Yesterday I posted [here] (https://www.ovarit.com/o/GenderCritical/38722/what-s-going-on-in-us-public-schools-4-gender-inclusive-biology-lessons-or-lack) in o/Gender Critical about Gender Inclusive Biology, a group of science educators with a mission to make science instruction more inclusive to support gender diverse students. I first learned about this group when reading a letter to the editor in the National Science Teacher Association’s (NSTA) publication The Science Teacher. The pdf I have linked to my Wordpress [here] (https://notsry.files.wordpress.com/2021/08/tst_march20_p22-25commentary-1.pdf) is the original article to which the letter to the editor references. I will post the letter to the editor tomorrow.
This article is written by a trans-widow who also teaches high school science. She has anointed herself the local expert on trans-inclusion at her school site and was kind enough to submit her experience and perspective to a national publication. For those of you who don’t know, the NSTA is a big deal for science teachers in the United States and is well respected for providing high quality support, resources and researched-based materials and publications for teachers. This particular issue of The Science Teacher was the debut issue, or close to it, of the new editor, and it opened with a focus on social justice. The previous editor was also very vocal about political issues, but his main focus was climate change and supporting teachers’ interests.
This article really is something special. Get out your bingo cards because it plays all of our favorite hits. Mid-life transition, financial burdens, conflation of intersex and trans, BE KIND, suicide statistics, neopronouns, this never happens… It’s long but worth the read.
For the sake on conversation and one thing that really puts me on edge as a science teacher, I’ll include this quote:
When I talk to people like my husband, he brushes it off with, “No one is making you teach this stuff.” This is true, for now, but I think we all see what’s coming. If the language of law is played around with enough, soon not only what you say will be policed but also what you don’t say will be policed. Say the mantra! Silence is violence, after all, and the updated definition of violence includes injury to feelings. Erasure now means not affirming delusion. This is at odds with science instruction.
If it were a real, innate thing it would exist without teaching it. This is basically admitting it's just like a religion that needs to actively be kept alive
They do tell on themselves, don't they?
Clap for Tinkerbell children.