During its September 10th meeting, the Tucson District Board of Supervisors will vote on whether to overhaul the sex education curriculum in the Tucson School District. Part of the proposed updates include dealing with gender identity issues including the use of a “genderbread person” which will explore gender on the basis of a continuum of possibilities rather than that presented by biology at time of birth.
First, this is not scientifically sound for every single cell in the human body is stamped with either an x or y chromosome received from the person’s father. Nor is it socially sound. In a day when adults still cannot decide how many letters we should have in the LGBTQ acronym, are we really willing to test our ideas on elementary and junior high age children?
This has nothing to do with education or even bullying. This is about using our kids as pawns in a political battle in which grownups are still very much divided. This may be one of the biggest problems with public education today – using our schools as platforms of social change rather than teaching children gender neutral subjects like reading, writing, and basic math. Is it any wonder that more and more parents are opting for education alternatives like charter schools, online schools, and homeschooling?