LGBT curriculum is important but will be ineffective

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Illustration by Shirin Afrakh

Educational standards should implement LGBT teachings for students as young as second

The school dsitrict’s new LGBT curriculum has yet to be implemented at Cal High health classes. 

This curriculum should have been in place long ago considering that since June 26, 2015, the US Supreme Court ruled that gay marriage is a right protected by the US Constitution. 

It has been more than a year since the law has been passed, but we still don’t have a sound curriculum to teach.

It seems as though the district’s school board doesn’t have a definite plan of action yet.

The idea was to hash out the details of the curriculum this year, run a pilot program of it in health classes next year, and permanently implement it after that, said district spokeswoman Elizabeth Graswich.

“[The board] is in the process of planning the implementation,” Graswich said. 

 But considering the rate at which this plan is actually moving, it seems improbable that anything will be happening anytime soon. 

Although the district’s plan sounds great in theory, the school board is going to have to figure out what to do about that backlash that is sure to come. 

Taking into account the hundreds of angry parents that protested against Windemere Ranch Middle School’s week long LGBT awareness program last spring, it seems unlikely that the new curriculum the district plans to implement will be effective or socially accepted by some of the public.

But it will have to be accepted sooner or later by opponents.

The California State Board of Education voted unanimously on a new History-Social Science Framework that includes a study of the role of contributions of minority groups, including lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Americans.

LGBT content will be included in some elementary, middle and high school grades, according to a story in the Los Angeles Times. The goal of the curriculum is to get students as young as second grade to learn about same-sex marriage.

The program also requires a responsible audience, one that a freshman class seems unlikely to provide for the short two weeks this program will occur. 

High schoolers already don’t pay much attention to the current health class curriculum, which covers drinking, drugs, and safe sex.  

It seems implausible that this program will actually accomplish much in terms of effectively educating students about same-sex relationships. 

If the district wants students to learn about the LGBT movement and rights, it should make an effort to incorporate it into everyday classes. 

With all of the unaddressed concerns it seems as though this idea is going to end up like many of its kind, well intentioned but poorly executed.