Hoping to correct academic problems stemming from harassment and discrimination against gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) students, school officials in Chicago are recommending the creation of a "gay-friendly" charter high school.
According to statistics from the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), 32 percent of LGBT kids have reported missing a day of class because they felt unsafe, as opposed to 5.5 percent of heterosexual kids.
The GLSEN posits that on average, LGBT kids have half-point lower grade point averages than heterosexual children, most likely due to verbal and physical harassment. This doesn't even take into account the physical violence that is directed towards about 22.1 percent of LGBT kids in high school.
Overall, a school for LGBT kids will present a safer learning environment for these children. The question is whether a school that caters specifically to the LGBT community is a good thing.
It's been known that academia is not the only thing someone learns in high school. In fact, it is widely acknowledged that the socialization of a child in high school is at least equally important to a semester of U.S. Government.
Children in private schools of any kind are removed from the representative body of society and sequestered in a smaller group, where they pick up lessons based on less common circumstances. This comes from having less (or no) contact with a group until a person is pretty set in their ways.
The LGBT community is pretty diverse, though. The case could be made that the only people a child enrolled in an LGBT charter school will not encounter are bigots, especially when one considers that the proposed school in Chicago would no cater exclusively to the LGBT community, but simply be designed with them in mind.
The question comes down to acceptable sacrifice. If everyone experiences bigotry at some point in their life, is it better to expose a child to it sooner rather than later?
High school is a rough time for everyone. If a group that will be attacked for an aspect of their self is given inner strength while removed from a potential hateful society, then that will sacrifice the mainstream socialization that high school provides. Is that an acceptable sacrifice?
Yes. Socialization is still only one aspect of high school and it is still secondary to education. A person can socialize at any point in their life. But if they lack the necessary personal strength to do anything but crumble in the face of adversity, then their educators, both parents and teachers, have failed them.
While enrollment in this school and other schools like it is a personal choice, the existence of such establishments is a moral necessity.
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
