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Jason Wood's avatar

I teach at a large Toronto private school, and my children attend school in the York Catholic Board. Here are some thoughts:

1. The polarization of the woke movement has created such a significant divide that any dissent or questioning of the ideology results in immediate aggressive backlash. The York Catholic board voted DEMOCRATICALLY not to raise the pride flag. None of these news organizations or the ETFO took a second to consider why an entire school board might vote this way. Instead, they are labelled akin to a hate group.

2. The parents at my kid's school are like the readers of this Substack. We're not hateful of the LGBT community; we just don't think that gender ideology MUST be taught in elementary schools, or ideally, any K-12 school.

3. What I'm noticing as a teacher in middle school is this weird situation where students are highly immature for their age due to over-coddling. Yet, their bodies begin puberty right on schedule. Add access to unlimited porn into the mix, and you have an enormous pile of kindling ready to be lit by any Woke activist. Students just don't have the capacity to maturely deal with these issues.

4. Parents can do more than they think. Protesting at school boards is essential, but not as having open and frank discussions with your child about what is happening at their school. Kids have a built-in will to rebel against the mainstream ideas of the day. They're not as influenced by this ideology as you think, especially when it comes from teachers. I can't tell you how many times students pushback against the woke celebration of the day when us teachers are forced to promote it. Just the other day, a student raised their hand and said, 'Why does our school spend so much time talking about Pride?'

5. Find teachers like me in schools. There are more of us than you think. Unfortunately, most stay silent (see #1) or simply tow the party line. When I finally raised my hand to complain about the increasingly activist approach to discussing these issues at school, I was shocked to see how many people openly agreed. Even the head of the LGBT club said it had gotten out of hand. She just wanted a place for gay kids to hang out at lunch, and it turned into a club where students with different pronouns planned protests against specific teachers.

Keep up the great work. People are tired of the whole thing and begging to feel more comfortable speaking up. I know I am!

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Christopher Brunet's avatar

i recently saw that 13% of the highschool i went to in Ottawa is either trans or non-binary now

13% of my highschool doesnt know what gender they are. Think about that. This should be a national emergency!

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