Guest Column
Teaching tolerance without a class
- Creating a culture of consideration for others is the best way to keep our kids safe in school.
- Los Angeles Times Opinion
- February 22, 2008
The fatal shooting of an
Oxnard middle-school student who told classmates he was gay serves
as a sorrowing andurgent reminder that all kids need a safe school
environment, free of threat or harassment. That's best taught to
children through everyday interactions in the classroom and on the
playground, by observant teachers, stern principals and strong
school leaders. Both a proposed California curriculum on diversity
education and a ludicrous decision in Virginia to pull a
children's book depicting two male penguins raising a chick send
the schools in the wrong direction.
When a 14-year-old is charged with murdering a classmate, it's
certainly tempting to respond with official action that we'd like
to think would prevent such horrors. We applaud Assemblyman Mike
Eng (D-Monterey Park) for his good intentions, inspired by the
death of Lawrence King. But just as school D.A.R.E. programs have
been ineffective at preventing drug abuse, Eng's proposal for a
pilot curriculum on tolerance strikes us as one of those ideas
that sound better to adults than to kids. It also lays another
Sacramento mandate on teachers who can barely squeeze required
history lessons into the school day.
The state already has mandates against harassment of gay students;
many schools have anti-bullying programs in place. The most
effective practices create a school culture around consideration
for others. Teachers notice and reward kind behavior and punish
bullying. Student counselors volunteer to mediate. Principals back
their teachers by swiftly intervening in disputes and by imposing
discipline that opens the eyes of both students and parents.
Standing up for tolerance even when parents are hostile isn't one
of the easier tasks school administrators face. And it's where a
superintendent in Virginia failed miserably.
A parent complained that a book in the elementary schools promoted
gay lifestyles. "And Tango Makes Three" is based on the true story
of two male penguins at New York's Central Park Zoo that tried to
hatch a rock. A zookeeper gave them a fertilized egg, which they
did hatch, raising the chick. The book certainly sends a message
that two-father families exist, and quite happily. That's simply
the truth, whether or not some people would like to ban gay
ornithological unions. Too bad that, even though two committees
favored keeping the book, the superintendent pulled it from all
elementary shelves in the school district.
It takes common sense and sometimes bravery to nurture tolerance
at school. There are teachers, school counselors and even students
doing this every day. Leaders would be better off supporting their
efforts than putting more requirements on their shoulders or
forbidding true stories of acceptance.
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