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bacasper
Joined: 26 Mar 2007
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 Posted: Fri Sep 11, 2009 10:41 pm Post subject: Online gay school to launch |
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Is this a good idea? In the civil rights era, black students were bussed to white schools, the idea being that integration would allow the groups to get to know each other better and would thus foster harmony in the long run. It seems to have been part of an overall successful strategy.
This plan seem like it might do just the opposite, pushing gay students further into the closet.
What do you think?
Online gay-friendly high school launching in January
By 365gay Newswire
08.06.2009 5:54pm EDT
(Minnesota) A Maplewood, Minnesota-based GLBTQ High School will be launched online in January 2010 reports the Pioneer Press. Started by David Glick, the online high school would be the first of its kind.
�We may not bring people closer physically - but we will in every other way,� Glick said. �We want to make them feel more confident about who they are.�
Glick started working on the website, which will be called the GLBTQ Online High School, in order to reach students who live in rural areas that do not have access to many resources.
While Glick argues that this online school would protect students from bullying and act as a safe-haven, many fear that they will simply be further isolated from their peers.
�The danger of the online high school is that kids will stay isolated and feel uncared for,� said David Johnson, a social psychology teacher at the University of Minnesota. �It would be much better to have these kids in a regular high school.�
Others, such as Glick and Curt Johnson, disagree and believe students gain a closer relationship with their teachers online due to increased interaction.
�The individual transactions of e-mailing and telephoning regularly creates a relationship between students and teachers,� said Johnson, a managing partner at Education Evolving, a joint venture of the Center for Policy Studies and Hamline University that promotes technological progress in schools.
Through the use of videos, chats, graphics and other multimedia, and occasional phone calls, teachers on the online high school will teach a more �GLBT-friendly� curriculum that highlights importance figures in gay rights history.
Visit the GLBTQ Online High School�s website here to find out more information. |
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Fox
Joined: 04 Mar 2009
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| Posted: Fri Sep 11, 2009 10:46 pm Post subject: |
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| I think online high schools in general are an interesting possible supplementary idea. I see no problem with an online educational resource, staffed by professional teachers, which is friendly to homosexuals and tries to help them deal with social issues that may confront them. I don't even have a problem with it providing some high school credits. It should remain a supplementary resource, though, and never replace normal, integrated high school education. |
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acrhao
Joined: 09 Sep 2009
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| Posted: Sat Sep 12, 2009 6:31 pm Post subject: |
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| Fox wrote: |
| It should remain a supplementary resource, though, and never replace normal, integrated high school education. |
I agree. Waking up and physically going to school is part of the high school experience and EVERYONE, not just the gay/homosexual population, go through adolesence and identity crisis in high school. Should an African-American student go to an online school just for African-Americans because they experience racism at school? I don't think so.
People need to toughen up (and I'm not just referring to the gay/homosexuals). How are they ever going to go out and live in the "real world" if they're guarded and protected like this? |
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ddeubel
Joined: 20 Jul 2005
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| Posted: Sat Sep 12, 2009 9:01 pm Post subject: |
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| Should an African-American student go to an online school just for African-Americans because they experience racism at school? I don't think so. |
They don't have to go online. They can now just go to their neighborhood Afrocentric school... One just opened in Toronto. Lots of links about this on my recent blog post.
http://ddeubel.edublogs.org/
At first I was really weary about all this. Now, after discussion with a lot of teachers online on many sites, I've come around. I really don't see a problem with schools, online or off that cater to a specific group/need/culture.... I'm all for choice. Even just getting a degree and foregoing the "high school " experience which for most students ISN"T an exercise in becoming a mature, adult. Rather, a way to inculcate and establish a dominant culture of delayed adolescence...which is very much what America and much of the Western world has become. Grown up children.
Pardon my liberal education but I think it was a good thing to become an adult and to have school as something that prepares you for adulthood - you don't get that in high school these days. You learn from your peers and that for most high school students means dropping out, crime, pregnancy, reckless acts (death) etc....
DD
http://eflclassroom.com |
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acrhao
Joined: 09 Sep 2009
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| Posted: Sat Sep 12, 2009 9:50 pm Post subject: |
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| ddeubel wrote: |
online school just foThey don't have to go online. They can now just go to their neighborhood Afrocentric school... One just opened in Toronto. Lots of links about this on my recent blog post.
http://ddeubel.edublogs.org/ |
- point taken, but you have to consider there's a difference between physically going to school and taking online courses.
if the African-American kids are attending "Afrocentric" schools and are learning to prepare for adulthood by going there.. fine. i have nothing against that since they are getting out of the house and going to school to interact and socialize with other people
my opinion would be different if they were building an actual school for gay/homosexuals to attend.
but, how will they be prepared for adulthood by sitting at home staring at the computer screen? the impression i get from this "gay-friendly" school is that rather than encouraging them to be true to their sexuality, they're encouraging them to live as hermits hiding it. |
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djsmnc
Joined: 20 Jan 2003
Location: Dave's ESL Cafe
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| Posted: Sun Sep 13, 2009 1:30 am Post subject: |
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| I think it's great! Out of sight out of mind! |
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Sector7G
Joined: 24 May 2008
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| Posted: Sun Sep 13, 2009 2:37 am Post subject: |
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| djsmnc wrote: |
| I think it's great! Out of sight out of mind! |
Does that mean when they are in sight, you can't keep your mind off of them? |
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djsmnc
Joined: 20 Jan 2003
Location: Dave's ESL Cafe
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| Posted: Sun Sep 13, 2009 4:12 am Post subject: |
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| Sector7G wrote: |
| djsmnc wrote: |
| I think it's great! Out of sight out of mind! |
Does that mean when they are in sight, you can't keep your mind off of them? |
Exactly! I meant when WE are out of sight |
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benji
Joined: 21 Jul 2009
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| Posted: Sun Sep 13, 2009 4:29 am Post subject: |
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| I wonder what the school mascot will be? |
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alpope23
Joined: 15 Mar 2006
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| Posted: Sun Sep 13, 2009 5:34 am Post subject: |
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| benji wrote: |
| I wonder what the school mascot will be? |
Richard Simmons!  |
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bacasper
Joined: 26 Mar 2007
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| Posted: Sun Sep 13, 2009 9:27 am Post subject: |
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| ddeubel wrote: |
| Quote: |
| Should an African-American student go to an online school just for African-Americans because they experience racism at school? I don't think so. |
They don't have to go online. They can now just go to their neighborhood Afrocentric school... One just opened in Toronto. Lots of links about this on my recent blog post.
http://ddeubel.edublogs.org/
At first I was really weary about all this. Now, after discussion with a lot of teachers online on many sites, I've come around. I really don't see a problem with schools, online or off that cater to a specific group/need/culture.... I'm all for choice. Even just getting a degree and foregoing the "high school " experience which for most students ISN"T an exercise in becoming a mature, adult. Rather, a way to inculcate and establish a dominant culture of delayed adolescence...which is very much what America and much of the Western world has become. Grown up children.
Pardon my liberal education but I think it was a good thing to become an adult and to have school as something that prepares you for adulthood - you don't get that in high school these days. You learn from your peers and that for most high school students means dropping out, crime, pregnancy, reckless acts (death) etc....
DD
http://eflclassroom.com |
You make some good points here. Seeing as how regular schools inculcate the dominant culture, as you put it, perhaps any alternative is an improvement.
While I agree that having their own space where they can feel free to be themselves is important, I also agree with Fox that it should somehow be combined with regular schooling. |
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Goku
Joined: 10 Dec 2008
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| Posted: Sun Sep 13, 2009 6:01 pm Post subject: |
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I think it's a great idea.
Highschoolers especially are sensitive about social groups and acceptance. This is much needed support and assurance they can get if otherwise unavailable from their family and friends.
I know it totes on some sensitive issues like... is it morally or is it racist to have an exclusive such highschool.
But in the end, it's about the kids and if they are happy right? So why not? |
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Koveras
Joined: 09 Oct 2008
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| Posted: Sun Sep 13, 2009 6:09 pm Post subject: |
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| There should be straights-only and whites-only highschools too. |
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Sector7G
Joined: 24 May 2008
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| Posted: Sun Sep 13, 2009 6:44 pm Post subject: |
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| Koveras wrote: |
| There should be straights-only and whites-only highschools too. |
I was going to say, "You're kidding, right?". But come to think of it, Jerry Falwells' Liberty University is probably pretty close to fitting that bill, and I am sure there are a lot of similar private high schools that do also.
But anyway, do you think either of the groups you mentioned really suffer from harassment to the point of needing a "safe haven"? |
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Fox
Joined: 04 Mar 2009
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| Posted: Sun Sep 13, 2009 6:55 pm Post subject: |
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| Koveras wrote: |
| There should be straights-only and whites-only highschools too. |
A school with the stated purpose of being friendly to homosexuals need in no way limit itself to homosexual admissions. Presumably, the only people who would be turned away would be people who are outright intolerant.
Honestly, the school would probably be overjoyed to have tolerant heterosexuals participate. |
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