I certainly follow and agree with the needs to support equity for
students who are treated with bias for any reason.
I am disturbed by the fact that parents are responsible for equity
problems in the education setting; when in fact most education settings
refuse to deal with issues of equity..particularly those of sexual or
emotional equity.
I understand that Title IX seeks to protect equal rights
and this is great!
However, I'm writing to point out a situation in which I taught
where I think it was terribly needed for the students (and so did the
students) that there were separate classes offered for male and females
to discuss issues of sexuality and relationships.
These particular students were in a school for drops outs; many were young
unmarried parents, and most had very little if any social skills
educational involving emotional development, equal rights in relationships
etc.
I taught a class there focusing on these issues and managing
conflicts with them. Many of the students, particularly the boys,
could not handle the sexually mixed population of the group. They were to
embarrassed to discuss their feelings, had difficulty to find "the words"
they needed, and were basically illiterate about communicating information
concerning these vital issues.
If I have it right, these separate classes can be legally offered as long
as they are open to the opposite sex. Is this correct?
Of course, in order to reduce or eventually eliminate this situation noted
above, pro-active, preventive education is desperately needed, across the
grades, beginning with a basic "Dignity Education" Curriculum...which
later includes sex education. Otherwise, this dysfunctional cycle
continues.
Jean-Marie DeSpain, M.S.
Educational Ideals
P.O.Box 1143
Veneta, OR.
97487
ph no. 541-935-7815
e-mail jdespain@efn.org