Re: what constituted discrimination? -Reply -Reply

C123S105L (C123S105L@aol.com)
Thu, 19 Mar 1998 09:31:24 EST


Linda: to push the matter concerning textbook content is not only great but
absolutely necessary if we are to make any real impact on the education of
girls
and on what is really meant by ''fair'' Iam going to have the time soon to
really think
in terms of what is meant by Bias and what is meant by discrimination because
I
think its important to look very closely at the definitions of these two
terms. What
I really need its to study both from a legal point of view and since I am not
an attorney
I don't know where to start. Iam very interested in seeing how a TITLE IX
lawyer
would beging to explore and eventually be able to build a case law. What is
writen
in a textbook cannot be changed but when is writen is exclusionary and
therefore
promotes discrimination the person in charge of fomenting ideas must make the
necessary adjustments to insure that it does not led to ''actual
discrimination'' which
is what is occurring in the schools with the ''one gender'' curriculums. The
word
woman/women is still a dirty word in educational institutions and no one
should
have any doubt of that. The ''best'' teacher my daughter is ever had has NEVER
really taken one single woman and discussed her in his class as part of any of
his lessons. There have been some brief ''token'' mentioning'' here and there
but
I suspect that has been done to appease me since my husband and I are
continuing
the ''pressure''. Talking about 'how children don't have any civil rights when
we told
the principal Ingrid would not longer attend GYM class because what her
teacher
said to her her first response was" YOU HAVE TO SEND HER IS THE LAW
whether you want or not!!!!So when Ingrid begins middle school and again she
begins to study male history I want to be SOOOOO prepared because Iam going to
ask for a curriculum alternative of ''inclussion'' that gives my daughter
equal representation and I kind of 'dread'' this because I don't know what
will be coming. But I have made up my mind that my daughter is more or less
done with studying
more ''male history''...she has been doing it since Kindergarten. So I need to
be
very well prepared on many fronts. I need to be able to find some ''allies''
but so
far I have not found any in my area. At least 50 parents, mostly women, were
at the
PTA meeting where we did our presentation regarding educational equity and we
did not receive ONE SINGLE call regardin it. We gave them great hand outs
too!!
so its a rather ''lonely'' battle....
Lesemann <C123S105L@aol.com>

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