vixenell

Point taken, and yes, in an ideal world, i'd agree with you wholeheartedly. Reality is that all children do not recieve equal education; not on a basis of race or gender, but by socioeconomic status, politics, or just plain luck and misfortune. The whole well-that-kid-can't-get-it-so-it-can't-be-good mentality doesn't really accomplish anything. I'm all for improving education, be it small scale helping a few rather than helping none at all, and adding a Papa John's bar in the cafeteria instead.

xorbie

While I don't know exactly what is up with this school, I am all for public or private funding of any school group that says "This school is only for people who don't feel like they fit in elsewhere and are accepting people." These people don't need to learn how to live with bigots by being beaten up on occaision for being atheist, gay, lesbian, Jewish, nerdy or whatever else. The people who need to be educated here are the bigots, they don't need to be given human punching bags, left alone and told to "act humanely and civily." You want them to become less homophobic? Show movies, make them read books about gays being violently treated. To assume that them being around gays will make them less homophobic is naive, as the two groups being around one another in the HS setting is exactly the problem here.

Fr.Andrew

(Fr Andrew): The problem is that many bullied kids--for whatever reason--get a poorer education because they're living in fear while they're in school. (Voluntary) segregation may be the only chance these children have to learn.
To assume that a separate school for gay kids will insulate them from the homophobia running throughout our culture--that it will somehow make them less prepared to deal with the "real world"--is naive.
What will make them less prepared for the "real world" is a poor education.

debater10

I am reminded of the effort to integrate public schools during the civil rights movement.
First, all the reasons to integrate the schools then are reasons NOT to separate students based on whether or not they are queer.
Second, I assure you that all of the African-American students feared being beaten up because of who they were, but they recognized that, given time, they woul dbe accepted. They chose not to back down from theiragressor, and they succeeded.
Reinstituting forced segregation woul be to ignore all that the civil rights movement taught us.

John Hancock

The healthiest attitude I see expressed on this thread is that of the good Father Andrew. By in large others seem to believe that one size fits all. I'd contend that those of this vein, are very limited in their vision.

John Hancock
__________________
"Fascism,should more properly be called corporatism, since it is the merger of state and corporate power." Mussolini

Feather

How is suggesting education and exposure to those that are different "one size fits all?"

The argument that not everybody is accepting or like-minded is trivial and not very enlightening. People living together in a society must compromise and work on differences lest anarchy reign. If the best compromise is "separate but equal," eventually the society will break when it is forced to compete with other more mixed societies due to reasons of efficiency and such like, I think.

Fr.Andrew

(Fr Andrew): Forced segregation is not under discussion.

RED DAVE

I was in on some of the brainstorming when this school was in the planning stages back in the 80s. The point, then, was, essentially, to provide a refuge for extremely effeminate gay boys and extremely butch lesbian girls who were taking heavy flack in their high schools.

Given the undeniable persecution that these kids suffer, and the total inability of the "adult" world to control the world of teenagers, such a concept seems to me to be common sensical.

RED DAVE

TollHouse

I agree.

John Hancock

Your suggesting that force socialization is good regardless of what harm it might do to indviduals? I don't think that forcing you to attend my own "might makes right Alma Mater" would could have pychologically help you.

John Hancock
__________________
"Fascism,should more properly be called corporatism, since it is the merger of state and corporate power." Mussolini