blog #3

Dennis Carlson

1. "We get much farther if we pay attention to ... the 'silent spaces' or the 'not said' of the text, ... others have called the 'structuring silences' within texts."

I was really hoping that this would be mentioned in this article. It's not always what we were taught in high school about the gay community but its also everything we weren't taught. I took a sociology class in high school and thank god my teacher was gay, because really up until that class in my senior year, the only thing I knew about homosexuals was the perverted information I heard on tv. I remember mentioning, very briefly the gay community during my U.S. history course, but that lesson consisted of ' oh yeah and there was gay people too, okay see you next class.' lol Honestly, I don't ever remember hearing anything constructive in my classes about this subject. It was like we were being sheltered from something "bad", its out there but it would never touch us. And I think that that's how high schoolers end up seeing it, I don't remember anyone "coming out" when I was in high school but I have heard of a few since. High school kids are being silenced... with more silence.

2. "Straight teachers often participant in silencing practices because they are fearful of raising a controversial issue that might provoke conflict in the classroom."

He also mentions that gay teachers do not want to bring up the subject, just in case they might be outed. As sad as it is, they are completely right to feel scared and protective of their jobs and their way of life. It is always easier to just play it safe and remain quiet than involve any risk, especailly when you are dealing with kids that might not be mature enough to handle it. When something unfamiliar crosses our path our first instinct is to take step back, and if there is no one in these schools explaining exactly what gayness is, that step back can be fatal. For both parties, the teacher and the student. The teacher will now have to fear for their job and their popularity among students, and the students are losing out on a wonderful learning experience.

3. "Interestingly, other language in the curriculum was also modified to appeal to traditionalist and religious fundamentalist groups."

This quote is talking about the "Rainbow Curriculum" this was an effort to bring homosexuality into the clasroom in a constructive manner. It would show pictures of families being same sex parents and children. This would help tremendously, this would eliminate some of those deep set stereotypes we all have, that a family is a mommy, a daddy, and a baby. Why? Because when we were all little and our teachers, and our parents were teaching us what a family is, that was the model they used. Now that we are older and (hopefully lol) wiser, we understand that there are alot more definitions of what a family really consists of.

I, for one, have always been taught, by various sources, that love is a beautiful thing that should be revered and cherished. That it is something that all people deserve, for the simple fact that they are people. But who exactly set the parameters for what that love can constitute, is love something that I can only feel for the opposite sex. And what if I were to love someone of the same sex, would that alter the definition, would love now be dirty and vile. I think that Carlson was a little dry in this piece, or maybe its just that I am absolutely exhausted, I do not know anymore. However, despite this set back, I enjoyed reading something on homosexuality, I found it informative and interesting. As a "straight" person I found this to be enlightening. I agree with him in many instances that we need to alter our preconcieved notions of what sexuality is, and we need to start young. Let's open up kids minds to new possibilities while they are still young and maybe we can stave off some of that hatred that breeds with such ease.