tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10348701.post115289408435477461..comments2024-03-13T21:26:03.011-07:00Comments on Right on the Left Coast: Views From a Conservative Teacher: Gay "Propaganda" In The Classroom?Darrenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15730642770935985796noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10348701.post-1153580477178067212006-07-22T08:01:00.000-07:002006-07-22T08:01:00.000-07:00Perhaps, but what I've discussed is in fact the in...Perhaps, but what I've discussed is in fact the intent of the law. Have a vignette about a gay person--but don't say anything at all that might detract from that person because they're now a member of a protected class.<BR/><BR/>Open a math book and see the half-page bios on "famous math people", most of whom I'm never heard of and whose work is included solely because of their race or sex. I'll go back to my favorite example--it's like having a picture of Guion Bluford in a science book and calling him a "famous astronaut". What did he do that was so special, except take some different skin pigment into space?Darrenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15730642770935985796noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10348701.post-1153454288405855132006-07-20T20:58:00.000-07:002006-07-20T20:58:00.000-07:00Propaganda is information or misinformation dissem...Propaganda is information or misinformation disseminated specifically to support a specific doctrine; the term usually has negative connotations. Have I missed a nuance here?<BR/><BR/>The correct way to approach the issue is not to approach it at all. It doesn't matter at all that Edward II was gay, that Michelangelo probably was, and that George Washington most certainly was not. <BR/><BR/>When you point out that Guion Bluford was the first *black* astronaut, you only reinforce that black astronauts aren't "normal". Do black kids really feel better about themselves because they know who the first black astronaut was? Will gay kids feel better knowing that Edward II was gay? My guess, and it *is* only a guess, is that they won't. As a person whose ancestors were European, I get no sense of pride in knowing that Hernando De Soto was the first European to see the Mississippi River.Darrenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15730642770935985796noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10348701.post-1152922925902113772006-07-14T17:22:00.000-07:002006-07-14T17:22:00.000-07:00Wasn't there a similar effort not to many years ag...Wasn't there a similar effort not to many years ago to offer Ebonics in the classroom? I have no issue with different views of history or culture, but if it's simply to make one group feel good at the expense of another, I don't see the educational point.Ellen Khttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02845981491726296767noreply@blogger.com