Re 4: Curriculum

From: C123S105L@aol.com
Date: Fri Sep 17 1999 - 15:49:24 EDT


Thanks. I hope that I do not get into a great deal of trouble here for
what Iam going to say as a preliminary idea which will require more study and
time. But it seems to me that although a great deal of benefit has been
achieved with title IX and with all the major efforts of individuals and
organizations that are attempting to end gender biases and racial and
cultural exclusion these efforts still fall short in achieving one of the
most pressing issues concerning education and that is that as long as we
can't even get one School District or one State to make a significant change in
forcing more gender equitable educational curriculums, we will achieve very
little.

Education is one of the most significant aspects of modern culture and yet
our educational system continues to be saturated, from beginning to end, with
the same old prejudiced ideas that have prevented women from being recognized in
equal terms as men. More than ever girls are being cheated of the rights that
boys take for granted and here we are, starting a new effort to bring to the
attention of one teacher the fact that the curriculum in history and SS is too
biased and that the message of this brand new 85 dollar textbook is wrong when
it prints one picture of Pocahontas and gives her the same attention (six lines)
that it gives Susan. B. Anthony. And to achieve this we spoke to the
Superintendent who referred us to the Curriculum Director who did not get
anywhere with the male teacher who now is setting up a meeting with the Director
of SS within the school and here we are with a thousand meetings just so that we
can have an understanding with this teacher that our daughter be allowed to
include women in the history that he will be teaching.... And here we are as
parents of a girl having to go through all of this just so that she can get a
re-emphasis of a positive female role model which reminds us of the fact that if
we were the parents of a boy we would NOT have to go through this ordeal.

And not one should loose sight of the fact that girls are being CHEATED over and
over by society and the educational system that culture supports. That they are
being openly robbed of their self esteem; their sense of worthiness and of their
womanhood. And in the long run you can have Title IX and many good efforts to
bring educational equity but the fight is not being waged in the right front
when we can't demand a change in school curriculums as the foremost crucial
issue in our list to bring educational equity and put it where it will count.

I don't know what will happen in the next meeting but Iam more prepared than
ever to take this issue of educational discrimination to the end. Iam angry that
a teacher would resist the idea of including women in a 7th grade curriculum
because this shows the total lack of respect for female students. It shows
contempt and disregard for girls and that is not what we are paying teachers to
teach our daughters.

Lesemann
C123S105L@aol.com



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