Train 'Em Up Young!

The Daily Mail, one of Britain's New York Post type tabloids, reported that the National Union of Teachers in England has decided that three-year-olds need to be taught about gay relationships in a bid to stamp out homophobia.

The teacher's union, which the paper refers to by the anachronism "NUT," claimed it was too late to teach primary school children about gay couples because they are already arriving there using homophobic language. That paper goes on to say that people were outraged by the stance taken by the union.

I can only imagine what conservative blogs and right wing politicos will have to say about this. I can hear them crying "foul" already! I have a few choice words to say about it myself.

Note that it isn't the gay/lesbian groups in England that are suggesting nursery school staff be made aware of youthful gay bashing, it's the largest teacher's union in Great Britain. And they're NOT saying that babies should learn about gay relationships any more than they suggest that preschoolers learn about heterosexual relationships. They're saying it would be a good thing if young kids knew that some children have two mothers or two fathers and it's okay in our society. They're saying children from such families shouldn't be subjected to name calling and ridicule.

Gee! What a horrible thing to teach a three year old. People need to understand that these attitudes start at home and are brought to school at a very early age. It used to be about Protestants, Catholics or Jews. Then it changed to being about Blacks and Hispanics. Now it's gays and lesbians. The thinking doesn't change, only the target.

I can't see how teaching youngsters that homophobic or ANY other kind of insulting language based on race, religion or sexuality is inappropriate. If it's taught in the nursery, mayhaps it will return to the home rather than the other way round for a change.

But then it's possible the Xtians are right for once. Mayhaps we need toddlers entering first grade with a quiver of queer bombs in their vocabulary. Start 'em young, right? Jesus certainly taught that anyone different should be a target of verbal insults no matter their age, didn't he? I keep forgetting that children should be taught to hate, not to love. They should laugh at what makes people different, not accept them for who the are.

It reminds me of one Sunday in McDonalds when a four year old li'l girl (cute li'l thing, of course, all dressed up for church) was standing in line with her mother. A very heavy woman and her husband in their 50s stood in the next line and the girl chirped out, "Look, Mommy, she's FAT!" The mother looked but said nothing to the couple or to her daughter. Every other person in line was embarrassed and the older woman was on the verge of tears. The daughter was NOT corrected.

But yes, let's not teach our children right from wrong at a young age. Let's wait until it's too late as we've been doing all these years. It works so well that way. If we train 'em up young, they'll probably look forward to starting pre-emptive wars when they get older.

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