August: Safe Spaces

March 21, 2019

August: Some Connections

I think August gives the reader a strong message in Safe Spaces about how to integrate LGBT issues into the classroom. August confirms that bringing LGBT language into the classroom has an impact to the students in positive ways. Although still controversial to some families and parents, bringing this under-represented community to the classroom opens up the conversation about LGBT people. I can relate this to one reading we did in class by Johnson. In Johnson's work, Privilege, Power and Difference, Johnson mostly writes about racially oppressed groups, although still relating to the LGBT community on a basis of under-representation. 

In his work, Johnson writes "Once you name it, you can think, talk, and write about it. You can make sense of it be seeing how it's connected to other things that explain it and point towards solutions." This quote explains the importance of pointing out the "elephant in the room," which is the LGBT community in the case of August. Pointing out and explaining gay and lesbian couples to the students in August's reading opened up their eyes to something they might have thought of as "taboo." This started a conversation about it so they become more familiar with the topic. For example, in Safe Spaces, August writes "Sexual orientation topics are entirely absent from nearly half our elementary teacher education programs in the United States. It is therefore unsurprising that LGBT people are largely absent from elementary curricula or classroom discussions." This shows that the "elephant in the room" is unannounced in elementary classrooms. August then goes on to explain in some instances how a classrooms handle being exposed to information about this community.

Another reading, particularly by Christensen, Unlearning the Myths That Bind Us, although still widely explaining racial stereotypes, still parallels to Safe Spaces. Christensen includes a quote from a student that states "True death equals a generation living by the rules and attitudes they never questioned and producing children who do the same." This quote ultimately explains the parameters of ignorance. People don't bother to become educated on issues of importance, therefore their children will not be compelled to do the same. Connecting to August, it is crucial to have that initial conversation and education about the LGBT community, otherwise producing generations that will follow in their ignorant footsteps. Education is important to avoid further generations of not having that curiosity to learn about important topics.