Teachers Ordered To Call Students “Purple Penguins,” [Online HOAX]

a reply to: LukeDAP

We should not be banning gender as a whole. We should be working on how society sees gender roles (especially since most western cultures tend to be sexist) and teaching people what gender identity is, so that they can respect trans people. Simple as that.

This sounds sensible and reasonable to me.

originally posted by: beezzer
a reply to: eriktheawful

We home school our son because he went to DoD schools. When we came back to the states, he was so far ahead of his public-school contemperaries that it would have hurt him educationally to put him into the school system.

As it stands now, he's 11 and doing 7th grade level work now.

We actually have to slow him down so he can "graduate" at 15 instead of 13.

Yah, while attending DoD schools, ever odd grade had to take a test of various subjects, which was then compared to other schools (it was a single day event). Our scores were always higher than those of the kids back in the states.

Most of my teachers in High School while I was in Italy had Master degrees in their areas. The other thing that they would do is sit down and have a one on one with you if you were having problems. My 12th grade english teacher did that with me. She knew I HATED English lit. She asked what she could do to make it more interesting for me. I was stumped, and told her it was simply hard for me to read all the "thees and thous".
So she handed me a list: movies to watch. Mostly based on Shakespeare. And while it didn't make me very interested, it certainly helped me to understand it better, and my grades went up.

My advanced algebra (Trig) teacher sat me down. I was making "Ds" and actually that's because once he marked enough wrong for it to be a "D" he'd stop. He asked why I was in his class (I actually didn't need it to finish HS). I told him simply because my friends were taking it. He asked if the material was too hard to understand, and I told him that everything he wrote on the blackboard seemed like a blur to me. He told me I wasn't the only one that had said that, and that the following week he was going to do something new.
The next week, he rolled in this thing that was glass, lit up by fluorescent lights on the edges, and used colored markers that glowed on it.
It was like everything was leaping off that glass and into my mind. Suddenly what I was seeing made sense and was not a gigantic blur anymore.

I know a lot of teachers out there even today do care. My own son-in-law teaches middle school history, and he even dresses up in period costumes while teaching. His enthusiasm for his students is great.
However, Common Core. At first he thought it was a great idea. Now.......now he's very upset and told me it's like teachers are not allowed to teach anymore, but are more like gloryfied baby setters who just pass out information.

a reply to: Domo1

This is just ridiculous. How much did some idiot get paid to come up with this one?
Why on earth would you basically teach a child that there is no gender? This can only be another attack on traditional values.

a reply to: Domo1

If I had an education that is useless and later worked as an educationist, or whatever that term is, and wrote this kind of things to address the gender issue during the time I am suppose to be alive... I would have scratched my head and said "bless me I am dead" but unfortunately I am still alive to see such ------- (fill in the dash). And it makes me want to die...

a reply to: butcherguy

From the teacher training document (provided in Op's link):

- Gender identity is how people think of themselves and identify in terms of sex (man, woman). Gender
identity is a psychological quality; unlike biological sex, it can't be obsen/ed or measured, only reported
by the individual. Like biological sex, it consists of more than two categories, including those who
identify as a third gender, two-spirit (both), or agender (neither).

- Gender Expression is everything we do that communicates our sex/gender to others: clothing, hair
styles, mannerism, way of speaking, roles we take in interactions, etc. This communication may be
purposeful or accidental. lt could also be called social gender because it relates to interactions between
people. Gender expression also exists on a continuum, with feminine and masculine at either end. ln
between are those who express their gender androgynously (neither masculine nor feminine) as well as
those who express their gender at various points along the continuum.

This "story" originated with the National Review website, which often creates fake news, or heavily embellished "news" based on loosely connected real facts.

The school system has given gender guideline information to teachers but it's no where near as extreme as the National Review article implies, and the "purple penguin" part is a complete fabrication.

Boys and Girls are still plainly called "boys" and "girls" on the school district's website, and in their October newsletter. www.lps.org...

I'd just like to point out that there were many on this thread that used this story to attack a certain side of the political spectrum.

Come to find out it's complete BS and the other side of that political spectrum pretty much lied to get people outraged and worked-up.

Egg......meet face.

originally posted by: sheepslayer247
I'd just like to point out that there were many on this thread that used this story to attack a certain side of the political spectrum.

Come to find out it's complete BS and the other side of that political spectrum pretty much lied to get people outraged and worked-up.

Egg......meet face.

Wow. I don't think this kind of thing has ever happened before...

a reply to: sheepslayer247

It's an election season. Lots of this BS will surface.

Calling them "children" is more efficient than "purple penguins". "Children" only takes up two syllables while "purple penguins" takes up four. It's a waste of syllables that could be put to better use elsewhere, or better yet, just call them "kids" which just takes up only one syllable. That's three whole syllables saved.

Make language more efficient.

Save the syllables!

a reply to: kaylaluv

You'd think we would have learned something by now.

a reply to: SkepticOverlord

*sigh*

I know.....I know.

Well he really skirted the issue on this one in his denial of what really happened. Where’s the email he refers to that started this whole thing? He’s lying. He admits in the video that an email was sent out and information released to the public from a teacher. If you’re a representative of an organization and make a statement, you can erroneously do so but it reflects on the organization as a whole. He’s just doing some damage control to downplay what DID happen. It definitely could have been said, and released to the public based on this:

Much of the airtime given to the matter of gender sensitivity training in Lincoln framed the materials supplied as mandates or rules imposed on all schools within the district. However, as Brenda Leggiardo, LPS coordinator of social workers and counselors clarified to the Lincoln Journal Star after the issue gained widespread attention, the materials were provided as guidelines for educators to better understand gender identity issues and were not intended to impose rules mandating how those issues should be addressed:
The handouts, provided by a staff member on a district equity team, were meant only for teachers, not for students or parents, she said.

And they were not meant as rules staff had to follow, but as suggestions for how teachers can make students feel comfortable. It also stresses the impact words can have on others, Leggiardo said.

"If there's a staff member that's uninformed and unsupportive, that can be pretty scary for a family maybe struggling to understand transgender issues themselves," she said.


A parent with children at the middle school where the materials were distributed commented to the paper that the district was aiming for "the deconstruction of fundamental family and religious values." However, Student Services Director Russ Uhing stated that Lincoln Public Schools "do not push a political agenda, we don't push a religious preference on people, or a sexual preference on people ... [t]hat's not what our role is."

Read more at www.snopes.com...

a reply to: StoutBroux

Honestly that makes sense. This can be placed in the hoax bin all day long and it wouldnt change a thing. The fact is sensitivity training did go on. 9 /10 times it is just as ridiculous so I am guessing this wasnt the "balanced" and rational type of sensitivity training. They were trying to skew the issue of gender...sooo

So teachers can use their imagination and go beyond "blue penguins" and call kids spaghetti monsters if they like....that was just an example...OK.....they are still avoiding calling them boys and girls.

I dont understand why this was moved to the hoax bin. Did they NOT get absurd sensitivity training suggesting purple penguin as an EXAMPLE and guideline for future use of gender terminology? This can be clarified but it still is the BS it is.

I dont understand.

a reply to: tadaman
Thanks for the backup. I watched about 10 minutes of the video and realized it was a bunch of double speak and contradiction for what appears imho, to have actually happened so I quit watching it. I sure would love to see that email. Maybe a parent on here received it.

originally posted by: kaylaluv
a reply to: Annee

I just started homeschooling my daughter - she would be in the 8th grade this year.

It was just my personal experience with home schooled kids. I honestly don't think all homeschooled kids are that way. However, just saying a kid is homeschooled, is not the "end all - end all".

My oldest daughter was ADD (zero attention span on a one to one), this was back in 1972. I learned a lot.

Now raising 6 year old grandson with some autistic behaviors. He's been in special classes for 3 years. They're making him repeat kindergarten, which is CC, even though he taught himself to read at age 3.

I've got my hands full. I do a lot of homeschooling with him.

Personal responsibility is my core platform. "Your friends don't invite you back, their parents do".

The phrase "Peer Pressure" is not allowed in this house. It's Personal Responsibility.

originally posted by: Bone75
a reply to: Gryphon66

Well it was a stupid suggestion (crap, I forgot I'm not supposed to say stupid).

Most of us understand that it wasn't meant for parents and students. Its supposed to be a behind the scenes thing commonly known as brainwashing.

Use of "stupid" is fine with me ... I certainly see plenty of stupidity, just about everywhere I look.

But as to your point, yeah, who would have thought that American schools would be the source of any kind of "brainwashing" techniques, eh? Just because this particular subject matter ruffles your feathers though, ... [struck]?

You have an issue with acknowledging that gender (as opposed to sex) is constructed. Male and female are sexes, descriptive of anatomical characteristics (although, that isn't always as distinct and separate as we have been taught to believe).

Masculinity and femininity are constructed for us by the culture. You can dispute that fact, call it communist/Marxist/whatever-ist but it's obviously and patently true.

And, again, as has been pointed out the original article was garbage.

/shrug

Oh and ...

/eyeroll

At the school my children attend, they are given NUMBERS. At first I though, okay, the cubbies are numbered and coat hooks, what ever, but we're well into fall and my children are still required to write their first name and number, no last name. I need to look into this. =a reply to: Domo1

So here's the handout from the meeting.

watchdog.org...
Nebraska school says don’t call students boys or girls to be ‘gender inclusive’
By Deena Winter / October 2, 2014 /
Nebraska Watchdog

LINCOLN, Neb. – A Lincoln middle school staffer gave teachers training documents advising them not to use “gendered expressions” by calling students “boys and girls” or “ladies and gentlemen,” but to instead use more generic expressions like campers, readers, athletes or even purple penguins to be more “gender inclusive.”
A handout called “12 easy steps on the way to gender inclusiveness” advised teachers to avoid separating students by gender, but instead by birth dates or preferences. For example, they could ask students whether they prefer skateboards or bikes, milk or juice, dogs or cats, summer or winter.
“Always ask yourself, ‘Will this configuration create a gendered space?’” said Step 1 of the handout.
Or they could “Create classroom names and then ask all of the ‘purple Penguins’ to meet at the rug,” the handout said.
Step 5: “When you find it necessary to reference gender, say ‘boy, girl, both or neither,” the handout said. “When asked why, use this as a teachable moment. Emphasize to students that your classroom recognizes and celebrates the gender diversity of all students.”
Step 7: “Look for examples in the media that reinforce gender stereotypes or binary models of gender (it won’t be hard; they’re everywhere). When with others, call it out and interrogate it.”
Step 8: “Be intolerant of openly hostile attitudes or references towards others… on their statements about gender. Being punitive may stop the behavior, at least in your presence. Being instructive may stop it entirely.”
Step 10: “Avoid using ‘normal’ to define any behaviors.”
Another playful handout called “The Genderbread Person” said gender isn’t binary, it isn’t either/or and encouraged kids to define their gender based on how much they align with “what you understand to be the options for gender” such as “two-spirit” and “gender/queer.” The options for expressing gender ranged from butch to femme and androgynous to gender-neutral. The handout was written by “social justice comedian” Sam Killermann.
Lincoln Superintendent Steve Joel told KLIN Radio’s Drive Time Lincoln show Wednesday he was “happy” and “pleased” with the training materials because the school district wants all children to be successful and not feel like outcasts or be afraid to go to school. He said the school district needs to be inclusive and educate and understand all children and address bullying.

It seems a parent got ahold of the information and shared it with other opinions along with her assumption:

October 01, 2014 6:05 am • By MARGARET REIST / Lincoln Journal Star

Lincoln Public Schools administrators have begun talking to staff about transgender issues so they can better help students, and that has some parents worried the district is promoting an agenda.

“The agenda we’re promoting is to help all kids succeed,” said Brenda Leggiardo, LPS coordinator of social workers and counselors. "We have kids who come to us with a whole variety of circumstances, and we need to equitably serve all kids.”

But Rachel Terry, a parent with students at Lincoln Southeast High School and Irving Middle School, has sent emails to other parents saying LPS is promoting a “gender inclusiveness” agenda and asking them to join her at the Oct. 14 school board meeting.

“By sidelining academic teacher training and replacing it with social re-engineering, the LPS administration has placed a higher priority on social reformation than on education,” Terry says in a copy of an “introductory speech” prepared for school board members.
journalstar.com...

a reply to: StoutBroux

So you posted an article which has been previously linked, and then cited a small portion of a political parent's agenda comment? Snazzy.

Again,

1. The original article completely mischaracterized what has actually happened in Lincoln.

2. These suggestions were not instituted by the school district as policy.

Whether it fits in with personal political agendas or not, gender identification issues are and will be a matter of critical importance to some students. Period, end of story.

HUH? I don't get it, I guess I will just sit back and watch the spin on this one.

It doesn't seem to be a hoax, oh well, it is an election season and all.