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Civil liberties be damned. It doesn't matter. We don't have sexist activities in our school district.
Yes, we shall never again promote the father/daughter or mother/son relationship in schools because it's a violation of civil liberties. GMAFB It's crap like this that makes the opposition see civil liberty issues in a negative light.
No, I'm not sure, but that's what the articles said. I'm pretty certain that at least one of the schools in our district does as well. Maybe they're all breaking the law but no one has complained?
There is nothing about any Title IX violation in the link in the OP. It just talks about the ACLU.
ETA: Nor is there any mention of Title IX in the LA Times article in the OP on this topic in politics.
I wish my daughter was not interested in EVERY thing that the school puts on.
Oh come on now, that's just silly.
Our school has a wide variety of events, some target specific children and specific parents, but it is always widely publicized that it is open to everyone. One example, and my daughter's favorite activity is the father/daughter date night at a local fast-food joint. For that night there is table-side service, they have their picture taken, and the girls get a rose. Some boys take their mothers, some girls go with the significant men in their lives, be they grandfathers, uncles, most go with their fathers. People can go or not, but it is open to anyone.
None of the extracurricular activities are mandatory, but developing a cohesive school community has multiple advantages.
What's ridiculous is people who have this asinine notion that just because there is a 'father/daughter dance' or a 'mother/son baseball game' that it has anything whatsoever to do with 'restricting certain activites based on gender'! PLEASE...it's just a fun activity and makes the girls feel special for a night, and makes the boys feel special for a day. Lighten up for crying out loud.
I could see if they ONLY had activities that were for daughters, unless it was an all girls school, but my god in heaven, why are people so *^&^%$%^&*& OVERSENSITIVE TO EVERY LITTLE THING ANYMORE!!!!!!!?????
Why should schools be sensitive?
Because children in all kinds of families deserve to have those families acknowledged. And that isn't oversensitivity.
My father died and left me with three siblings to raise in addition to my own child. When my youngest sister was 8, they had father/daughter lunch, which was basically a big tea party. The school would not allow me to attend instead. They said it had to be a father or father figure. So I tried to have my brother, who was 16 or 17 at the time (and had stepped up to be a father figure for my sister). They said he was too young. My sister had no one to go to this with because our family did not meet the options that the school decided a family had to have. And there have been multiple gender specific father/daughter or mother son events and these have always taken an already painful event for a child and made it even worse.
So either change the name and be more inclusive or stop having events that victimize children all over again.
I think the point in all of it was trying to provide an event that would bond mother/son and father/daughter in activities neither pair normally participate in (for many people, not all or the majority lest the PC police jump on me). Normally, I don't play sports with my sons, DH does. So something like this would be cool for us and different.
Then go outside and play with your kid.
But when you make it a school wide event, it ostracizes some children.
We had a student a few years back whose mother died in a house in the fall of his senior year. That event made us realize we should rename our mother/son baseball game to the family field day.
The name did change made sure we did not rub salt in an already unbearable wound and did not in anyway prevent mothers from "bonding" with their child.
Silly to suggest it is the name and exclusivity of the event that cause the bonding.
Federal laws under Title IX allow father-son and mother-daughter events but state law is more restrictive, [Superintendent] Lundsten said.
"We're following the letter of the law," Lundsten, a mother of two grown sons, said.
School attorneys determined that national Title IX legislation does exempt activities like father-daughter dances and mother-son ballgames, but Rhode Island state law does not.
That answers the question about other states' schools.
Maybe I am more sensitive to this as I live and work with in eye sight of the world trade center. My daughter has gone to schools with children who lost parents, and I have had students who lost parents. Maybe it makes us more sensitive in general to families which do not fit the nuclear family mold.
Either way, a fun day for one family just isn't worth hurting other kids. At least at my school.
Maybe I am more sensitive to this as I live and work with in eye sight of the world trade center. My daughter has gone to schools with children who lost parents, and I have had students who lost parents. Maybe it makes us more sensitive in general to families which do not fit the nuclear family mold.
Either way, a fun day for one family just isn't worth hurting other kids. At least at my school.
I think the point some people tried to raise is that a LOT of families don't meet the nuclear family mold. The scenario you described up thread where you or your brother were not able to attend a function because you didn't fit the school's criteria I think is ridiculous and wrong. If schools were being rigid about these types of activities, then yes, I would consider that a problem. However, a situation where a child doesn't have a father, mother, grandparent, whomever, but another important person in his or her life can attend is IMO a good learning opportunity about all of the different things family is to different people. I don't think it needs to be a sensitive vs insensitive situation.
Last edited by eastwesteastagain; 09-20-2012 at 06:48 PM..
Why should schools be sensitive?
Because children in all kinds of families deserve to have those families acknowledged. And that isn't oversensitivity.
My father died and left me with three siblings to raise in addition to my own child. When my youngest sister was 8, they had father/daughter lunch, which was basically a big tea party. The school would not allow me to attend instead. They said it had to be a father or father figure. So I tried to have my brother, who was 16 or 17 at the time (and had stepped up to be a father figure for my sister). They said he was too young. My sister had no one to go to this with because our family did not meet the options that the school decided a family had to have. And there have been multiple gender specific father/daughter or mother son events and these have always taken an already painful event for a child and made it even worse.
So either change the name and be more inclusive or stop having events that victimize children all over again.
The problem there wasn't the name of the event - it was the idiots at the school who couldn't extend basic courtesies to a child.
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