– Steve Greguske
In Part 1 we learned that our school has embraced the New Jersey Department of Education’s transgender guidance. To summarize, in Part 1 we learned that the Department has deliberately inserted school districts between the parents and their children if a child voices a gender concern. Per the Department, any statement made by the child is to be taken at face value—blind acceptance is required by the school district. And the school district is under absolutely no obligation to inform the child’s parents.
So how does a school district identify potential transgender students? You may have noticed that some of the teachers are starting to use their preferred pronouns in their correspondence. They are also using them in their classrooms.
In addition, the school, via a computerized survey, asks students to identify their personal pronouns (see photo below showing a section of the survey).
When asked why these questions are asked, the Chief School Administrator, S. Varley, deflected by saying the questions are optional with no mention of why or how the data is used.
So, what’s the big deal? It’s just personal pronouns, right? Time for some critical thinking…
Google ‘number of pronouns’ and a host of links become available. The University of Wisconsin LGBTQ+ Resource Center lists forty-five (45!) pronouns, some of them with spelling variants. The University of California, Davis, lists fifty (50!) pronouns. Springfield College lists twenty-three. So, we see there are differing proposals for pronouns yet our State Department of Education mandates their use—but which ones are ‘correct’? And what verb tenses are to be used with each variant? And are the verb tenses at the whim of the person voicing a preferred pronoun? The ludicrous nature of the Department of Education’s Guidance is readily apparent.
In 2022, the Board Attorney stated his (or her or zie) opinion that improper use of a person’s preferred pronoun is an HIB offense. This is supposed to make a person ‘kinder’.
As stated in Part 1, it must be incredibly difficult for teachers in this environment. Fixing this in a manner that is caring and considerate to all should be a top priority for our State Government.
There’s more to the pronoun story—nightmarishly more. Part 3 is in progress.