Bardsley said use of such words by students must be immediately challenged. Phyllis Labanowski, acting director of a private high school being started in Amherst, says that she found homophobia to be endemic in the years she spent conducting training sessions on issues of equity, homophobia and heterosexism in schools in the area. The number one insult for boys is fag and it starts in elementary school. Widely heard terms On the campus of Smith Vocational with its assorted carpentry and metal shops, cosmetology and cooking labs and barns, the terms are flung around a lot, teachers and students there report. One morning this month, an anti-gay epithet could be seen scratched into a frosted white pane of a window in the main academic building.
Students say the terms have become so common they have virtually lost all meaning.
Though most students know what the words mean, using them is a difficult habit to break, says Day. Now it's not something you can just use any more, because words hurt. Inaction said error Educators say homophobia is a problem for schools that won't go away by itself and that schools have both an opportunity and obligation to educate on the subject. She and others recommend a host of steps, including a concentrated campaign within the schools that inculcates new respect for differences among people, beginning in kindergarten. Schools should adopt clear, articulated rules against name-calling, and a policy to immediately remove any kind of hateful graffiti.