School Told to Call Kids ‘Purple Penguins’ Because ‘Boys and Girls’ Is Not Inclusive to Transgender

[bonnie]

OCTOBER 8, 2014 1:50 PM

School Told to Call Kids ‘Purple Penguins’ Because ‘Boys and Girls’ Is Not Inclusive to Transgender 

Nebraska teachers are instructed to ask students what their preferred pronouns are. 

By Katherine Timpf

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Children displaying oppressive cisgenderism

 

 

Nebraska school district has instructed its teachers to stop referring to students by “gendered expressions” such as “boys and girls,” and use “gender inclusive” ones such as “purple penguins” instead.

“Don’t use phrases such as ‘boys and girls,’ ‘you guys,’ ‘ladies and gentlemen,’ and similarly gendered expressions to get kids’ attention,” instructs a trainingdocument given to middle-school teachers at the Lincoln Public Schools.

“Create classroom names and then ask all of the ‘purple penguins’ to meet on the rug,” it advises.

The document also warns against asking students to “line up as boys or girls,” and suggests asking them to line up by whether they prefer “skateboards or bikes/milk or juice/dogs or cats/summer or winter/talking or listening.”

“Always ask yourself . . . ‘Will this configuration create a gendered space?’” the document says.

The instructions were part of a list called “12 steps on the way to gender inclusiveness” developed by Gender Spectrum, an organization that “provides education, training and support to help create a gender sensitive and inclusive environment for children of all ages.”

Other items on the list include asking all students about their preferred pronouns and decorating the classroom with “all genders welcome” door hangers.

If teachers still find it “necessary” to mention that genders exist at all, the document states, they must list them as “boy, girl, both or neither.”

Furthermore, it instructs teachers to interfere and interrupt if they ever hear a student talking about gender in terms of “boys and girls” so the student can learn that this is wrong.

“Point out and inquire when you hear others referencing gender in a binary manner,” it states. “Ask things like . . . ‘What makes you say that? I think of it a little differently.’ Provide counter-narratives that challenge students to think more expansively about their notions of gender.”

The teachers were also given a handout created by the Center for Gender Sanity, which explains to them that “Gender identity . . . can’t be observed or measured, only reported by the individual,” and an infographic called “The Genderbred Person,” which was produced by www.ItsPronouncedMetroSexual.com.

Despite controversy, Lincoln Superintendent Steve Joel has declared that he is “happy” and “pleased” with the training documents.

“We don’t get involved with politics,” he told KLIN Radio’s Drive Time Lincoln radio show.

“We don’t get involved with gender preferences. We’re educating all kids . . . and we can’t be judgmental,” he said.

— Katherine Timpf is a reporter at National Review Online.

 

 

[rudywoofs (Pam)]

I think the "purple penguin" suggestion was /tic .... I highly doubt any middle school student would identify with that moniker.  

 

At any rate, "...the materials [three handouts of suggestions, rather than directives]  were only distributed at Irving Middle School and won’t be disseminated district-wide, because it’s up to each school to determine what their needs are."

 

http://journalstar.com/news/local/education/lps-staff-s-transgender-training-concerns-parents/article_0b37dd75-758d-50c1-9deb-16901059bc5a.html

 

http://watchdog.org/174768/gender-inclusive/

 

 

 

[joeb]

rudywoofs,

 

That a school district would even do this in one school is outrageous.  We are not born "gender-neutral".  We're born, and were created, male and female.   You deny that?  Show me a "gender-neutral" baby that is not considered to have a physical birth defect.    

[rudywoofs (Pam)]

**sigh**

 

nobody is telling anyone that people are "gender-neutral"...

 

 

what's with the confrontational attitude???

[bonnie]

This sounds like a desire to make gender neutral. Whether it is all schools,state wide or one school district,the intent seems pretty clear

If teachers still find it “necessary” to mention that genders exist at all, the document states, they must list them as “boy, girl, both or neither.”

Furthermore, it instructs teachers to interfere and interrupt if they ever hear a student talking about gender in terms of “boys and girls” so the student can learn that this is wrong.

[joeb]

**sigh**

 

nobody is telling anyone that people are "gender-neutral"...

 

 

what's with the confrontational attitude???

I wasn't being confrontational.  I read the article, and the article makes it plain that "gender-neutral" language is a requirement for teachers to use.  They are even supposed to interfere with children talking about "boys and girls" in any way.  

[JoeMo]

***SIGH!*** What in the country coming to?  Why don't we just call everything "it"?  That school administrators (or anyone) would even consider a policy like this is a stinking pile of something that rhymes with "it".

[JoeMo]

Show me a "gender-neutral" baby that is not considered to have a physical birth defect.    

"Congratulations! It's a purple penguin!"  just doesn't sound like something parents of a newborn want to hear.  Maybe they can be boys and girls until they start school, and then shed any gender identification in kindergarden.  Seems to me that being an "it" instead of a boy or girl would be more emotionally disturbing than gender identification.

 

I can just hear the new PC wedding vows - "Do you, John, take Jane to be your lawfully wedded wife partner?  Do you promise to cherish her it...

[bonnie]

"Congratulations! It's a purple penguin!"  just doesn't sound like something parents of a newborn want to hear.  Maybe they can be boys and girls until they start school, and then shed any gender identification in kindergarden.  Seems to me that being an "it" instead of a boy or girl would be more emotionally disturbing than gender identification.

 

I can just hear the new PC wedding vows - "Do you, John, take Jane to be your lawfully wedded wife partner?  Do you promise to cherish her it...

I am thankful my last two grandchildren in the elementary level are being home schooled.Would hate to wake up and find I have two liberal purple penguins