's first school for gay, lesbian and transgender teenagers". After reading this article that attributed the cause of the idea for this high school to be rooted in "studies showing that gay high school students are at greater risk of dropping out because of stigma and fear of violence," I thought of our new unit, Dreams and Realities. The proposed "Social Justice High School at Pride Campus" is idealist in the sense that it would solve the everyday problems of harassment that the students face in their typical high schools. Although the school may have a safer environment among the students enrolled in the school, it may be come a target of violence from outside sources such as the students that were previously targeting these students in school before. The idea for the school is also pragmatic in the sense that something needs to be done for these students that are suffering violence in their typical schools to bring the shocking statistics down. The article also stated that "some gay rights advocates said the school would segregate these students and that the district should work to foster acceptance." The "dream" of this school for gay, lesbian and transgender teenagers in Chicago could become a "reality" for them on "Oct. 22 when the Board of Education votes".
Interview with proposed principle for the new high school
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
Wow, this is really interesting. When we discussed this in class, someone brought up the question of "Is this considered segregation?" I believe that this is not segregation because the students are choosing to go to this school. I would consider it segregation if they were being forced to go there.
Also, one thing I have to ask is that what does this show about our tolerance towards the gay, lesbian, and bisexual community? By making a separate school for them show that we cannot tolerate them? I think that by creating this school it does not give other students the chance to learn tolerance.
Very interesting post Rachel! I think this is a very controversial topic. In the light of pragmatic vs. realistic thinking I believe there are both outlooks in the idea that is proposed in this article. There is much gray area as we discussed in class in the debate of whether this is segregation or separation. I've always had a negative conotation and when I looked up the definition I dont think this situation is segregation. The students have a choice to go to the school and enroll for it. But there is a sense of failure in the fact that these students are in such a bad atmosphere that a safer was has to be made. Is this really helping the gay students?
I do not think this should be classified as segregation either, although I do see how someone could see it that way. The idea is very innovative in a sense of context, but really its just going back to the idea of segregation of black and white schools. The main difference is that students have a choice, which makes them completely different at the same time. But I think the school could have unintended consequences. If students do not grow up and do not become comfortable with gay students around, there is a very real possibility that later in their lives such intolerances will prevail in their lives. The Chicago public school system should seriously think about future consequences before creating this school
Post a Comment