From: glp@fig.citib.com (Greg Parkinson)
Subject: Re: Call/Fax/Write Fernandez
Originator: glp@merlin
Organization: Citibank IBISM
Date: Fri, 11 Dec 1992 21:28:05 GMT


In article <1g7ltvINNgt4@hp-col.col.hp.com>, smithw@col.hp.com (Walter Smith) writes:

|> rdonahue@spdcc.com (Bob Donahue) writes:
|> [about reading "Heather has 2 mommies" to 1st graders in school] 
|> > 	Isn't that for whom the book was WRITTEN?  Duh.
|> 
|> For starters, I haven't read the book, and don't know where to get
|> a copy.  Is it short enough that someone could reproduce it in a 
|> posting to the group?  What I am unsure of is, is it appropriate 
|> for public schools to teach something of this sort to such young 
|> children, not if that is the age group the book was written to. 

You seem to be making the assumption that a book
which talks about a little girl whose parents are
both women is talking about *sex* and inappropriate
to young children.  How about "Heather's Mommy and
Daddy" or "Heather's Mommy".  We're talking about
*families* here, not their sexual practices.

|> > 	Oh - you've got your words confused.  I thought PUBLIC
|> > schools meant they WEREN'T under the control of religious bodies....
|> > Duh-2.
|> 
|> Public schools have to find a way to do their job, without treading 
|> on potential religious problem-areas.  For example, the flag salute.

This kind of thinking has given us "creationism" and
pregnant teenage girls who can be taught how their
liver works but not anything about their reproductive 
organs.

|> It's hard to imagine this would be so clear-cut an issue for you if the 
|> matter was a book by CFV teaching that gays were an abomination to God
|> being read to 1st graders.  What sort of moral dilema would a gay teacher 
|> find himself in there, and would you expect him to shut up about it and
|> teach it? 

Don't you see the difference?  Teaching that people are
worthy of respect even if they are different from you
is teaching a value that will benefit society and individuals.
This is the place of a public school in a secular society.
Teachers who can't deal with that because of their religious
beliefs shouldn't be teachers in public schools.

Teaching religious intolerance would never be the place
of public schools, and a teacher wouldn't have to be gay
to be offended by it.

|> > 	Any thoughts on why it is proper to enforce discrimination  
|> > when it is objectionable to the victims?
|> 
|> ENFORCE discrimination?  It isn't proper at all. But how is leaving 
|> potential moral/religious issues (as much as it may not make sense to
|> many that sex can be such) to the parents enforcing discrimination? 

Because when Heather's family is not included on the
list of other families, she and the other kids notice
it.  There's a difference there, and they know it.
You know it, I know it, and know it's there because
some people think it's OK to hate and don't want anyone
to interfere with that.  And you seem to want this
to continue.  Why?

|> Why can't a way be found to teach respect of all people, without 
|> treading on potential hot-spots?  

If there weren't hot-spots, there wouldn't be any need to
teach what they should learn at home, no?


-- 
Greg Parkinson                  Phone: 212-657-7814  Fax: 212-825-8607
Citibank,111 Wall Street        E-Mail: glp@fig.citib.com
New York, New York  10043
The opinions expressed are my own and not those of the big 'ol bank.
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