Proposed health ed standards baffling | Opinion | kearneyhub.com – Kearney Hub
I am glad to see that health standards proposed for the Nebraska Department of Education include the medically accurate and science-based health information as well as the dangers of substance abuse and such matters. I also support that these draft standards support teaching students respect for people of all genders, expressions and identities.
What concerns me is the spelled out detail of this program of teaching. I admit, I am from the old school, age 75 now, and have lived my life unaware of the many aspects of this matter of gender education.
What I have learned is from the source of this education, my parents. I believe that the home — and parents — should be the source of education in such matters. Yes, they have not had formal education, as such, but know from practical experience how their children should be taught. They need to know that God created some male and some female, and they should remain that in life. We live today where choices of change can be made, but the preferable matter is to accept God’s choice for our gender and to live accordingly.
Or if change is desirable after much thought and study, to change completely and accept this new gender role in society with the changes necessary for our co-existence, and to live in that new gender for the remainder of our life.
Gender change is not to be taken lightly, like changing clothes. And we should not expect society to accept this change easily and to adapt to our new gender as we wish. Allow for time to adjust. And do not select restrooms and locker rooms based on our feeling at the moment.
The change must be permanent and consistent, and possibly haircuts and clothes, too.
This whole gender issue is rather frightening to us old folks. By the time I am in the sixth grade I will learn about a “range of identities,” including “heterosexual, bisexual, lesbian, gay, queer, two-spirit, asexual and pansexual.” Will we need to put this on the bathroom doors in schools? What on earth do these terms mean? Perhaps some parents would rather not discuss them!
What happened to “boy” and “girl?” Has that become so complicated that all this additional information is necessary? My proposal: Let parents do the teaching at home, keep the basic health principles and respect for others, and cut out all of these detailed complications.
Dan Frizane, Minden