Talking Points # 3

Gayness, Multicultural Education, and Community

Dennis Carlson

I believe that Carlson is trying to get people to see everyone as normal, and that there are no abnormal. He also says something about how teachers should take the responsibility to teach the children to use the words "lesbian","gay","homosexual" and any other words that people are afraid to use in today's society. These words should be used in every days life because there shouldn't be anything to be ashamed about. People today think that you should not use these words because they may offend people, but really, it is okay to use these words if you use them in the proper terms. 

1) “Willard Waller, in his 1932 classic The Sociology of Teaching, argued that homosexuals should not be allowed to teach for several reasons.”

I found this quote to be interesting because it shocked me that Carlson would bring the 1930's arguments into this article. Today's methods and beliefs are very different then what they were before. I was looking at Pat's blog and he said something about how this quote weakens her statement. I agree with that because by bringing in an argument that doesn't need to be brought in. She didn't need to bring this argument in because its not up to date with today's beliefs, I feel like if she found a newer argument then her piece would be a lot stronger.

2)"gay people have for the most part been made absent, invisible, and silent within this community and at the same time represented as the deviant and pathological 'other'."

I have never realized that gays were silent and absent in today's society. But when I looked around i started to noticed that they really are. I feel the reason why they may be so silent is because they are afraid that today's society wont accept them the way that they are because they aren't normal. But what is a normal person? How can you tell a normal person from a abnormal person? This is what I would like to learn. People should accept everyone for who they are and not judge them of their race, religion or beliefs. Everyone is different so there really cant be a normal person.

3)“Three techniques of normalization and (hence) marginalization have been of primary importance in this regard: (1) the erasure of gayness in the curriculum. (2) the “closeting” and “witch hunting” of gay teachers, and (3) verbal and physical intimidation of gay teachers and students.”

When I was in high school there were a group of girls that always hung out together, and no one ever thought it was a very big deal. Everyone just thought they were really close friends but then one day someone started to a rumor calling them lesbians. I thought that no way where they lesbians but it really turned out that they really where. It surprised me because I had no clue. It shows that you can be different and have no one even know. When I ever thought of a gay or lesbian I had this image in my head and no one ever fit that image. It comes to show that when you don't know someone you should judge them because you really never know who they really are. There was also a case when my athletic director was a lesbian. No one ever knew until one day she told someone that her wife was coming this school event. Everyone started to get all weird about it and didn't want her working as the athletic director anymore, even though she was the best one we ever had, she support everyone and always gave us what we needed. But because she was a lesbian, things changed. People judge everyone when they found out the truth about someone and i feel like that is completely wrong. Everyone needs to be treated the same way and not by their ways of life. 

I liked this article because it tells everyone that it is okay to be "gay" or whatever and you shouldn't be ashamed of who you are. Everyone is different in this world and no one should be afraid to be themselves and be afraid of being judged. This article was easy to read and easy to fallow. I liked how it talked about gender and sexuality. Those are key parts in life and when you aren't able to talk about these things then you aren't ready for today society. Everyone should read this article because it really gets right to the point and has good things to say.