We Can't Even Agree On the Story

I find it interesting to read news from several sources.  I typically do this as a way to get a wider amount of coverage of the different types of news stories available.  I am have come to accept that the bias of every media group causes them to select only stories that fit with their worldview.  I can respect that since no organization can cover all of the news and I wouldn't expect them to put effort into things that are unimportant to them.

That said, today I found two articles about the same news item and it was fascinating how differently those stories read.  The basic story is that a young activist teacher sent a letter home to the parents of her students to inform them that they were going to be exploring different pronouns in her class.

Both articles are linked below and quite short I encourage you to read them both.

The Washington Times: Fifth-grade Teacher Gets Schooled by Parents After Gender-Neutral Grammar Lessons

Washington Update: Parents Win the Pronoun Showdown in Florida

There are two major things I find compelling about these articles:

First: In the Washington Times article you get the impression that the teacher simply wished to be called "they" or "them" and that the problem was that the parents felt their children would be confused by using a plural pronoun instead of a singular pronoun.  In the Washington Update article we are told that the primary pronoun she wishes to be identified is Mx.  So this isn't really a story about singular and plural since Mx. is a singular pronoun for a single person.  This story is really about gender confusion and promoting it in the classroom with elementary students.  This seems to me to be a classic case of intentionally omitting a primary detail to change the flavor of the narrative.

Second: This teacher is also a political activist.  While I fully acknowledge her right to advocate for anything she feels passionate about I don't believe the classroom is the proper and professional place to conduct such activities.  Children are not prepared to think clearly about such things.  I believe the most telling point here is that as a teacher her duties were to include teaching math and science.  This was a personal agenda of hers and not something she was being paid to promote in the class room.  We all have feelings and opinions but when we are working for our employer we are expected to conform to their norms since we represent them and their interests.

I believe the decision to move this teacher to adult education was the best for all parties.  She is not being driven out of her career or somehow persecuted, but she is being moved to an environment where she is more capable of expressing herself with an audience that can either accept her or reject her ideas based on informed adult thinking.