(no subject)

[minervasolo]

First all gay high school

I don't know much about the american educational system, but putting aside the sheer lunacy of a seperate high school for a moment, i think htre's something they kinda failed to address: most people don't work out their sexuality until mid-to-late teens. So this school is going to lack a lot of students in the lower grades, and have transfers into the upper grades. Most parents would probably rather have their kids at a mixed sexuality school anyway ('mixed sexuality school' - there's something I never thought i'd say. mixed race, mixed religion, yes, but mixed sexuality?)

I'm not outraged, but I am annoyed. It's segregation. Pretty much synonymous with bad, unless you're tlaking about segregating mass murderers from society by sticking them in prison. I wouldn't dream of attending a school specifically for gays, bisexuals and transexuals, in the same way i wouldn't dream ofa ttending a school specicically for white students. I know, I did attend an all-girl school, which is segregation again, but it showed me the pros and cons of this kind of system. Girls work better without guys around, but guys work better with girls around. Random. The point is it's sheltered. If you get used to spending your time around one group of people, you forget how to deal with other groups. You forget that they may not want to deal with you. These students are extremely unlikely to ever encounter anything like thier school again, i.e. an all gay (I use the term loosely, encompasising everything other than straight) environment. It's not going to happen at University, it's not going to happen at work, it's not going to happen in the retirement home. Unless they want to spend hte rest of their lives working at a gay bar, they're going to be competely unprepared for mixed sexuality situations.

It's just idiotic - it won't last. it's encouraging prejudice, it's impractical, it's giving the students an inadequate method of coping with other people, and by the sounds of it at only 100 students it's not even economically viable. And the subjects they're specilising in - they're in severe danger of falling to stereotypes with emphasis on fancy cooking (the minute food tech is an 'art' you know you're looking at food that isn't created to be eaten) and the arts.

Comments

[almighty-frog.livejournal.com]

Thank you! Exactly what I thought when I saw that! Although the kids themselves who go there are going to have the shit beaten out of them out of school for being "elitist", so I don't really see how this would change anything.