So here’s an interesting story. At a certain Catholic Middle School, a student is telling people she’s transgender. She is very much not, and does this to get attention.
However, one teacher thinks this presents a good opportunity. Her interest is Christianity of the Body, and the curriculum has no real material about gender or sex or related topics. I mean, forget contraception and STDs–these kids don’t even have definitions.
And it’s everywhere. It’s on the news, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, feed after feed after feed, shoveling “for you” content from all over the world. But they don’t know what any of it means, except in a context which is probably negative. And no one tells them because the parents keep them sheltered and ignorant. Their mothers aren’t going to let reality taint their special babies with the idea that there are more than two kinds of people in the world.
Because, yeah, at the most basic average level, it seems like sex and gender are equal and there are only two. Except for homosexuals. But they can marry now. So they’re okay. And transvestites are a thing, like Tootsie and Night Court. Those have been around since the eighties. And there are transgender people, people who want surgery and hormones to change their body from one biological sex to another. Except sometimes they don’t, like in The Crying Game. Or they just do the hormones and don’t do surgery. Or they don’t do anything, and you don’t know what they’ve got down there. And then sometimes Eddie Murphy has sex with a transgender hooker. And then sometimes males are born with an extra Y chromosome. Or an extra X chromosome. Or no penis. Or a normal amount of chromosomes and they just have a vulva. And sometimes they can lactate. And sometimes women are born with large clitorises that look like male genitalia. Or born with two vaginas. Or no vaginas. And sometimes there are hermaphrodites. Are these all mistakes? If so, then why did God create them?
But these kids are maturing. They’re forming opinions without all the information. All they know is politicians really want to prevent them from going to the bathroom.
So this teacher wanted to hold a special class about this. She had to keep it close to how the Catholic church interprets and stands on these issues, but at least they have definitions. At least they acknowledge that it’s a “thing”. This hypothetical lesson wouldn’t take a stance, wouldn’t offer a bias, just answer the many questions I’m sure they have. You have to make sure everyone understands the rules before you can play the game.
Because the fact is all of us have something wrong. And I hesitate to use the word “wrong” or “aberrant” or “abnormal”, because that implies ethicality, but I don’t know what else to use. The fact is that every human is a huge checklist of yes/no things about their body. And no one ever has 100%.
And these people are not hiding in the shadows. They are out there and observable, and you work with them and serve them as customers. And if they make money, entertainment companies are going to put them out there. People like Jojo Siwa, Laverne Cox, Hunter Schafer. I still have trouble reconciling that she was Ellen Page for one season of The Umbrella Chronicles and was Elliot Page the next. Keeping Up With the Kardashians must have handled Caitlyn Jenner in some way. Unholy by Sam Smith charted at number 1 in twenty countries, and Kim Petras, the guest vocalist, is transgender. I would never have guessed that in a million years.
My point is, whether you want them to know about it or not, they’re here. Whether it’s wrong or right doesn’t matter. They’re not going anywhere. You cannot squeeze that toothpaste back into the tube. So you can either run from it or learn from it (thanks, Rafiki).
And now the students have someone who is “saying” they’re transgender among them. It seems like a good time to tell these kids what transgender is or isn’t. And the teacher planned to send a notice to the parents, saying that this would be happening, and it was completely voluntary, and they could opt out.
But even before that happened, the parents got wind and said OH NO, YOU’RE NOT TEACHING MY SWEET LITTLE BOY/GIRL THAT THERE IS ANYTHING OTHER THAN TWO SEXES BECAUSE THE BIBLE TELLS US SO. The bill was killed before it even got to the floor.
And teaching is power. Some people abuse their power. Some gain tenure and coast on never being able to be fired as long as they don’t do something devastating. Others can use it to push an agenda. To influence, to guide, to mold youth into following their way of thinking. But here’s the thing–if this was happening, you’d hear about it. This is like the razor blades in Halloween candy or voter fraud or Reefer Madness or sharks killing people. It just doesn’t happen. It could. But it doesn’t.
Well, I hope you enjoy raising your ignorant kids. They are going to get a very rude awakening when they go to college, or rent an apartment above a sex club, or get on the bus next to a drag queen. All you’re doing is perpetuating ignorance. And isn’t that the opposite of what school is for?
But there’s a second part of this issue–the business side. This is a private school. Parents are paying for their children to have an education here. They do not want the free public education that government provides. They are willing to pay more for a different experience. An experience maybe their kid needs, whether they want their kid to have a Catholic education or a smaller class size or more personal attention from the teacher. But they are paying for a product. Their kids are the consumer, and their parents are the customer. And the customer is always right.
Except this is a rare case where the customer doesn’t have much choice in what they get. The product isn’t predicated on a commercial want or a need or demand. It’s based on a government standard. A rather loosely interpretable standard that leaves room for implementation. The capitalist business world has nothing like this. Customers can only buy an abstract concept–a Catholic-infused education that conforms to the governmental standards. But no say in how it’s taught, what is taught, who teaches it, or its quality. Just like health insurance.
And even more–the customer shouldn’t get a say in what they get. Because this is a rare case where the parent should not get a say in how the child is educated. Kids need to know what’s happening outside the little world of their family, because they’re going to be in it before long. And isn’t that the job of the parent and the teacher? To prepare the kid to exist as a full-fledged citizen? With all the responsibilities and privileges thereof? I wouldn’t be surprised if I see a headline someday that says “Courts Having Trouble Filling Juries Because People Are Too Stupid to Serve”.
