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The Gay Day of Silence is fast-approaching — this Thursday — and many “family organizations” are calling out in protest against school participation.
Not only are they saying it’s a waste of time, but many dissenters also claim it’s a waste of taxpayer’s money.
The Day of Silence is designed to acknowledge gay and lesbian peers who suffered at the words — and hands — of other students. Read: sexual-orientation bullying. The students participating will not speak a word during classes to show their support for gay and lesbian students that have suffered ridicule. This year will mark the 15th anniversary of GLSENs attempt to spread awareness.
An estimated 5,000 students will participate in this year’s day of silence and some parents and organizations are dead-set against the entire idea. Laurie Higgins, a director for the Illinois Family Institute states:
“I think that we shouldn’t be exploiting public education for this. There are better ways to use taxpayer money. We send our kids there to learn the subject matter, not … to be unwillingly exposed to political protest during instructional time.”
And … I disagree. What’s disruptive is children remaining stubbornly unaware of the suffering of their peers — homosexual peers that are subjected to harassment day in and day out. Fights that break out in the hallways because of sexual-oriented slurs is disruptive. A school-aged child cowering in the bathrooms during lunch period because he or she was shamed by peers — or worse, teachers — for being gay.
Higgins, among other individuals and entities that do not support such frivolity are calling out to parents to withdraw their children from schools that insist on participating in this event. As if that won’t “disrupt” classes — or proper education — either. A day of smart-mouthed school kids keeping their yaps closed? Hardly a drop in the bucket when it comes to comparison of things that actually matter.
I don’t get it, guys. If you don’t want to support something that’s “weird” and gay, that’s your narrow-minded prerogative. So … why don’t you just pretend it’s against bullying (which, it is, in a manner of speaking) and leave it be at that?
Thoughts?
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I’m not really for or against this, but how exactly does being silent waste tax payer money?
I’m pretty sure the schools don’t buy gilded gags woven of the finest Japanese silk for their students to use to show their support. In fact, I’m fairly certain the school district doesn’t have to buy anything with their precious taxpayer money.
FURTHERMORE, it’s totally disruptive when people in my classes don’t speak. It definitely interrupts my ability to listen to the professor. (/sarcasm).
[...] Uh, do I have to work on “Gay Day”? [...]
[...] Critics Say “Gay Day” Is A Waste of Time & Money – Zelda Lily [...]
Oh God… it’s not about “narrow-minded prerogative”, it’s about money. Noone’s being homophobic here.
I’m sure schools have much better things to spend money on than this; for example, and without going any further, in my high school we had to wear coats, hats and gloves INSIDE the classroom because the heating was that deficient, from November to March. Anyway I don’t know how is this going to need any money, it is just silence.
That said, I think that since the complaint is coming from “family organisations”, it is just a piss-poor excuse to stop any normalisation of homosexuality in schools.
No one’s being homophobic? Funny, I heard that this event isn’t going to cost anyone any money, so how would that be pissing people off? Secondly, I have very conservative friends on Facebook who are boycotting this and spreading anti-support prop[aganda about it not because it’s supposed to cost money, because it’s “wrong to allow children to push an agenda in school when school’s aren’t there to support homosexuality” and I quote that from a man that i’m Friends with on facebook.
And if you think that the resistance is coming from family organizations to stop normalization of homosexuality in schools then clearly, your first sentence of “noone’s being homophobic here” is wrong and you counteracted it yourself by saying so.
Mmhh It’s contradicting, not counteracting, but yeah, you’re right, I contradicted myself. However, if you read my post again, I think you’ll see I’m also mentioning how it’s not going to cost any money: “Anyway I don’t know how is this going to need any money, it is just silence.”
There is no need to snap like that at me.
It’s not so much that it costs money, just that it wastes money. Students go to school to learn and if they’re sitting there refusing to participate in class then money is being wasted on a teacher standing in front of uncooperative students. There’s the possibility of things needing to be rescheduled like oral exams which again would cost money. It’s not a huge expense in the grand scheme of things but it’s there. If a student refuses to participate or take an oral exam that day then the teacher would be perfectly within their rights to knock their grade down or fail them depending on the situation and you can bet the resulting uproar from that would cost the school a pretty penny.
That was my thought too. In my classes, I am always one of, if not THE most vocal student (largely because I’m the smartest….j/k). If I were banned from speaking in class, I just wouldn’t go. Period. What’s the point?
Besides, I would feel mortified for the poor teacher, standing up there and getting no response. Hell, the teachers might as well take the day off if the class is going to sit and stare at you in stony silence.
I didn’t think about it that way. I didn’t consider “Oh, they won’t be speaking in class.” I just thought they’d be silent in the hallways and in the cafeteria. Yeah, definitely wouldn’t be cool NOT talking in class. I’m the blabbermouth in class, too, the one with a million opinions and questions about each different thing. I’m the girl people are annoyed with because she won’t stop asking the professor questions at the end of class. :(
The entire point of class is to ask questions, discuss and learn. Can’t really do that effectively if you aren’t speaking.
At my high school everyone was really reasonable about not talking. If they had a test or presentation where they needed to talk they didn’t make a fuss about it. Mostly, it was kept in the hallways and breaks.
Sydney, I was a little bit confused by your response. Are you under the impression that the day of silence means that students will be banned from speaking, or are you just exaggerating for effect? No one will ban anyone; students who wish to participate will do so (and it’s only an estimated 5,000 total). When I was teaching, I had absolutely no problem with the students who chose to remain silent on this day. It’s only one day. The students who like to participate in class will either be silent for one day and still participate in class every other day of the year or will choose not to take part in “Gay Day” and participate in class, while the students who don’t like to participate in class will be silent anyway. If having a few students who stay silent in each class is a waste of taxpayer money, then every single day of school is a waste of taxpayer money. =)
Conservative here, supporting this “Gay Day of Silence.” Just want you all to know that we aren’t all gay bashing freaks.
I couldnt be a louder or more willing supporter for GLBTI issues BUT I would think that this was a waste of time. You are in class to learn (says she who hardly attended class) and I think this teaches dissent. You couldnt have a silent day in a courtroom or an office, kids will use this to further their OWN agendas (ie being little pricks) and I think the message is lost.
Rather have a zero tolerance policy for homosexual bullying. Is it really that bad? I was a carpet muncher at a Catholic school. No-one bothered me about it, and i would say the majority of people at my school thought homosexuality lead you straight to hell!
I say if anyone bothers you about being a gay kid, belittle them for being closed minded and then break their nose.
No! No zero-tolerance policies! Those ALWAYS end up written in a manner that causes people huge penalties for stupid little things that were unintentional or tiny issues where everyone agrees it’s an overreaction, but the school claims it can’t do anything different because ‘that’s what the zero-tolerance policy says’.
How about a return to REASONABLE policies, and THINKING? And no acceptance for bullying, which is policed by reasonable teachers, rather than draconian laws.
To be honest, I have no idea what a zero-tolerance policy is. I just thought it sounded tough.
I was ‘asked to leave’ one highschool for pretending i was going to forcibly insert a wooden ruler up another girl. That wasn’t very tolerant OR diversity friendly. AND absolutely devoid of the sense of irony that she was being snarky to me about being a virgin and I was pretending I was going to ‘measure the depths of her virginity’ he he he.
I agree. Taxpayer dollars should be used. In class, kids should be held to the same expectations. Outside of that, if you think it makes a difference, feel free to shut up!
[...] SAY WHAT? Critics say Gay Day is a waste of time and money [Zelda Lily] [...]
Maybe it is, but I didn’t see this as school-sponsored. It sounds like something some people are participating in to show support for a cause, NOT something a school or district decided to join. If that’s the case, then students should be able to participate and support whatever they want to support. For my money, if my students decided to remain silent in class for a day to support a cause, I would rejoice that they actually cared about something.
[...] SAY WHAT? Critics say Gay Day is a waste of time and money [Zelda Lily] [...]
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