A Georgia school board voted along party lines Thursday to fire a teacher after officials said she improperly read a book on gender fluidity to her fifth grade class.

  • Potatos_are_not_friends@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    I’m trying to wrap my head around the intent.

    Is this a case where she was fired because the book didn’t have anything to do with the class she’s teaching? Or because a bunch of parents went Karen and it made the school district look bad?

    If a history class references passages from the bible, I think that is inappropriate in general but it depends on context. If it’s using the bible to explain say the history of the Holy War, that makes sense. Having the context about the why does help.

    If she was teaching Sex Ed and talking about gender fluidity, in that context it makes sense to me.

    Like you can’t talk about Hitler’s philosophies without being up Mein kampf even at a shallow level. And to ignore it is disingenuous to education.

    • Norgur@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      The thing is: You need the kids to have this information before puberty really starts to take off so they know what’s going on with them when they start to feel things that are related to gender fluidity/homosexuality/whatever, so they grow up without the self-doubts and such but with the feeling that what they are is just another human being.

      • grue@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Things related to sexual attraction (e.g. homosexuality) might start around puberty, but things related to gender itself can start even earlier than that. This source claims that about ¾ of folks with gender dysphoria first experience it by age 7.

        • afraid_of_zombies@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          Everyone says this but I remember my teachers wasting our time pretty often. I can still tell you about my 7th grade English teacher’s time he met his future daughter-in-law but not the difference between an adverb and a verb.

          • CarlsIII@kbin.social
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            1 year ago

            The thing I remember the most from 5th grade was the day we learned the names of all the NBA teams

        • DessertStorms@kbin.social
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          1 year ago

          Except it isn’t a fucking logical point, it’s whataboutism and an army of strawmen.
          And by playing devils advocate with these empty fallacies (and admitting you haven’t even bothered to read the details, or know anything about this book that has you running scared), you are actively (and to my personal impression, deliberately) contributing to the problem.

            • Kythtrid@sh.itjust.works
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              1 year ago

              there is a nuanced difference between transphobia and not wanting to discuss topics that cause arguments in a school

              It’s still transphobia, the only reason it’s viewed as a political topic is because of transphobia. It’s pretty cowardly to say we should avoid talking about gender/trans issues just because it makes people uncomfortable, and might cause arguments. Trans people exist, but you’re arguement kinda says to me “They aren’t worth the trouble, id rather sideline them to avoid disagreements.”.

              Abortion is a rough comparison, it’s a heavy topic and I think it would probably be inappropriate for more reasons than just being a “Political” topic.

    • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      The ‘insubordination’ part is especially confounding. She’s insubordinate by reading a children’s book to children? What?

      • harmonea@kbin.social
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        1 year ago

        She’s insubordinate by reading a children’s book to children? What?

        If it’s "insubordination’ then it’s safe to assume either (a) she was explicitly told not to do this by a superior, or (b) there must be a rule or regulation against it in the school district.

    • mindbleach@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Applying logic to bigotry is a waste of time. It’s just ingroup loyalty. The rest is mouth noises. They won’t be clever noises, and they won’t be consistent noises.

    • BarrelAgedBoredom@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      I did some digging to see if she was teaching a particular subject or anything. She was a teacher in the schools gifted program and per her Wikipedia page “According to the Cobb County School Board, Rinderle read the book during a time block that was supposed to be dedicated to mathematics instruction and enrichment, but Rinderle denies this allegation.”.

      I’m going to keep looking but it seems like their schooling is structured differently than I have any experience in. When I was in 5th grade we had 3 teachers that we rotated between for different subjects. It seems like she was responsible for several subjects or the entire curriculum for her students. Either way, the school boards intent is clear and malicious.

      • agent_flounder@lemmy.one
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        1 year ago

        Thanks for looking into this.

        Reading an off topic book during a particular time block isn’t an offense deserving of termination to any same person, either.