Curious your thoughts on teaching gender at a 2nd grade level. 😬🤷🏻♀️ Personally, not okay with this. It’s hitting NJ in the fall of 2022, California typically follows then WA/OR.
Teaching kids to be nice is one thing but this really is inappropriate (I feel) for such a young impressionable age.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/new-jersey-second-graders-learn-gender-identity-alarming-parents?fbclid=IwAR0LgpzzQ8Ozbmxzc1fCHHr35K0xvFT7B4O1zqUes3bFcRHIB6S-1qrEfpk
I just teach my kids....the truth. At the level that's appropriate for their age group. Pretending multiple gender identities don't exist is just perpetuating ignorance IMO. Instead of teaching them that X is for girls and X is for boys, I teach that anyone who is of any gender can do anything. We also talk about respecting how people want to be treated and what they want to be called. Since we already talk about respect so much of the year, it's very easy for them to understand. I think people forget that elementary students and all young students are very open-minded. It's not my place to tell them who they are, only to give them the truth and answer any questions they may have.
The problem is that when people say "I don't want to teach kids about gender", what they're actually saying is "I don't want to teach kids about gender beyond the gender norms". People who raise the same concerns that you are will often be the first to say "boys will be boys" or "she's so good at taking care of the other kids!" We quietly teach kids about gender each and every day by praising boys for being strong while celebrating girls for being kind. We discourage things outside of the norm by telling boys to 'toughen up' while telling girls 'that's unladylike.'
If you don't want to teach second graders about gender, then you need to start with yourself. Ask yourself if you are subconsciously pushing gender roles in your everyday actions. When you stop teaching kids what we typically see 'boys' and 'girls' to be, THEN we can talk about if teaching 2nd graders about gender is appropriate.
Pro
Kids can handle learning about other gender identities. And they should. This is the world we live in. And that's not changing. So why pretend gender identities don't exist?
But if you don't want gender discussed at all? Then you have a problem. An obvious one.
Rising Star
I would bet that the foundation of any sexual/gender studies probably starts being laid well before the first day of school. I was definitely familiar with my own genitalia by the time I started kindergarten.
I doubt very seriously that IMS is advocating for advanced topics on sexual reproduction be introduced in 2nd grade. It is possible to begin basic discussions on these topics without going above a kid's developmental level. In fact, there are probably a lot of very good ways to use reading and/or writing activities to do it. Kill 2 birds with one stone.
Easy answer: you don’t teach it at any grade level. That’s what parents are for. Students all over the country can’t read or write or add or subtract, and they also cant do basic skills like cook, laundry, change a tire, but now we are all interested in teaching sex to every kid every day? Enough. Anything sexual is for the home. Teachers are supposed to prepare kids for careers, not sex.
Gender identity and sex are 2 very different things. The irony of seeing sex when it’s not there: “teaching sex to every kid every day” and then replying “okay groomer” to others who simply see it as a way to teach that we respect all people regardless of their gender or gender identity is just…🤦🏼♀️
They need the fundamentals of reading and math in Grade 2. Save the talk on gender for Grade 6.
Rising Star
So isn't that an argument for more core studies without adding to the pile, NCMS1?
Ahhhhhmerica (as an exchange student in my class says), micromanaging even the tiniest thing, labeling everything, and overthinking/overdiscussing everything to death.
Teaching gender? Meh. Reinforcing the notion that kids play with whatever toys they want BY LETTING THEM. We dont' have to teach anything, we just need to make sure that kidds have a safe environment to play with anything they want without being judged, teased, etc. by anyone.
OK - where do I think this is heading? Like with all failing political powers, it's going to get more and more punitive and less and less "free".
We can see this in a myriad of ways, and not all though the narrow lenses of "republicans" or "democrats" - they are BOTH complicit in imposing or maintaining archaic ideologies in the attempt to maintain their own egos and power without doing any real work or making any changes. Our failing school system is just one of these ways. All of us can list the many ways the system is failing - the "punitive" part I referred to earlier can easily be found in the ways new rules and laws etc. are put in place around the country (hello, Florida) to shut down and hold back growth. While many conservative lawmakers are behind this example, there are plenty of trash decisions from liberals to draw from (Gavin Newsom, anyone?) as well. Like abortion laws taking a major backward step in some states (so dangerous, so misogynist), educational decrees a la Delores Umbridge are and will continue to make their way up the chain, creating an enviornment of fear and depression. All the while, these same politicians continue to back global trade practies that limit American success and supports poverty and hyper-consumerism in our population.
Their agenda: Self-service, fear mongering, capitalistic failure for the masses, self-protection of the 1%.
When I taught elementary, we talked about gender all the time. Kids are taught that toys and colors and clothes and things are gendered, so we talked about how...they're not. Anyone can wear/use anything they want. It can really be as simple as that.
We also said sometimes people may feel like a boy or a girl or both or neither and it had nothing to do with their body and as long as you respect what that person tells you, it's great. Just a matter of respect and normalizing it.
It’s only weird and inappropriate if you make it weird and inappropriate 🤷🏻♀️.
Since this age is so “impressionable”, I think it is the perfect time to give them the impression that expressing kindness and respect for others is a great moral to instill on little minds
Rising Star
https://joinfishbowl.com/comment_nvkggw3agt
Rising Star
Do you tell your students that there is a boy’s bathroom and a girl’s bathroom, or are they too young for that?
I’m pretty sure they have some awareness about gender. What’s so wrong about being knowledgeable and understanding?
Actually, I don’t. Our bathrooms are just open for anyone to use. We don’t have gendered bathrooms at our school. My classroom has two bathrooms inside of it and anyone uses them.
I have a huge problem with people sharing propaganda as though it is truth. Did you read the NJ standards that are attached to the article that you shared?
I teach in NJ and understand how the standards are written. I read through the standards and do not see a mention of gender in the second grade objectives and cannot even find the word "gender". My content is not health or phys ed, so maybe I missed it. I would like the OP to find and share the specifics that you and FOX are claiming are alarming me and other parents in the Garden State. I appreciate true fact-checks, so I'll wait...
Chief
None of those standards do or state what this article claims.
Rising Star
What part of "gender" and "gender identity" is anybody's curriculum? Why can't we focus on teaching curriculum, and let parents do their job?
Are there bad parents? yes. Bad teachers? yes But I just don't understand why teachers need to inject stuff like this into a classroom, especially at an elementary level. Unless a district specifically states they need to do this, there is just no business doing so.
Rising Star
I'm no biologist. What's that?
The fact that you get your news from a fear mongering news network might be part of the problem
Rising Star
I'd love to see your alternative so that folks could compare accurate reporting by both.
I have a feeling you wouldn't like the results.
Aiyiyi what is going on right now? Why are such agendas reaching the classroom?
I tried looking this up on internet but only Breitbart, Newsmax, Fox News comes up. Is this a real story?,
Chief
Michigan, I don't take offense. You aren't able to give me offense. I'm simply pointing out your tactics and that they're ineffective as arguments.
You've done it again with this last comment. Any intelligent person reading your constant invective can plainly see that so I won't go to the trouble of pulling quotes from your redundant blather. All you've done is pivot from my repeated suggestion of an objective comparison by painting anyone who watches Fox News with the same broad brush. That's called bigotry. Enjoy!
Rising Star
I think we need to be careful about going too far for kids' developmental age, but overall it's probably a positive step.
Letting kids know that people with different gender identities exist, and that it's OK that they do, should be the focus of discussions at this age, IMO.
We do have to remember that kids are very impressionable, and we don't want to make a student feel like they might be trans-gender if that's not really who they are.
On the flipside, if a kid realizes that on their own as part of their natural development, it will be good for them to know they can accept who they are.
Haha, Illinois HS1, I said the same thing about NCM - some weird responses from that person.
I can't find this story in any legitimate news source. Not sure I'd be too worried about it.
Pro
When teachers teach about lions or tigers do they teach the kids to be a lion or tiger or do they just talk about them. Just like in jr high where there is an Islam unit and two Christianity units. They don't teach kids to be in that religion, just to learn about it. If there is a book or image of two dads then just deal with it. Nobody learns about gender--they are born certain ways. So sick of this argument. It pits parents against teachers and then the public ed haters are going to get more traction with vouchers, charters, and other bad stuff.
At 2nd grade you’re closer to an age of being able to understand that someone may want to be a girl or a boy and respect what they’re asking. I teach 3-6 year olds and simply won’t lie to kids about gender. They’re learning about the world and can’t even use proper pronouns to begin with. But I do say, “Yes, he’s a boy but wants to be a girl.” You can validate both children that way. Because little kids will fight for what they see in front of them. It’s like that dress picture a while back….it looked different colors depending on the person. But if you see gold, you aren’t telling me it’s blue 😂.