The Fora: A Higher Education Community

Quote from: marshwiggle on September 25, 2023, 05:14:44 AMMy understanding of the role of "community colleges" in the US is that this pretty much is their mandate, (i.e. more direct emphasis on the workforce than universities). If that is their mandate, then that has to be their focus. (It also makes their funding easier to justify. To change their mandate would also potentially undermine the justification for their funding.)

Their mandate is also — I gather from the way they are set up — to provide a low-cost, local pathway to students who want to attend one of the state's four-year universities. Ours are set up so that students who complete their A.A. degrees at the community college have all their gen-ed requirements and their first two years of a B.A. done, and they can transfer seamlessly to a four-year state university and complete their final two years. This requires that the community colleges offer the courses that fulfill the four-year universities' gen-ed requirements. Courses in auto mechanics, dental hygiene, and professional baking (all of which are offered by our local community college) would not transfer to the university. So if they offered only career-preparation courses, they would be useless to a number of their students.

Sorry for the double-post.

I emailed assigned TAs to ask which sections they would prefer so I can set the schedule.  Instructions were to number them as #1 being first choice & #12 being last choice.

TA ranked ALL sections as #12.

I'm going to take it as "I have no preference, any days or times is just fine" rather than "I really don't want to teach any of these". 

Quote from: secundem_artem on September 18, 2023, 12:26:33 PMWe just got our numbers.  Not looking good.  Expecting some unpleasant directives coming from on high.

It's official.  The knives are out and blood will flow.  The time of crying, wailing, gnashing of teeth, and rending of garments is upon us. 

Quote from: marshwiggle on September 25, 2023, 09:23:05 AM

Quote from: ciao_yall on September 25, 2023, 08:58:00 AM

Quote from: marshwiggle on September 25, 2023, 08:55:03 AMIf the teacher is not actually running a role-playing game in the classroom, then the teacher should not be using pronouns for children that differ from those correct for the child's sex*. The teacher should help children understand the difference between fantasy and reality, so that everyone clearly distinguishes between statements made during something like a role-playing exercise and those made in normal conversation.


*Since the teacher cannot distinguish between role-playing and gender dysphoria, the teacher should not pretend to diagnose the latter, anymore than they should try to diagnose any sort of medical condition a student may or may not have. And like any medical condition, without a registered medical diagnosis, the teacher should not assume one exists.

So, now teachers have to go and approve, on the playground, who plays which role in a game? Because apparently kids don't understand the concept of 'pretend'?

The teacher is responsible for what language they and students use in their classrooms. The playground isn't their problem, (and that's not what parents are worried about).

A parent sees what their child is wearing to school, what toys they ask for, with whom, and how they play, with their friends. I can't believe for a second that a parent wouldn't have a clue that their child was exploring gender identity one way or the other, and needed the school to tell them what was going on.

And kids are sensitive to the opinions of other kids, and how they will likely react if they choose to use a different name, pronouns or bathrooms. They will do what feels right to them and if their peers are accepting, great! If not, they will probably lie low or choose when/how to share their thoughts about their gender identity.

What? My little girl, who leaves the house every day in a frilly dress and pigtails, is changing into a secret stash of jeans/t-shirts, telling everyone HIS name is Jack and using the boy's bathroom?

Quote from: ciao_yall on September 25, 2023, 08:58:00 AM

Quote from: marshwiggle on September 25, 2023, 08:55:03 AMIf the teacher is not actually running a role-playing game in the classroom, then the teacher should not be using pronouns for children that differ from those correct for the child's sex*. The teacher should help children understand the difference between fantasy and reality, so that everyone clearly distinguishes between statements made during something like a role-playing exercise and those made in normal conversation.


*Since the teacher cannot distinguish between role-playing and gender dysphoria, the teacher should not pretend to diagnose the latter, anymore than they should try to diagnose any sort of medical condition a student may or may not have. And like any medical condition, without a registered medical diagnosis, the teacher should not assume one exists.

So, now teachers have to go and approve, on the playground, who plays which role in a game? Because apparently kids don't understand the concept of 'pretend'?

The teacher is responsible for what language they and students use in their classrooms. The playground isn't their problem, (and that's not what parents are worried about).

Quote from: Parasaurolophus on September 25, 2023, 09:04:15 AMI, for one, applaud this brave new regimen of pulling down the kids' pants at the beginning of the year, just so that teachers will get it right. Maybe if they get a good look at his penis, people will stop thinking my son is my daughter.

That information wasn't required as part of the student's registration? I guess times have indeed changed.

QuoteI run a parent-and-tot singalong. One day, a four year-old came in and told us she was a lion. We all indulged her, but I see now we did irreparable harm and she's destined to become a furry.

If the leaders require all of the other kids and adults to go along with it, it's getting out of hand.

Quote from: ciao_yall on September 25, 2023, 09:12:26 AMTrue story:

My sister is a pediatrician. A pair of twins joined her practice.

One day, one twin, aged 3 or 4, asked "Mommy, why don't I have a penis?" Because, you're a girl. "No, I'm a boy, and my name is Jack."

So the parents decided to just go with it.

When the kids came in for their check up, Jack pulled my sister aside. "Doctor E, you are aware that I don't have a penis, right?"

Not sure what Jack is up to now.

I would assume that if your sister had to actually examine "Jack"'s genitals, she would have used the proper terms to explain what she was doing, and would similarly do so in any medical reports, rather than using whatever terminology "Jack" requested.

Enrollments are very high at the moment, but tensions with India may spell trouble for the winter or summer.

True story:

My sister is a pediatrician. A pair of twins joined her practice.

One day, one twin, aged 3 or 4, asked "Mommy, why don't I have a penis?" Because, you're a girl. "No, I'm a boy, and my name is Jack."

So the parents decided to just go with it.

When the kids came in for their check up, Jack pulled my sister aside. "Doctor E, you are aware that I don't have a penis, right?"

Not sure what Jack is up to now.

I, for one, applaud this brave new regimen of pulling down the kids' pants at the beginning of the year, just so that teachers will get it right. Maybe if they get a good look at his penis, people will stop thinking my son is my daughter.

I run a parent-and-tot singalong. One day, a four year-old came in and told us she was a lion. We all indulged her, but I see now we did irreparable harm and she's destined to become a furry.

Good morning!

QBwH to find margarita, magma, mirin, trimaran, and tangram, my last word.

Today I'm at genius with the pangram.

LB: numeric-cocktail. No 2fer yet today, so congratulations, ciao_yall, on your quick one!

Happy puzzling!

Quote from: marshwiggle on September 25, 2023, 08:55:03 AM

Quote from: ciao_yall on September 25, 2023, 08:40:34 AM

Quote from: marshwiggle on September 24, 2023, 11:53:06 AM

Quote from: ciao_yall on September 23, 2023, 12:08:59 PMCRP: And teachers are allowed to hide from parents when their kids are "transitioning!"

Me: I'm not sure how teachers are expected to discern normal role-playing games and identity experiments from something to tell parents to be concerned about.

If this is serious, then it's absolutely terrifying that teachers (and others, like medical professionals), would be in favour of "gender-affirming" medical treatment with lifelong consequences.

Yes. Isn't it horrible when, unbeknownst to the parents, a teacher sends a 6-year-old boy to the school nurse to have his penis cut off because he was pretending to be Belle when all the kids were playing Beauty and The Beast?

Hate it when that happens.

Happened twice last week.

If the teacher is not actually running a role-playing game in the classroom, then the teacher should not be using pronouns for children that differ from those correct for the child's sex*. The teacher should help children understand the difference between fantasy and reality, so that everyone clearly distinguishes between statements made during something like a role-playing exercise and those made in normal conversation.


*Since the teacher cannot distinguish between role-playing and gender dysphoria, the teacher should not pretend to diagnose the latter, anymore than they should try to diagnose any sort of medical condition a student may or may not have. And like any medical condition, without a registered medical diagnosis, the teacher should not assume one exists.

So, now teachers have to go and approve, on the playground, who plays which role in a game? Because apparently kids don't understand the concept of 'pretend'?