“Rick” summer reading

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A book about identity is not pushing a political agenda. Just an FYI - all books are vetted and must be approved before being assigned to children. This is not one person out there going rogue.

Was the slide show approved also?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you look at the assignments/slides the school has with this book, there is a whole glossary of terms. How is my prepubescent little boy supposed to discern whether he is asexual (absent sexual feelings) or just a prepubescent child who is not developmentally at the point to feel those feelings yet? I am finding this to be unnecessarily confusing.

Agree. Again, not all kids develop at the same rate.

Also, none of this is necessary for the school to be discussing with our 11 year olds.

Because you want to free to tell them at home that cis-het is the only acceptable way, and don’t want them to ever get a different message.

Well that's not true in our household. We are accepting and I am politically liberal, FYI. I just think a lot of what a child learns should be up to the parents to teach, not the school. I have had my kids come home telling me things from "Health" that I absolutely DO NOT agree with, regarding relationships and other things that are frankly none of the school's business to be teaching them. One teacher told my 5th grader a story about how she met and married her DH and I was like, OMG, don't ever do that, there are SO many red flags here!! Why would a teacher be informing MY child about how to date and marry? So ridiculous.

Telling a story is hardly telling a student HOW to date and marry. You might be politically liberal, but you are living your actual life as super conservative person.

Yeah, no. When a teacher tells a story, the kids listen and think it's a learning experience. Teachers are role models. PSA: Please don't teach your kids to marry the guy who cuts you off from your family and starts pointing out all of your best friend's flaws so that you dump your best friend and marry the only person left in your life.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I and many other parents will not budge from the position that it is not the role of public schools to discuss sexuality with my kids. That is a parent’s job. Full stop. End.

As a separate issue, this creates risk. In high school I had a teacher discuss dating and relations with me, basically he was interested. Thank god my parents got involved. He dated a barely out of high school friend of mine later.

So we need to remove health classes from middle school, too?

There is a difference between discussing things in Health class (which families can opt out of) and forcing kids to read and identify their sexuality for English class.

Where do you see that they are forcing kids to identify their sexuality?

Slide 13: “After creating your identity chart and responding to the reflection questions about gender identity, please choose one of the following questions to discuss…”

Here is the entire prompt. it doesn't ask the student to share anything with the school, and it doesn't ask the kid to identify themselves. it also doesn't even mention sexuality.

"After creating your identity chart and responding to the reflection question about gender identity, please choose one of the following questions to discuss with a friend or family member about gender identity.

What aspects of people’s identities might stay the same for their whole lives? What aspects might change?

What aspects of people’s identities might always feel very central to who they are? What aspects might be less important in different situations?

What aspects of people’s identities might be labels that others put on them? "

Those are really good prompt questions that I agree are not inherently about gender or sexuality. Lots of room here for kids to answer at their own level, whatever that may be.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you look at the assignments/slides the school has with this book, there is a whole glossary of terms. How is my prepubescent little boy supposed to discern whether he is asexual (absent sexual feelings) or just a prepubescent child who is not developmentally at the point to feel those feelings yet? I am finding this to be unnecessarily confusing.

Agree. Again, not all kids develop at the same rate.

Also, none of this is necessary for the school to be discussing with our 11 year olds.

Because you want to free to tell them at home that cis-het is the only acceptable way, and don’t want them to ever get a different message.

No. Why would you assume that? I don’t care if my kid is gay or straight. But I don’t want the school teaching my pre-pubescent kid about these topics.

What are you afraid will happen if they do? You are clearly worried about something. If you don’t want to tell us what that is here, on an anonymous board where no one knows who you are, perhaps that’s a sign you should examine your own motivations here.

I know what I'm afraid of. I'm afraid that they will be messed up by being exposed to things before they're ready. I don't care if they're gay or straight. I teach my kids sexuality is like a sliding scale and some people are all the way on one side and some are all the way on the other, but most people are clustered around the middle and move back and forth throughout their lives but sort of settle for one or the other label and stick with it. I teach them that having a gay dream doesn't mean you're gay, and wanting to be straight doesn't make someone straight. FYI. There is room in our household for them to be whoever they are when they figure it out.

That's my job, not the school's job.

Uh, you've already exposed your kids to sexuality. The school isnt going to do anything to "mess that up" by showing kids being different is okay and teaching kids acceptance. The hysterics are ridiculous.

I know my kids better than you or the school does. I know what they are ready to hear. I know what they can actually understand.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you look at the assignments/slides the school has with this book, there is a whole glossary of terms. How is my prepubescent little boy supposed to discern whether he is asexual (absent sexual feelings) or just a prepubescent child who is not developmentally at the point to feel those feelings yet? I am finding this to be unnecessarily confusing.

Agree. Again, not all kids develop at the same rate.

Also, none of this is necessary for the school to be discussing with our 11 year olds.

Because you want to free to tell them at home that cis-het is the only acceptable way, and don’t want them to ever get a different message.

Well that's not true in our household. We are accepting and I am politically liberal, FYI. I just think a lot of what a child learns should be up to the parents to teach, not the school. I have had my kids come home telling me things from "Health" that I absolutely DO NOT agree with, regarding relationships and other things that are frankly none of the school's business to be teaching them. One teacher told my 5th grader a story about how she met and married her DH and I was like, OMG, don't ever do that, there are SO many red flags here!! Why would a teacher be informing MY child about how to date and marry? So ridiculous.

Telling a story is hardly telling a student HOW to date and marry. You might be politically liberal, but you are living your actual life as super conservative person.

Yeah, no. When a teacher tells a story, the kids listen and think it's a learning experience. Teachers are role models. PSA: Please don't teach your kids to marry the guy who cuts you off from your family and starts pointing out all of your best friend's flaws so that you dump your best friend and marry the only person left in your life.

Wow, you're truly underestimating kids then. Not one kid I know thinks a story is a how-to lesson. They understand someone else telling them about their life experience. If a teacher tells my student that they went to Europe for the summer, my kid doesnt come home and say "Ms./Mr. said we have to go to Europe this summer." Just admit to yourself that you're not as liberal as you think you are.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you look at the assignments/slides the school has with this book, there is a whole glossary of terms. How is my prepubescent little boy supposed to discern whether he is asexual (absent sexual feelings) or just a prepubescent child who is not developmentally at the point to feel those feelings yet? I am finding this to be unnecessarily confusing.

Agree. Again, not all kids develop at the same rate.

Also, none of this is necessary for the school to be discussing with our 11 year olds.

Because you want to free to tell them at home that cis-het is the only acceptable way, and don’t want them to ever get a different message.

No. Why would you assume that? I don’t care if my kid is gay or straight. But I don’t want the school teaching my pre-pubescent kid about these topics.

What are you afraid will happen if they do? You are clearly worried about something. If you don’t want to tell us what that is here, on an anonymous board where no one knows who you are, perhaps that’s a sign you should examine your own motivations here.

I know what I'm afraid of. I'm afraid that they will be messed up by being exposed to things before they're ready. I don't care if they're gay or straight. I teach my kids sexuality is like a sliding scale and some people are all the way on one side and some are all the way on the other, but most people are clustered around the middle and move back and forth throughout their lives but sort of settle for one or the other label and stick with it. I teach them that having a gay dream doesn't mean you're gay, and wanting to be straight doesn't make someone straight. FYI. There is room in our household for them to be whoever they are when they figure it out.

That's my job, not the school's job.

Uh, you've already exposed your kids to sexuality. The school isnt going to do anything to "mess that up" by showing kids being different is okay and teaching kids acceptance. The hysterics are ridiculous.

I know my kids better than you or the school does. I know what they are ready to hear. I know what they can actually understand.

You already told them WAY more than they'd ever learn in a classroom about this topic, so you obviously have nothing to worry about. But continue clutching your pearls. You might fit in better in Loudon County.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I and many other parents will not budge from the position that it is not the role of public schools to discuss sexuality with my kids. That is a parent’s job. Full stop. End.

As a separate issue, this creates risk. In high school I had a teacher discuss dating and relations with me, basically he was interested. Thank god my parents got involved. He dated a barely out of high school friend of mine later.

So we need to remove health classes from middle school, too?

There is a difference between discussing things in Health class (which families can opt out of) and forcing kids to read and identify their sexuality for English class.

Where do you see that they are forcing kids to identify their sexuality?

Slide 13: “After creating your identity chart and responding to the reflection questions about gender identity, please choose one of the following questions to discuss…”

Here is the entire prompt. it doesn't ask the student to share anything with the school, and it doesn't ask the kid to identify themselves. it also doesn't even mention sexuality.

"After creating your identity chart and responding to the reflection question about gender identity, please choose one of the following questions to discuss with a friend or family member about gender identity.

What aspects of people’s identities might stay the same for their whole lives? What aspects might change?

What aspects of people’s identities might always feel very central to who they are? What aspects might be less important in different situations?

What aspects of people’s identities might be labels that others put on them? "

Are you kidding me??? I can't imagine asking an 11 year old to do a thing like that IN SCHOOL. How ridiculous.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I and many other parents will not budge from the position that it is not the role of public schools to discuss sexuality with my kids. That is a parent’s job. Full stop. End.

As a separate issue, this creates risk. In high school I had a teacher discuss dating and relations with me, basically he was interested. Thank god my parents got involved. He dated a barely out of high school friend of mine later.

So we need to remove health classes from middle school, too?

There is a difference between discussing things in Health class (which families can opt out of) and forcing kids to read and identify their sexuality for English class.

Where do you see that they are forcing kids to identify their sexuality?

Slide 13: “After creating your identity chart and responding to the reflection questions about gender identity, please choose one of the following questions to discuss…”

Here is the entire prompt. it doesn't ask the student to share anything with the school, and it doesn't ask the kid to identify themselves. it also doesn't even mention sexuality.

"After creating your identity chart and responding to the reflection question about gender identity, please choose one of the following questions to discuss with a friend or family member about gender identity.

What aspects of people’s identities might stay the same for their whole lives? What aspects might change?

What aspects of people’s identities might always feel very central to who they are? What aspects might be less important in different situations?

What aspects of people’s identities might be labels that others put on them? "

Are you kidding me??? I can't imagine asking an 11 year old to do a thing like that IN SCHOOL. How ridiculous.

PP again -- and this is not just reading the book so there is some background noise about options in life.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I and many other parents will not budge from the position that it is not the role of public schools to discuss sexuality with my kids. That is a parent’s job. Full stop. End.

As a separate issue, this creates risk. In high school I had a teacher discuss dating and relations with me, basically he was interested. Thank god my parents got involved. He dated a barely out of high school friend of mine later.

So we need to remove health classes from middle school, too?

There is a difference between discussing things in Health class (which families can opt out of) and forcing kids to read and identify their sexuality for English class.

Where do you see that they are forcing kids to identify their sexuality?

Slide 13: “After creating your identity chart and responding to the reflection questions about gender identity, please choose one of the following questions to discuss…”

Here is the entire prompt. it doesn't ask the student to share anything with the school, and it doesn't ask the kid to identify themselves. it also doesn't even mention sexuality.

"After creating your identity chart and responding to the reflection question about gender identity, please choose one of the following questions to discuss with a friend or family member about gender identity.

What aspects of people’s identities might stay the same for their whole lives? What aspects might change?

What aspects of people’s identities might always feel very central to who they are? What aspects might be less important in different situations?

What aspects of people’s identities might be labels that others put on them? "

Are you kidding me??? I can't imagine asking an 11 year old to do a thing like that IN SCHOOL. How ridiculous.

It's a summer reading assignment that they're asking kids to do AT HOME with their parents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I and many other parents will not budge from the position that it is not the role of public schools to discuss sexuality with my kids. That is a parent’s job. Full stop. End.

As a separate issue, this creates risk. In high school I had a teacher discuss dating and relations with me, basically he was interested. Thank god my parents got involved. He dated a barely out of high school friend of mine later.

So we need to remove health classes from middle school, too?

There is a difference between discussing things in Health class (which families can opt out of) and forcing kids to read and identify their sexuality for English class.

Where do you see that they are forcing kids to identify their sexuality?

Slide 13: “After creating your identity chart and responding to the reflection questions about gender identity, please choose one of the following questions to discuss…”

Here is the entire prompt. it doesn't ask the student to share anything with the school, and it doesn't ask the kid to identify themselves. it also doesn't even mention sexuality.

"After creating your identity chart and responding to the reflection question about gender identity, please choose one of the following questions to discuss with a friend or family member about gender identity.

What aspects of people’s identities might stay the same for their whole lives? What aspects might change?

What aspects of people’s identities might always feel very central to who they are? What aspects might be less important in different situations?

What aspects of people’s identities might be labels that others put on them? "

Are you kidding me??? I can't imagine asking an 11 year old to do a thing like that IN SCHOOL. How ridiculous.

Dude, how can you be so outraged when you don’t even know what the chart or questions say?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you look at the assignments/slides the school has with this book, there is a whole glossary of terms. How is my prepubescent little boy supposed to discern whether he is asexual (absent sexual feelings) or just a prepubescent child who is not developmentally at the point to feel those feelings yet? I am finding this to be unnecessarily confusing.

Agree. Again, not all kids develop at the same rate.

Also, none of this is necessary for the school to be discussing with our 11 year olds.

Because you want to free to tell them at home that cis-het is the only acceptable way, and don’t want them to ever get a different message.

Well that's not true in our household. We are accepting and I am politically liberal, FYI. I just think a lot of what a child learns should be up to the parents to teach, not the school. I have had my kids come home telling me things from "Health" that I absolutely DO NOT agree with, regarding relationships and other things that are frankly none of the school's business to be teaching them. One teacher told my 5th grader a story about how she met and married her DH and I was like, OMG, don't ever do that, there are SO many red flags here!! Why would a teacher be informing MY child about how to date and marry? So ridiculous.

Telling a story is hardly telling a student HOW to date and marry. You might be politically liberal, but you are living your actual life as super conservative person.

Yeah, no. When a teacher tells a story, the kids listen and think it's a learning experience. Teachers are role models. PSA: Please don't teach your kids to marry the guy who cuts you off from your family and starts pointing out all of your best friend's flaws so that you dump your best friend and marry the only person left in your life.

Wow, you're truly underestimating kids then. Not one kid I know thinks a story is a how-to lesson. They understand someone else telling them about their life experience. If a teacher tells my student that they went to Europe for the summer, my kid doesnt come home and say "Ms./Mr. said we have to go to Europe this summer." Just admit to yourself that you're not as liberal as you think you are.

You're being ridiculous. If a teacher talks about their relationship during a class about relationships, it's more than just making conversation -- a conversation which would be totally inapropriate anywhere outside of a classroom BTW. This is a teacher teaching children in a classroom setting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I and many other parents will not budge from the position that it is not the role of public schools to discuss sexuality with my kids. That is a parent’s job. Full stop. End.

As a separate issue, this creates risk. In high school I had a teacher discuss dating and relations with me, basically he was interested. Thank god my parents got involved. He dated a barely out of high school friend of mine later.

So we need to remove health classes from middle school, too?

There is a difference between discussing things in Health class (which families can opt out of) and forcing kids to read and identify their sexuality for English class.

Where do you see that they are forcing kids to identify their sexuality?

Slide 13: “After creating your identity chart and responding to the reflection questions about gender identity, please choose one of the following questions to discuss…”

Here is the entire prompt. it doesn't ask the student to share anything with the school, and it doesn't ask the kid to identify themselves. it also doesn't even mention sexuality.

"After creating your identity chart and responding to the reflection question about gender identity, please choose one of the following questions to discuss with a friend or family member about gender identity.

What aspects of people’s identities might stay the same for their whole lives? What aspects might change?

What aspects of people’s identities might always feel very central to who they are? What aspects might be less important in different situations?

What aspects of people’s identities might be labels that others put on them? "

Are you kidding me??? I can't imagine asking an 11 year old to do a thing like that IN SCHOOL. How ridiculous.

It's a summer reading assignment that they're asking kids to do AT HOME with their parents.

+1. The kids are going to be exposed to this stuff in some form no matter what. By doing it as summer reading, it gives parents a great opportunity to read what their kids are reading and engage with them on the content so that parents can also give their views and perspectives.

[Anonymous]

This is so ridiculous. This is why the right is laughing hard at the left.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you look at the assignments/slides the school has with this book, there is a whole glossary of terms. How is my prepubescent little boy supposed to discern whether he is asexual (absent sexual feelings) or just a prepubescent child who is not developmentally at the point to feel those feelings yet? I am finding this to be unnecessarily confusing.

Agree. Again, not all kids develop at the same rate.

Also, none of this is necessary for the school to be discussing with our 11 year olds.

Because you want to free to tell them at home that cis-het is the only acceptable way, and don’t want them to ever get a different message.

Well that's not true in our household. We are accepting and I am politically liberal, FYI. I just think a lot of what a child learns should be up to the parents to teach, not the school. I have had my kids come home telling me things from "Health" that I absolutely DO NOT agree with, regarding relationships and other things that are frankly none of the school's business to be teaching them. One teacher told my 5th grader a story about how she met and married her DH and I was like, OMG, don't ever do that, there are SO many red flags here!! Why would a teacher be informing MY child about how to date and marry? So ridiculous.

Telling a story is hardly telling a student HOW to date and marry. You might be politically liberal, but you are living your actual life as super conservative person.

Yeah, no. When a teacher tells a story, the kids listen and think it's a learning experience. Teachers are role models. PSA: Please don't teach your kids to marry the guy who cuts you off from your family and starts pointing out all of your best friend's flaws so that you dump your best friend and marry the only person left in your life.

Wow, you're truly underestimating kids then. Not one kid I know thinks a story is a how-to lesson. They understand someone else telling them about their life experience. If a teacher tells my student that they went to Europe for the summer, my kid doesnt come home and say "Ms./Mr. said we have to go to Europe this summer." Just admit to yourself that you're not as liberal as you think you are.

You're being ridiculous. If a teacher talks about their relationship during a class about relationships, it's more than just making conversation -- a conversation which would be totally inapropriate anywhere outside of a classroom BTW. This is a teacher teaching children in a classroom setting.

Not the pp, but I can see the only person being ridiculous here is you. The fact you can't see that is the actual problem here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you look at the assignments/slides the school has with this book, there is a whole glossary of terms. How is my prepubescent little boy supposed to discern whether he is asexual (absent sexual feelings) or just a prepubescent child who is not developmentally at the point to feel those feelings yet? I am finding this to be unnecessarily confusing.

Agree. Again, not all kids develop at the same rate.

Also, none of this is necessary for the school to be discussing with our 11 year olds.

Because you want to free to tell them at home that cis-het is the only acceptable way, and don’t want them to ever get a different message.

No. Why would you assume that? I don’t care if my kid is gay or straight. But I don’t want the school teaching my pre-pubescent kid about these topics.

What are you afraid will happen if they do? You are clearly worried about something. If you don’t want to tell us what that is here, on an anonymous board where no one knows who you are, perhaps that’s a sign you should examine your own motivations here.

I know what I'm afraid of. I'm afraid that they will be messed up by being exposed to things before they're ready. I don't care if they're gay or straight. I teach my kids sexuality is like a sliding scale and some people are all the way on one side and some are all the way on the other, but most people are clustered around the middle and move back and forth throughout their lives but sort of settle for one or the other label and stick with it. I teach them that having a gay dream doesn't mean you're gay, and wanting to be straight doesn't make someone straight. FYI. There is room in our household for them to be whoever they are when they figure it out.

That's my job, not the school's job.

Uh, you've already exposed your kids to sexuality. The school isnt going to do anything to "mess that up" by showing kids being different is okay and teaching kids acceptance. The hysterics are ridiculous.

I know my kids better than you or the school does. I know what they are ready to hear. I know what they can actually understand.

You already told them WAY more than they'd ever learn in a classroom about this topic, so you obviously have nothing to worry about. But continue clutching your pearls. You might fit in better in Loudon County.

You are not helping your side by mocking others. There is a growing backlash against this kind of subject matter in MCPS and you are only making it stronger.