Safe Spaces
One of the first articles I thought of when I began reading this text was the Christensen article. I thought of this article because one of the first arguments made in this article is about how under representation leads to LGBTQ students assuming that what they are doing is wrong. In my Christensen article reflection, I talked a lot about the stereotypes that Disney movies often play into and the "secret education" that children learn because of it. However I never discussed the implications that this had for LGBTQ children. They never see any real representation in Disney tv shows or movies which I think is really disheartening. All kids deserve to have some type of character role model that they can relate to and look up to you, because I personally feel that having that type of connection makes it much easier to get through your childhood.
These kids not having a character similar to them, implies that there aren't other people like them and that what they are doing is wrong. In the article the authors discuss how when parents and schools choose to avoid LGBTQ education they are feeding into the problem and I 100% agree and feel like Disney should step up and make a change. Disney has a huge platform to change that culture if they made a princess that had a girlfriend instead of a prince. There are rumors that Elsa may have a girlfriend in Frozen 2 and I think that would be such an awesome step in the right direction for everyone.
I also thought a lot about the Kozol article while reading this article. This article wasn't as descriptive in its nature and didn't follow a specific storyline or setting but it did describe American classrooms and how they aren not inclusive to LGBTQ students. The article discusses creating safe spaces for LGBTQ students so that they have somewhere they can go and be themselves away from the sometimes harsh criticisms of their peers. I feel like Kozol would have liked this idea had his article pertained to LGBTQ rather than those struggling financially. This article also talks about ways educators can make their classrooms more inclusive for these students so that they do feel safer. Kozol's article discussed how those who are in the major low socioeconomic status face more challenges in the classroom due to the challenges they face outside of the classroom which I think relates strongly to this article because if students don't feel safe they aren't going to learn.
These kids not having a character similar to them, implies that there aren't other people like them and that what they are doing is wrong. In the article the authors discuss how when parents and schools choose to avoid LGBTQ education they are feeding into the problem and I 100% agree and feel like Disney should step up and make a change. Disney has a huge platform to change that culture if they made a princess that had a girlfriend instead of a prince. There are rumors that Elsa may have a girlfriend in Frozen 2 and I think that would be such an awesome step in the right direction for everyone.
I also thought a lot about the Kozol article while reading this article. This article wasn't as descriptive in its nature and didn't follow a specific storyline or setting but it did describe American classrooms and how they aren not inclusive to LGBTQ students. The article discusses creating safe spaces for LGBTQ students so that they have somewhere they can go and be themselves away from the sometimes harsh criticisms of their peers. I feel like Kozol would have liked this idea had his article pertained to LGBTQ rather than those struggling financially. This article also talks about ways educators can make their classrooms more inclusive for these students so that they do feel safer. Kozol's article discussed how those who are in the major low socioeconomic status face more challenges in the classroom due to the challenges they face outside of the classroom which I think relates strongly to this article because if students don't feel safe they aren't going to learn.
I agree that if students don't feel safe, they aren't going to learn. Not so much because they don't want to but because they are afraid to be themselves and some feel ashamed of who they want to be. This can cause a huge distraction on the actual academic aspect of school.
ReplyDeleteI agree that's its important for students to feel safe in their classrooms because if they don't they won't learn.I can relate because in middle school school I was severely made fun of and because I never felt safe within my classrooms, I did not pay attention to the curriculum because I was too busy watching gout for myself.
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