I thought both Chapters 22 and 25 focused on students that are often excluded in schools. One of the most interesting points in “Lesbian and Gay Adolescents: Social and Developmental Considerations” is the lack of lesbian and gay adults in the school environment that can help mentor and support gay and bisexual students. At an elementary school in my local school district many parents were concerned about the principal because he was supposedly gay. This should not even be an issue as far as I’m concerned. A person’s sexual orientation does not affect their ability to be a good principal or any career choice. Although everyone likes to say they are supportive of people’s own sexual decisions, it is obvious that there is a still an issue with it in mainstream America and society. The classroom should be an environment where gays and lesbians are comfortable with themselves. This could be difficult however, since many are uncomfortable with themselves to begin with. I don’t think it would be that hard to create an environment where everyone was equal. It is really easy however to exclude groups of students if their subculture does not align with mainstream society.
“English Only: The Tongue-Tying of America” really stressed how unfair the educational system in America is for non-English speaking students. I am not really sure how I feel about this situation. Of course I feel that every student should have the right to the same education and by in this case it means that non-English speaking students need assistance in their language in order to receive that education. I do not necessarily agree with this because I do think that English is the language that is used within this country (even though that Spanish is definitely creeping up there) and now we put it up as the school’s responsibility to help teach it and of course pay for it. I think it’s a tough situation. Everyone should have that same opportunity at education but should responsibility be put on anyone else (maybe parents) instead of the schools to help children and themselves learn English. ESL is not a decreasing trend and it will be interesting to see how our schools change as the number of non-English speakers increases.
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"This could be difficult however, since many are uncomfortable with themselves to begin with." I think that is why there are so many problems to begin with. People are uncomfortable with themselves, so they take it out on other people. I find it sad that there are so many adults that are still like this, because they are passing than onto the next generation. At least we as teachers will be able to not only make our students more comfortable with who they are, but also make them more comfortable with theire peers that just happen to have a few differences.
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