Sunday, February 5, 2017

Trojan Horse: Austin ‘anti-bullying’ program pushes progressive views on gender, sexual identity

Southern Baptist Texan


AUSTIN—An Austin Independent School District anti-bullying curriculum celebrates diversity and requires inclusivity by abolishing children’s and teachers’ “biased” notions of family and gender norms. “Welcoming Schools: Creating Safe and Supportive Environments for All Students,” which is taught to students as young as 4 years old, affirms same-sex marriage and parenting, gay and lesbian relationships, and transgenderism.

A national LGBT advocacy organization, Human Rights Campaign, drafted “Welcoming Schools” as a means of getting sexually and politically sensitive and controversial material into the nation’s classrooms. Billed as an “anti-bullying” program, school districts across the nation, including AISD, have incorporated it into their curriculum. Critics say the curriculum—and the broader initiative of social and emotional learning (SEL) in which it is embedded—ignores the conflict foisted upon teachers required to teach it and students whose understanding of family and human sexuality are grounded in religious or familial convictions.

“It is not the school’s job to teach or find out what a child feels about sexuality or religion, and especially to usurp parental obligation and authority in order to teach a child what they see as right and proper,” said Cindy Asmussen, advisor to the Texas Ethics and Religious Liberty Committee.

Former AISD preschool teacher Caryl Ayala said the curriculum crosses a line. During her elementary school campus’s in-service training before the start of the 2015-16 school year, Ayala’s team of pre-school teachers was told to “come up with a definition of homosexual love” that a 4-year-old child could understand. The request was made of all grade level instructors.

Ayala said many of the teachers considered the program a burden on their already overloaded plates; there would be little if any time to implement yet another lesson into their weekly plans. Still others, like Ayala, considered the LGBT-affirming messages an affront to their consciences and, most likely, to their students’ families as well.
 

Parents and faith leaders, not classroom teachers, should address issues of human sexuality, gay marriage, and transgenderism with the children, she said... READ MORE

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