There was a time, not so long ago, when the only women taught in American history classes were Molly Pitcher, Eleanor Roosevelt, and possibly Abigail Adams. With the rise of feminism and feminist history, women began to take their place with the white men who were considered to be the forces shaping our nation.
After a time, Black Americans began to be included in school curricula. Along with Frederick Douglass, Booker T. Washington, MLK, and possibly Washington Carver got added, but the textbooks were careful what was said about Malcolm X.
Now, the fight is over what to say about people who identify themselves as LGBT. In February 2020 New Jersey developed what it calls an “inclusive curriculum,” which is now under attack from some conservative elements. Curriculum serves as a window and a mirror of who we are as a society. What are we afraid of?
Prayer for the Day
You know, O God, that we want to have a nice and neat world,
One where there is little, if any, ambiguity about who we are;
But you, O God, did not create a world of neat little boxes,
Where people fit into categories as if pre-ordained.
Broaden our vision of your world and all its people
So we recognize beauty in ambiguity and variety.
In the name of the One who welcomes all into the kingdom,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
Anti-LGBTQ bias hurts all children, both those directly affected and those who learn in an atmosphere of fear and tension, afraid to explore their own lives because of worry about disapproval and rejection.
- From GLSEN (Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network)
[School] Districts have to figure out ways to . . . figure out how to accomplish things that educators may not have had as content when they themselves were in school.
- Kate Okeson, Director of Make it Better for Youth
I will open rivers on the bare heights, and fountains in the mics tov the valleys;
I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry lands springs of water.
I will put in the wilderness the cedar, the acacia, the myrtle, and the olive;
I will set in the desert the cypress, the plane and he pine together,
So that all may see and know, all may consider and understand,
That the hand of the Lord has done this.
Isaiah 41: 17-20