Peter Greene writes with outrage about the firing of a teacher in Georgia whose crime was to read a book to her fifth-grade students. One parent objected to the book.
He writes:
The story of Katherine Rinderle has dragged out over the summer and has now come to a predictable and yet unjustifiable conclusion. This is just wrong.
The short version of the story is that Rinderle read Scott Stuart’s “My Shadow Is Purple” to her fifth graders, after they selected it for their March book. A parent complained. The Cobb County School District suspended her and the superintendent announced a recommendation to terminate her. A tribunal appointed by the board recommended that she not be fired. The board just fired her anyway.
This is a bullshit decision.
Was this one of those graphic books with blatant displays of sex stuff? No. This is the most bland damn thing you could hand a kid. I would read it to my six year olds without hesitation.
A child plays with action figures and dolls, likes dancing and sports and ponies and planes and trains and glitter, and, in the climactic event, wants to go to the school dance in an outfit that has a suit-ish top and a skirt-ish bottom. Discouraged by the insistence that they must choose either blue or pink at the dance, the purple-shadowed child decidesd to leave, but then an assortment of friends declare their shadows are a wide variety of colors, and a happy ending ensues. “No color’s stronger and no color’s weak.”
That’s it. That’s the book. (I’ve attached a read-aloud video at the bottom so you can see for yourself.) There’s nothing about sex, barely a mention of gender, and the message is simply that there are other ways to be beyond stereotypical male or female roles.
That’s the book that this woman lost her job over.
Georgia has, of course, a “divisive concepts” law with appropriately vague language so that teachers can live in fear that they could lose their jobs over anything that some parent thinks is divisive and disturbing. Meanwhile, the boardwas trying to argue its bullshit decision, by hinting that Rinderle is a big old troublemaker:
Without getting into specifics of the personnel investigation, the District is confident that this action is appropriate considering the entirety of the teacher’s behavior and history. However, as this matter is ongoing, further comment is unavailable. The District remains committed to strictly enforcing all Board policy, and the law.
Sure. So Georgia’s teachers have been sent a clear message about staying in line and not bringing up anything remotel;y controversial ever.
And now the children of Cobb County in particular and Georgia in general have been sent an important message– if you’re different, that’s not okay, and if someone suggests that it’s okay, well, that’s illegal. Shame on Cobb County’s school board. Shame on the state of Georgia. And if you’re so sure that these kind of reading restrictions are only about protecting children from graphic pornography, take a look at this and think again.
Open the link to see the read-aloud video.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
They say roses are red and violets are purple
Sugar’s sweet and so is maple syruple.
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We’re going to look back upon this era as we do towards other eras of hysteria such as the Salem Witch Trials & McCarthyism. Looking back, we wonder how people could have been so swept up by such silliness & misinformation, but once hysteria like during those times takes hold of even a small group of people, because they are so passionate & certain about their crazy beliefs, things tend to get out of hand & it takes great effort & unfortunately, suffering by a number of victims, before that hysteria breaks & sanity returns. Sad, that’s where we are now with Trumpism & anti- Wokeism.
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Again, what’s stopping a
teacher from a
“Mother May I?” approach,
to their boss,
the superintendent?
Teachers have been sent a
clear message about staying
in line.
Hey Boss, I need your approval
before I read this book. I
don’t want to cross a line I
can’t see, so where is it?
Show me the way Boss…
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In the real world, if one submitted such a question to one’s superintendent, it would never be answered, or if it was answered, by some subordinate, the answer would come back months later. Not practical.
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Exactly. After a problem I had teaching a topic I was required to teach for my Advanced Placement class, which is the reason for my moniker, I began flooding everyone with permission requests and was ignored.
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Sorry this happened to you, TOW!
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And, it’s a VERY BAD IDEA to create the impression that the Superintendent has the right to determine which books can and cannot be read aloud or otherwise used in the classroom. That’s a usurpation of teacher prerogative, and sending the letter is basically giving up that prerogative.
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But, in practice, that worthy prerogative got this teacher fired. Giving up that teacher prerogative shifts the responsibility to the superintendent and offers the defense, “I asked my supervisor, who didn’t respond with any concerns.” (Although the principal would be the immediate supervisor to contact.)
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This could backfire, leading to an evaluation that the teacher doesn’t meet expectations for educational expertise.
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Or we may look back on this to understand how the United States broke apart.
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Agreed
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She purchased the book at a district-approved book fair.
The students chose it for the selection.
One parent objected.
The group who looked into it recommended she not be fired.
The school board voted 4 Republicans to 3 Democrats to fire her.
Cobb County, which is less than 50% non-Hispanic white, voted Democratic in the last two Presidential elections. It’s time for folks to organize and change the complexion of the school board.
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It’s the curricula-by-lowest-common-denominator approach typically skipped over in education school.
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A quote from amazing singer songwriter Joy Oladokun (strongly recommend listening to her songs if you don’t know her) from a May 7, 2023 Variety interview:
“And I think specifically for queer youth today… when I was growing up, I knew people around me were very vocally homophobic; I just don’t remember the government and the culture being so vocally homophobic. Maybe they were when marriage equality came up. But if I was a teen growing up today and I was having to listen to Ron DeSantis’ bullshit, or having to do shooter drills while my government in Tennessee bans drag queens, I would be so disillusioned and so fearful. So when I am doing these one-off appearances, maybe I just sing “Somehow” to say, “Hey, there is one adult human who is fighting and conceiving every day to make sure you don’t have to live in this weird world anymore.”
I think she refers to something important — the most hateful formerly marginalized far right John Birchers have taken over the Republican party and virtually every government controlled by the Republicans and the mainstream media continue to present them as normal, conservatives. They are no different than David Duke whose nomination as a Republican candidate decades ago caused outrage while today he probably represents the most mainstream Republican party “values” and would be treated by the so-called liberal media as just a normal Republican whose views have as much truth an validity as anything that a Democrat says.
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Peter Green writes: “There’s nothing about sex, barely a mention of gender, and the message is simply that there are other ways to be beyond stereotypical male or female roles.”
To be clear, I don’t think this woman should have been fired, and I don’t think this law is a good law. But Greene is either being very uninquisitive or he’s deliberately misleading. (I’ll assume the former.)
I’m pasting below what I wrote about this here last month:
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flerp! says: “This isn’t a book that simply says “girls and boys can like or do whatever they want.”
Correct. There are already lots of books read to children constantly that say that so I don’t see a huge demand for yet another one. Do you?
This is a book that says “some of my friends say I’m simply confused. But the thing I love most is not having to choose.”
Why must she choose? Why must the yellow child choose?
“They all rushed to join us whatever their color. Blue, Pink and Purple and shadows called other. I look at each shadow, no two are the same. On each happy face, THERE’S NO TRACE OF SHAME. Each different and special, and fully unique. No colors stronger and no colors weak. The teacher comes over as we’re joined as one. Whatever your color, start dancing have fun!”
The ridiculous double standard in which a perfectly fine and safe book is parsed, and poured over to find something imperfect to criticize for not meeting a standard of perfection that the books they don’t think twice about having their children’s classroom never have to meet. Rank hypocrisy.
This book is no different than most children’s books considered “safe” for reading, except it is better than many and not as good as some.
It’s a repeat of the attacks on Nikole Hannah-Jones, holding something that the right wing wants to ban to a standard of perfection that no other books meet and then using not living up to the impossible standard that privileged authors don’t have to meet to justify completely unjustifiable attacks.
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Without “choosing,” if it is a choice, then the species dies out. It’s not complicated. Based on what is included here, it seems like firing the teacher was not necessary. However, if the teacher violated some school policy like you must inform parents in advance and obtain permission, and she disregarded that obligation, then yeah, she should have been sacked. Short of that, a warning should have been sufficient. This isn’t about homophobia as where this always goes. it is about parent rights. This is happeneing in Virginia all over again. Why should schools, who see children maybe 30 hours a week have the right to ignore, disregard or simply not ask parents, who have a legal and moral responsibility to care for their children, and do so 24 hours a day, 7 says a week, about their preferences over socially controversial issues. This isn’t deciding whether to teach the metric system or any other academic subject. Schools, who have limited contact with students are setting up these students and their parents for huge problems by ignoring mainstream parent preferences over contested ideas. It, along with poor performance is why parents continue to flee the public school system. Until public schools figure this out, they will continue to lose enrollments.
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MjGB, I never like to see anyone fired. It’s one of the worst things that can happen to most people, especially if they’re not young.
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MjGB: “ it is about parent rights.”
It is impractical to assume that teacher can call parents at all. Teachers do it often, but time prevents very much communication. The math of time management escapes administration and the public.
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But, MjGB, you’re reading way too much into this book. Try reading it exactly as written, from a child’s POV if you can. It seems to be headed in the direction of breaking gender stereotypes, but then opens up, as it adds colors of the spectrum, to acknowledging how different people really are from each other in many aspects, celebrate the differences, none is “better” than another.
I grant you the publisher touts it as being about gender identity—cynical me says, they’re just marketing it to ‘tick-the-box’ admin agenda for the many blue-blue states that have recently written this into sex ed standards.
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I agree, Ginny. The book says there are all kinds of people, and don’t judge them by the color of the shadow they cast. Discard stereotypes.
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The book embraces gender stereotypes by asserting that people with blue shadows all like stereotypically masculine things and that people with pink shadows all like stereotypically feminine things. It’s an extremely stupid book, in my opinion. Although reading it shouldn’t be a fireable offense.
As another commenter noted, there is no shortage of “board books” that don’t deconstruct the “gender binary” but communicate the messages that stereotypes are bad and that everyone should get along and be treated equally and with respect
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The gendered essence idea is a strange one because gender is the sum of all acquired characteristics traditionally associated with one sex or another. So, by its nature, gender can be fluid.
This is a very old concept in philosophy. It’s known as the theory of natural kinds. It was a hoary one when Aristotle picked it up. An essence is a defining characteristic/property, a sine qua non, as opposed to an accidental, or contingent one. So, for example, using language and telling stories are essential to being human, whereas dancing the tango or reading Rimbaud are not.
Gender is contingent, not essential.
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“Essence” is a little bit too close to “Soul” (religion) IMHO. Public schools should be in the business of educating the mind. Religion is about tending to the soul. Let’s just practice being kind and decent in the school setting and leave the soul/essence stuff for whatever religion one wants to practice outside of the public school setting.
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This concept–learning to distinguish between essential and nonessential properties of things, is really, really important to thinking clearly. It’s not something we should jettison. It’s not too strong to say that the entire Western intellectual tradition is predicated on this. People use the distinction even when they don’t know that they are. For example, when we do a standard dictionary definition–known as a genus and differential definition–we place it in a general class of like things and then delineate the essential characteristic or characteristic that sets this thing apart from other members of its class. Essence = defining feature. One of the reasons why people’s heads are full of such mush is that they can’t think clearly about basic stuff like entities, properties of entities, quantities of entities, class membership based on properties, and essential versus nonessential, or contingent, characteristics. If it were up to me, all these concepts would be ESSENTIAL parts of the standard curriculum.
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People use the Aristotelian theory of natural kinds all the time without knowing that they are using it. It’s important that they understand this so that they can know how to deviate from it when appropriate, as, for example, when thinking using theory of natural prototypes.
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cx: genus and differentia definition
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And it’s particularly important for teachers to understand these matters. Everyone who was educated understood this until the modern era. Teachers need to be able to define things clearly by reference to their essential (and distinguishing) properties.
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Otherwise, people literally do not know what they are talking about.
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No. It’s not. It’s pretty straightforward.
Having a bill is an essential, defining characteristic of a duck. Swimming on the pond outside my window is not. Swimmer on Bob’s pond is a contingent property.
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Sorry….way too deep for me!
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So, if you write a standard dictionary definition, it will look like this:
So, let’s look at the Merriam Webster definition of Fascism. It starts with placing the thing, Fascism, in several classes, or groups:
a political philosophy, movement, or regime
Each of those (political philosophy, movement, regime) is a genus–a group to which “Fascist” belongs.
Then the definition lists several essential, or defining, features/properties/characteristics of this particular member of those general classes:
. . . that a) exalts nation and often race above the individual and that b) stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition.
Those are all essential properties that set Fascism off from other members of the same genera (political philosophies, movements, and regimes).
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When people write essays and define their key terms, that’s typically how they should do it, using genus and differentia method. That can be supplemented by other methods of definition like using synonyms or examples.
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Thanks for this Bob.
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You’re welcome, Ginny!
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I have to disagree with your interpretation, FLERP. Arguing whether the framework author [& publisher!] had in mind is gender stereotypes or gender identity is superfluous—those are sophisticated concepts that fly way above the heads of targeted age group [as you point out, age 6 & younger – no idea why teacher read it to 5th graders].
“The book suggests that… people who like some combination of those things are, at their core (down to their shadow), essentially different from male or female: that is an adult’s take. Calling here on 20 yrs’ experience in PreK/K classrooms. Young kids’ take will simply be: it’s OK to be yourself; pressuring you to choose only from column A or B not OK. Lots of PreK/K picture books convey that message.
In the context of the recent wave of “inclusive” books for the very young, IMHO this one of the only nuanced and age-appropriate I’ve seen.
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Thank you for injecting some sanity here, Ginny!
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That may or may not be his children will interpret the book—I have no way of knowing that so I’m fine deferring to you about that—but I think my reading of the book is correct and obvious, as well as 100% in line with the publisher’s description. Maybe it all goes over children’s heads, but this is a book about gender identity, there’s no question about it.
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how children, not his children.
(I would add that it’s much less likely that this stuff would fly over the heads of 5th graders than 6 year olds.)
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bethree5 says:
” it’s OK to be yourself; pressuring you to choose only from column A or B not OK”
I agree with Bob – thank you for injecting some sanity.
And for what it’s worth, I would say that message is also an older child’s take and an adult’s take, not just a 4 year old’s take. I am an adult and I don’t understand how any adult can see some nefarious message in a book that tells kids it is okay to be yourself, even if being yourself means NOT choosing.
But I defer to the adults like MJgb and flerp! who apparently recognize some grave danger of our species dying out because of the nefarious subliminal messages they are able to recognize.
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NYCPSP, I try to ignore you, but you’re doing that thing again where you put words in people’s mouths. I never said that there this book poses a “grave danger of our species dying out.” You know that.
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MjGB said “Without “choosing,” if it is a choice, then the species dies out. It’s not complicated.”
My apologies flerp! because I was surprised that you took the time to immediately reply to MjGB’s comment without expressing any disagreement with the very first sentence of the comment where MjGB referred to species dying out.
Mea culpa for wrongly assuming that you would have expressed some objection if you had disagreed with that very first sentence in the comment, since you did take the time to respond directly to MjGB and re-affirm your agreement with MjGB when MjGB said that it didn’t seem to be a firing offense for the teacher to have read the book.
flerp!, do you have a problem with my correction to now say that both you and MjGB objected to the teacher reading that book (although you both don’t think it is a firing offense), but only MjGB expresses concern for the species dying out.
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Ideally you would write about what you think about this book or this law or the firing of this teacher, rather than writing about me over and over. You’ve been told this before. But go on as you wish.
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I don’t write “about” you. I challenge the statements that you make that normalize the worst far right actions, and unlike you, I actually have the integrity to correct myself and apologize when I get something wrong, instead of making nasty attacks.
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Here’s a question: how many years and how much money was she making, total compensation package? Same thing happened to my buddy teaching at a private school in Connecticut. He was the highest earner of three up for review but the school terminated him because one of the other teachers up for review was African-American, with the school telling him, “we need to maintain a more diverse workforce.” In the end, my buddy was the one making the most money by a mile but the school spun it as a diversity/race issue to cover that stark fact up. He came to me all disillusioned last I saw him and even took on an implicit racist tone until I stopped him in his tracks and said, “WAIT!–hold on a second, check that race resentment right there, dude, that’s total BS: how much money were each of you making?” When it became clear he made the most, I said, “I think you found your answer why you got fired.” His response, “Oh my god! I never looked at it that way.” Me: “Welcome to neoliberalism in privatized education, buddy.”
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“Me: ‘Welcome to neoliberalism in privatized education, buddy.'”
The financial aspect of getting rid of long experienced teachers has been going on in public education for many years. Twenty years ago, a new principal came in and got rid of three of the prior 5 teachers of the year in the school. My classroom happened to be right next to two of them and I heard from the teachers themselves the blow by blow of that abuse by that particularly evil adminimal. My sister in her district has recounted a number of times that the same thing happened at her school. They were coming after her at the end of her teaching time and she knew it so she left on her own terms. It’s a major problem in public schools.
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One thing that confuses me is that Georgia’s “divisive concepts” law does not have anything to say about gender identity.
Here’s that law: https://www.legis.ga.gov/api/legislation/document/20212022/212225
I assumed, then, that Georgia must have another law that bars the teaching of gender theory in elementary school. (If it did have a law like that—which many other states do have—this book would obviously run afoul of it.). But it appears that Georgia doesn’t have such a law. See https://www.gpb.org/news/2023/03/01/georgia-bill-dies-sought-curb-gender-talk-in-schools
I’m probably missing something, but at present I’m confused.
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“I assumed, then, that Georgia must have another law that bars the teaching of gender theory in elementary school. (If it did have a law like that—which many other states do have—this book would obviously run afoul of it.)”
I confess that I am completely mystified that we now seriously consider that a children’s book called “My Shadow is Purple” teaches “gender theory” to elementary school children. How is that even debatable?
The book teaches children to be kind to students who have other views of their gender. The far right has absolutely won when books that are about teaching kids about kindness and understanding are now parsed to find “gender theory” in them and folks at this blog “debate” how much gender theory is being taught in this book.
“Gender theory” isn’t taught by children’s stories about kindness. That should not even be debatable.
I am glad that when the book “Heather had two mommies” came out, the far right hadn’t yet succeeded in getting us to debate on their terms. Was that book teaching LGBTQ theory to elementary school children? Should it have been banned? How sad for the far right haters of gay people that back then, we all just discussed whether it was okay to let elementary school kids know there were different kinds of families, instead of doing what we supposedly should have been doing and discussing whether it was appropriate to teach “gay theory” to elementary school children or not.
The far right has already won. Folks legitimizing banning children’s books on the grounds that they teach “gender theory” by telling stories of children who are different.
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All of these laws banning speech are inherently vague and confusing. What is a “divisive concept?” Almost anything.
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The law defines the term, but yes, it is going to be very vague on the margins.
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And like I said, when I look at the law—assuming the “divisive concepts” law is the one that controls—there is nothing that would remotely cover this book.
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FLERP! wrote “there is nothing that would remotely cover this book.”
It’s a part of being an adminimal to not give a damn about those kinds of “niceties”. Or rather, they don’t have the brains to do such consideration.
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Here I am going to insert a plug for VA’s “keep sex out of K12” law. It is hilariously specific! They happened to already have had a law on the books dictating what sort of material VA govt employees were forbidden to access from their work computers, which is incorporated by reference. It lists every body part and bodily action not to be viewed/ written about. Not vague! 😁
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Bethree, now I feel like I need to look at that law 😂
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These vague divisive concept laws are designed to put public school teachers on the defensive and on shaky ground, particularly when teachers have no due process laws that can ensure they receive fair treatment. Enforcing vague laws open to interpretation are all part of the right wing extremist playbook that is causing a massive teacher shortage in Southern states. Young people seeking a career in education should look to The North and The West and forget about “right to work” states.
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Great news!!! Gay grooming and all of you here are just cool with it. The author allows his 6 year old to dress up as a princess, young kids are confused and have imaginations let’s push them to not know which gender they are.
The left is so worried about gender and pro nouns they can care less about really educating and having critical thinking skills. Then again you all voted for Biden and terrible Kamala. Michael Obama will not be your savior.
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The right are the ones obsessed with children’s clothing and gender, as your post made clear about your own obsession.
The left, as well as moderates, are trying to teach thinking skills and critical reasoning. The right is still fighting vaccines, science, doctors, and demanding that public schools teach students that Trump won the election and science is not about evidence but about what you read on the internet, and lies in the pursuit of a higher goal are always fine.
The right is so obsessed with teaching their children that Trump won the election and COVID can be cured by injecting disinfectant that they reject all critical thinking skills.
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really nyc parent? I guess you do not know what they teach in the city. Everything you said the opposite. The city forced vaccines, the city forced kids to play sports to take vaccines. Teach how racist Trump is, but Biden who is actually a pedo and racist you say nothing. There is no critical thinking just indoctrination. Sorry science showed vaccines are not safe, they do not prevent covid, and you can spread tit vaccinated, you took a bioweapon lol, sucker.
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These nutcases!!!! This one, for example, believes a) that teachers routinely groom children and b) that Michelle Obama is male.
Why is our culture suddenly producing so many of these crazies?
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Oh, and that the Covid-19 vaccines are “bioweapons”
One cannot make up stuff this crazy. I mean outright this one needs meds looney tunes.
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Social media.
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NYC Public School Parent: when you say “The book teaches children to be kind to students who have other views of their gender,” that infuses the argument with gender theory. if the object of the author was to promote kindness and kindness to others, there is no reason to dip into this issue, WHy not write about being kind to animals, or monsters, or things like that. If it is important to include actual humans, why not people with different skin color? That would seem more appropriate and less confrontational and controversial for that age group.
In this CNN article https://www.cnn.com/2023/08/16/us/georgia-teacher-gender-identity-book-termination-vote/index.html. the publisher is quoted as saying the story “considers gender beyond binary in a vibrant spectrum of colour.” It is clearly intended to be political and push a particular world view. Why is that so important for 5th graders? Can’t kids be kids for a while longer before they are tossed into the harshness of our modern society, and why is it the responsibility of schools, or of a particualr teacher pushing a political agenda to force that agenda on 10 year olds?
school administrators indicated they felt she was unwilling to adapt to the school/ district guidelienes and that could not be relied on to use good judgement and could not put her back in the classroom. Those are very bold statements to make and invite litigation. Every employer has rules and policies of conduct employees are expected to follow. WHen they refuse, they get reprimanded and could be ultimately fired. It appears she either misjudged the seriousness of the situation, or was willing to fall on her sword over this issue. Either way, parents have rights that trump the political agenda of teachers or school districts, especially when parents have state law on their side.
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MjGB,
The fact that you believe a book that teaches to be kind to students who don’t identify as one particular gender has a “political” message says it all.
Is “Heather Has Two Mommies” too political, too? Must it be banned?
MjGB, why do you believe that the rights of the parents who believe non-binary children are abnormal and disgusting would be violated if their children were taught that non-binary children are normal and should be accepted instead of hated?
Since when is teaching acceptance instead of hate “political”?
I thought we cleared that up when the right wing objected to books about gay families because some gay-hating parents wanted their kids to learn to hate gay families and a book that normalized them was unacceptable. Would you have been on their side in the name of their “parent rights” to keep their child from learning that a gay family was acceptable instead of a cancer on our society as their parents wanted them to believe?
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Sounds to me like a class of fifth graders selected the book, and one parent objected.
That says it all. Are we to allow one parent to override the wishes of most kids? Well maybe. If the kids chose a book that advocated violence or cruelty. If the book taught lessons like Stalin’s purges were really capitalist massacres or that the holocaust was a disease that just happened to strike certain groups. But this book sounds as if it tried to teach kids to be good to each other. Should we let this one parent take such a thing away?
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I think the book’s message is:
Be kind to everyone. Don’t prejudge them. Accept people as they are.
Don’t feel bad if you are different.
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Banning books for curious kids by incurious adults who never read one. Welcome to today’s election-denying, Russia-loving, coup-plotting RepubliQan party.
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Ms Rinderle, she smiles
Towering in shiny metallic purple armor
Cobb County Board (envy) lurks behind her
Their fiery green gowns sneer at the grassy ground
Blue are the life-giving students taken for granted
They quietly understand
Once happy turquoise classes lay opposite, ready
But wonder why the fight is on
But they’re all bold as love
Just ask the axis
My red is so confident he flashes trophies of war
And ribbons of euphoria
Orange is Trump, full of daring
But very unsteady for ev’ry go ’round
My yellow in this case is not so mellow
In fact, I’m trying to say it’s frightened like me
And all of these anti-teaching laws keep holding me from
Giving my job to a rainbow like you
But I’m uh, yeah, l’m bold as love
Yeah, yeah, well I’m bold, bold as love
Hear me talking
I’m bold as love
Just ask the axis
He knows everything
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awesome!
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This is fundamentalism writ large. It should not be tolerated in a functioning intelligent, educated society. These people are welcome to their beliefs, but they should not be allowed to dictate their ignorant beliefs on the rest of the country, or even their community.
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It seems to be the general consensus on this blog that any thought, belief, or expression that violates the common understanding on this blog is ignorant. As far as people being “allowed to dictate their ignornat beleigs on the rest of the country” why is that any different then a teacher espousing non-mainstream beliefs and forcing her students to accept views that are not mainstream and may violate some parents values?
This suggestion in the Greene article that this all started with the complaint of one parent is misleading. In this NYT Article, https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/18/us/georgia-teacher-fired-gender-book.html it states that she received emails from parents who complained and from some parents who supported the choice.
In this same article, it states that she told the class to use the pronouns “they” and “them” in class, and that the board objected to her using another children’s book by Stacey Abrams. It seems clear this teacher has a political agenda, and is less concered about provided a good education as defined by her employer. Any teacher, regardless of their political point of view should not be promoting that agenda in a K-12 class.
Of course that does not apply here as evidence in the attacks agains any alternative position.
I agree with Dr. Ravitch when she wrote above that we should “Be kind to everyone. Don’t prejudge them. Accept people as they are. Don’t feel bad if you are different.”
Too many people here do not follow that advice. Those calling others “ignorant,” “fundamentalist,” “right-wing,” “gay-hating,” “nut cases,” or any other derogatory term used above are in fact prejudging parents and others who simply have a different set of beliefs. They are no better or worse then anyone elses here, and their voice deserves to be heard just as much as yours does. In fact, in that setting, in that school, their voice matters more than yours or mine.
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MjGB, I think you are echoing the message of the book. People have differing views. Listen. Be respectful of those who are different.
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Wikipedia has a good article about the history and politics of “Cobb County Georgia,” starting with (can you guess?) the theft of Native land.
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