Was the LGBT movement mentioned in your history classes? What grade were you in when any teacher mentioned anything in regard to LGBT history? Well, for california school children, this will now start at the second grade. Thanks Matt Boone for posting this video on your Facebook page.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — In second grade, California students will learn about families with two moms or two dads. Two years later, while studying how immigrants have shaped the Golden State, they will hear how New York native Harvey Milk became a pioneering gay politician in San Francisco.
California education officials approved those changes in classroom instruction Thursday to comply with the nation's first law requiring public schools to include prominent gay people and LGBT rights milestones in history classes.
The State Board of Education adopted the updates as part of a broader overhaul of California's history and social science curriculum. Dozens of people attending the meeting criticized the way Muslims, Hindus and Jews are discussed, but no one spoke out against the new treatment of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights.
"We are proud to represent a diverse state, and we are proud that this framework reflects the state that we serve," said Lauryn Wild, a Southern California curriculum specialist who chairs the advisory commission that produced the new guidelines.
They weave references to gay Americans and events throughout the history and social science curriculum, starting in second grade through discussions about diverse families and again in fourth grade with lessons on California's place in the gay rights movement.
The guidelines also touch on the topics in fifth and eighth grade — looking at gender roles in the 18th and 19th centuries and examples of individuals who flouted them — and throughout high school.
A capstone of sorts will come in U.S. government courses, where seniors would learn about the 2015 Supreme Court ruling that legalized same-sex marriage nationwide and recent court cases involving bathroom access for transgender students.
The changes are designed to satisfy legislation passed by California lawmakers five years ago that added LGBT Americans and people with disabilities to the list of social and ethnic groups whose contributions schools are supposed to teach and must appear in K-8 textbooks.
The legislation also prohibited classroom materials that reflect adversely on gays or particular religions. – bakersfieldnow.com
For more information and the full story, head over to bakersfieldnow.com.
At the end of the article, there is this final paragraph.
"There is no mention of Manifest Destiny or Native Americans," Brianna Leemkuil, a U.S. history teacher at Yucaipa High School in San Bernardino County, said of one 11th-grade unit. "You want us to talk about a tiny LGBT community and ignore the killing of an entire people group?"
As someone that had developed his own curriculum and lessons for a decade, I do have to wonder, where will everything fit? I remember always being frustrated that my covering of American History would hardly ever make it into the 1950's and 60's. It's hard to get all of our history into one year. When I instructed AP US History, it was a necessity to get to the most recent decade of our nation's history.
Am I saying that there's no room for these additions? No, not at all. I think it is great that they will be able to be implemented into the curriculum. I do wonder about the quality, type of lessons, and how much of a mention.
What are your thoughts about the LGBT history editions to Californian classrooms.
The inclusion in history
The inclusion in history lessons of every disparate group could soon become endless and overwhelming.
Maybe it will, considering we
Maybe it will, considering we teach kids that Christopher Columbus was a hero.
So Manifest Destiny and
So Manifest Destiny and Native American genocide are out. I wonder If the new LGBT curriculum will include Richard Speck who murdered 8 young women 50 years ago today. I ask because Speck was TRANSGENDER. He identified as a woman, wore dresses, and took female hormones to grow breasts (pics can be found online). Speck is the first person I think of when someone says that no transgender person has ever harmed women or children.
Last I checked, that was
Last I checked, that was limited to bathrooms.