I won’t go into all the details here, just go read Brian’s post about New York’s new “gay high school.”
A well-meaning but very misguided (in my opinion) attempt to deal with the very real harrassment of gay teens, for reasons which Brian elucidates and which are added to in the comments. Though my summary is, Dealing with intolerant thugs by secluding their victims in a separate school seems to be a generally bad idea to me.
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Us, too. Initially, Kim and I both thought, “Wow, that’s cool.” Over the rest of the day, we each realized that this was a very, very bad idea. Might as well paint bullseyes on the kids, for one thing, not to mention that it would teach that it’s alright to segregate.
Not a good lesson, in my opinion.
From a practical stance, I suppose the targeting thing makes sense to worry about. I worry a lot more about the lessons being taught, e.g.,
… if you beat up on people you don’t like to have around, they’ll go away.
… if people beat you up for who you are, run.
… conflicts can be solved by trying to shuffle around the deck chairs.
… it’s not the fault of the bullies, it’s the fault of the victims for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
… our differences trump our similarities.
… it’s better to hang with people you are like than with people who are different.
Hmmm. Is Harvey Milk HS a modern-day Liberia?
There’s a pretty good argument going on at my place now. Heh. Debates are often an enjoyable catharsis, what can I say?