Reply to “Rick” summer reading

Forum Index » Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS)

Reply to "“Rick” summer reading "

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]My son is 9. He thinks kissing is disgusting. He has no feelings of attraction to girls or boys. He doesn’t even know what that means. Should someone be telling him he might want to identify as asexual? Does it become appropriate to question his identity at age 11 or 13 or 15 or 17? It is perfectly normal to not be interested in either sex at any of these ages. Do you understand why it’s strange to introduce these topics to a middle school kid and then ask them how they identify? I understand why so many kids are truly confused about their identity. Schools keep reinforcing the idea that you should question your identity and have a label. [/quote]

a) It’s for MS not Elementary.  The greater majority of kids in MS are older than 9. B) It is totally fine for kids not to have any attraction towards either sex at any of the ages you mentioned just as it’s perfectly fine for kids to have attraction at any of these ages.  Should we ignore everything that likely will happen for most people at some point in their life, just because your child hasn’t experienced or thought about it yet?

Your kid likely hasn’t thought of or experienced bombs dropping around them or famine.  But kids in the world have.  Does that mean we can’t talk about these things during Social Studies?  Just because the topic is sexuality doesn’t make it any more taboo or kids incapable of absorbing the content and reflecting.[/quote]

You are missing the point. I have taught my kids about gays, lesbians, and even transgender in age appropriate ways. We had this discussion after he saw rainbow flags during pride month. I explained that he knew people that identified this way and they were no different than him. There is a difference between knowing what the words mean and teaching acceptance vs. promoting reading about kids who are questioning their identity at very young ages and wondering if they are normal. That is not the job of a school. [/quote]

Try again. The school is having them read to open their minds.

You are not a parent. [/quote]

How am I not a parent? I have two kids, ages 9 and 7, and am extremely tolerant. There is no topic off limits in our house. I will answer all questions factually and in an age appropriate manner. If a kid is actually questioning his sexual or gender identity at the age of 11, I would not object to a parent or even a teacher recommending the book to that specific individual. However, when the school suggests this is recommended reading for every 11 year old, it gives the impression that questioning your sexual identity at 11 is a normal thing kids go through. Most kids haven’t hit puberty yet which is usually although not always the precursor to sexual feelings. If these thoughts have never crossed my kids minds yet, why would I want the school to give them reading that starts that thought process. I get that schools want to teach tolerance and acceptance of people with differences. My problem is not with what they hope to achieve but how they are going about it. They are making kids more confused about their identity. We don’t have to label everything. It is creating a backlash against the people it is intended to protect. [/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics