Misblog

Originally Published October 09, 2009; Last Updated March 23, 2010; Last Republished March 23, 2010:

Our high school principals (circus ringmaster is a more apropos title) have tough jobs and rarely will you discover one who does not genuinely care for their students. However, periodically our principals will disrupt the very diverse and dynamic learning environment they are responsible for developing, nurturing, and maintaining for the benefit of our sometimes not so grateful teens⁶.

Such is the case for North Cobb High School principal Phillip D. Page¹ when he offered assaulted⁴ student Jonathan Escobar the option of dressing more masculine or switching to a home school program.

An intolerant environment is never a learning environment—in fact intolerance by definition presumes there is nothing to learn. Exactly the opposite of the diverse and dynamic learning environment principals work so hard to develop, nurture, and maintain.

The reported facts are sketchy⁴. Apparently Jonathan is anatomically male but is more comfortable presenting as a female. Some of Jonathan's peers felt uncomfortable³ with Jonathan's feminine presentation and decided an assault⁴ was a proper remedy for their discomfort.

Principal Page instead of condemning the assault⁴ as an ineffective remedy for one's discomfort implicitly condemned Jonathan's feminine attire. Having condemned Jonathan's attire it logically followed, for Principal Page, that such attire is disruptive and must therefore be removed from North Cobb's environment.

By implicitly condemning Jonathan's attire, declaring it disruptive, and insisting on its removal Principal Page has himself disrupted North Cobb High School's learning environment.

Principal Page should immediately reverse his error by apologizing and inviting Jonathan back to North Cobb High School (assuming Jonathan wants to return⁵). Taking whatever steps are necessary to ensure Jonathan's safety while at school so that all students have an opportunity to learn and benefit from Jonathan's presence².

Web:

• Other Incidents of Gender Harassment:

  • UPDATED 03/11/2010 UPI, Prom canceled over same-sex date flap .

    Many of our schools, instead of teaching our children to master the concepts of tolerance are breeding pools for a harmful and virulent infectious intolerance—as with all harmful infectious vectors we must isolate and control or eliminate them.

    Additionally, we must do more to ensure all of our states achieve parity in providing our children continuous access to a quality education measured by rigorous national standards (UPI, Govs, educators propose common standards)—ensuring that tolerance replaces intolerance and high educational attainment replaces ignorance.

    Unfortunately, for awhile it may take lawsuits to guarantee our children are treated equally and with tolerance and treat others the same.
    

    • UPDATED 03/23/2010 ACLU, Court Rules That Mississippi School Violated First Amendment Rights Of Lesbian Student. The court found that Constance has a protected First Amendment expressive right to attend the school's prom with her girlfriend and wearing a tuxedo.

      The court characterized the school's prom sponsorship withdrawal as semantics, but nevertheless declined to find a public interest in ordering the school to reassert sponsorship of the now private parent prom at such a late date.

      The court retained jurisdiction for the purpose of enabling Constance to seek damages as a result of the school district's prom cancellation—perhaps the costs of the Safe Schools Coalition inclusive Tupelo prom and any harm incurred while attending the private parent prom with her girlfriend-date, wearing a tuxedo?

    • UPDATED 03/18/2010 ACLU, Fulton, MS Prom Discrimination and SW, Why can't Constance bring her date? for additional perspective and information and FB, Let Constance Take Her Girlfriend to Prom! for those expressing support.

      Hopefully, the district court judge (Senior Judge Glen H. Davidson) will explore at some length during the March 22, 2010 hearing, for its potential entertainment value, a prom as "disruptive of the educational process"—isn't that the definition of a prom?

  • UPDATED 01/15/2010 NPR, Justice Department Intervenes In Gay Rights Suit.

  • UPDATED 12/23/2009 UPI, Santa costume gets student suspended.

    Imagine the self-discipline required of our principals who must sit across from a santa-suited student and say with a straight face: "there's nothing wrong with your santa-suit, you just can't wear it to class"!

    ...the santa-suit wearing student was sent home for the day...his comment..."there were elves and reindeer and they didn't get suspended..."

    What about that principal Phillip D. Page (not connected with Strath Haven High)...how come the elves and reindeer didn't get suspended...wouldn't it just be better if our schools focused on teaching our students how to learn instead of how to dress what to wear.

• UPDATED 11/10/2009 NYT, Can a Boy Wear a Skirt to School?.

  Eventually we'll learn that it's the dress codes and fashion police creating the problem not what our students wear or don't wear.

  Evidently it's going to take awhile, we've been working on it since 19^th century women (and some men) first cinched up their curvy corset.

• UPDATED 10/19/2009 SouthernVoice, Student who wore female attire to North Cobb school returning to Miami.

• UPDATED 10/16/2009 SouthernVoice, What not to wear to school?.

  Why do our educators, administrators, and teachers persist in focusing on the irrelevant topic of a person's clothes?

  What does it matter if a person sits in class wearing a "Go Warriors" jersey and football helmet; or a band uniform and band leader's hat; or a neon pink diva wig and woman's dress boater hat with satin bow; or ninja costume; or judogi or clown face or whatever?

  Why aren't our educators, administrators, and teachers praising Jonathan's individuality and expressiveness, not to mention courage in exploring and developing his own identity?

  Surely our educators, administrators, and teachers are too enlightened to think a person's identity is: discoverable by reading a birth certificate; or determined by the jocks on the football team; or derived by the process of assault and battery.

  Wonder if you learn better dressed in what makes you comfortable with yourself or what makes others comfortable with you?

• UPDATED 10/10/2009 AJC, Cobb teen told he can't dress like a female at school
• UPI, Student withdraws from school over dress

-----notes-----

1. North Cobb High School is located in Kennesaw, Georgia and has a Great Schools overall rating of 7 of 10.

2. Principal Page's actions deprive other students from benefiting by Jonathan's presence.

By what logic can one or a few assaulting students deprive the entire student body (≈ 2,608) of North Cobb High School of the benefits from Jonathan's presence?

3. Education by definition is a diverse dynamic process. Stated differently what would a biologist learn by viewing the same cell, on the same slide, at the same magnification, with the same stain day after day?

Education (aka dynamic diversity) can be a painful process for our teens (particularly if they are taught or think it’s a static process). Just when a teen is confident they've worked out the whole penis-vagina thing, a Jonathan strolls past.

Damn...what the hell was that, they say to themselves? Some will begin the process of updating their learning (gender identity)—others will begin the process of updating their learning (civil society and assault).

So,...when does dynamic diversity (aka education) become disruptive? Your response is more important to the future of our nation than may be apparent on first thought.

Unfortunately Principal Page’s preference is for students updating their civil society and assault learning over those updating their gender identity learning (i.e. he removes Jonathan from North Cobb High School).

4. UPDATED 10/10/2009 It's unclear whether Jonathan was fearful or in apprehension of imminent harmful contact.

The Atlanta Journal Constitution (AJC) reported (see "Web:" section above) that Jonathan said "Everybody was surrounding me [in the lunchroom]". The AJC also reported that police pulled Jonathan from class to express concern for his safety.

Jonathan has said in an interview with local media that a verbal altercation about him turned into a fight (i.e. battery) between other students.

5. UPDATED 10/25/2009 Jonathan has permanently withdrawn from the hostile and intolerant environment at North Cobb High School. (see Student who wore female attire to North Cobb school returning to Miami)

Notwithstanding there exist zero data supporting any notion that a student's clothing is in anyway positively correlated with education (unless indoctrination or dogma is a proxy for education).

The notion that education is a place or location where you are indoctrinated or learn dogma is oxymoronic. Our children are correct to reject such a notion and our educators, teachers, and administrators must do the same (also our School Boards, Legislatures, and Supreme Court).

School is a dynamic and diverse environment where our children learn to learn, not where they are indoctrinated and recite dogma. School is not just a three-ring circus—in the case of North Cobb High School it's a two-thousand-six-hundred-eight-ring circus. One less now that Jonathan has permanently withdrawn. Not a comfortable environment for a dogmatist.

The risk of confusing education with indoctrination or dogmatic learning is that you produce dynamically illiterate individuals. The impacts of dynamic illiteracy are at this very moment negatively impacting a significant portion of our globe as populations struggle against a fast changing world.

Stated differently their dogma is obsolete and they cannot dynamically adapt—they only know how to wear one set of clothing in a clothing optional world. Increasingly their one set of clothing includes a suicide vest—each detonation is a poignant declaration against teaching or learning dogma. (see NYT Breaking News October 25, 2009; 0841am EST, Iraq Ministries Targeted in Car Bombings; Over 130 Dead)

6. UPDATED 10/26/2009 Many times it's the dynamically illiterate parents imposing their dogma on a principal.

Our school boards, legislatures, and Supreme Court can help immensely in this regard by protecting our principals from dogmatic parents. Occasionally it’s the school boards and legislatures imposing the dogma, which is where our Supreme Court can help.