school values...

   Is teaching values in school wrong? Does it show a lack of judgement of priorities to offer students information about issues that are not directly related to the core curriculum? That (I believe) is the question posed by the writer of Crystal Clear last Wednesday. The issue was brought up because of an event at a high school that was offered to promote factual information as well as perspective on LGBT youth issues. The event was during school hours, but was voluntary to attend. It is one of the ways the school promotes diversity and tolerance.
   I believe that exposing students to knowledge is part of the educational experience. Not knowing the facts about issues doesn't empower young people to make educated decisions. And what good is our public education system doing if it doesn't turn out informed people? I don't think schools are there to push certain values or judgements, but opening up more perspectives for students by providing information is valuable.
   Granted parents are there to teach those values that they wish to pass on, while schools help to make sure all the information is there. One side of a story doesn't do much to bolster an opinion or value. If a racist parent wishes to pass on that value then that is their prerogative. But at the same time, a the school may present that African-Americans are not inferior to white people or that black and white people have many things in common. Would we fault the school for their judgement? Is that a bad value?
   What strikes me personally about this specific event is that if my school had such a thing when I was there, it would have done a lot to make my high school years better and more productive. I had to go search out the information myself. I was afraid at every turn of the way that someone would find out what I was looking for, and I would be outed. My grades dropped. My relationship with my parents and friends suffered because I couldn't be myself. And if I didn't hear anti-gay slurs each day of my junior and high school career, I might not have considered suicide when I did.
   The author of Crystal Clear suggests via her juxtaposition of articles (about the BGLAD event and another about math and reading scores) that perhaps this LGBT event was not valuable. I respectfully disagree. That event may have provided information for a LGBT student who was under or misinformed. That event may have helped ease the burden of anti-gay slurs heard on a daily basis. That event may have helped provide a better support network for someone. It may have helped save a student's life. And when studies show that LGBT teens are twice as likely to commit suicide than their heterosexual counterparts, I think that justifies the fact that there is a problem.
   What strikes me as both amusing and disturbing is the fact that some parents tried to crash the event by showing up and videotaping. Many schools, including this one, have policies against photographing or filming students without parents' permission. One parent felt so strongly that the students should not have been exposed to the information the school was providing that he went to the event himself, even though he had kept his children at home. Apparently he didn't feel that it was a good judgement on behalf of the school to have the event.
   These days the word "values" is a highly charged term. Parents worry about what values are being taught to their children. However, if learning about diversity and tolerance for people who are different are bad values to certain parents, I'm glad that schools are providing an informed perspective.
(sources: Crystal Clear; Newton HS Calendar; New study confirms gay teen suicide risk; Parents crash school's gay tolerance event)