"There are only two opinions on this sign: Everyone is welcome here, or not everyone is welcome here,” argues Sarah Inama, a sixth-grade history teacher.
Aside from the fact that teaching children to be inclusive and accepting is the path to these things being normal in the future, “well you have to learn to be offended” is the shield of the bully. It’s what people who want to be assholes say to protect their assholery.
But you know what, if someone needs to learn to be offended then maybe it’s the bigots and bullies that need to learn that inclusive language is here to stay and to just deal with it.
I agree with that last part, but I do think the notion that people should not learn that they won’t be offended is not a great life lesson. I also don’t think anyone should be messaging that bullies are right or that they are given a free pass and so on.
But I think instilling a certain amount of resilience in everyone would be beneficial, long term. Life throws a lot of shit at you, including a barrage of offensive things.
Ironically, it actually turns out that the cons are weaponizing this sort of thing by demanding the signs come down, because they are claiming they are “offended”.
I’m not sure why we’re name calling (that’s what bullies do, right?) but I was definitely the receiver of the bullying growing up and have never bullied others.
I think the sign is fine and when I see signs that aren’t inclusive of me, I’m fine with that too. If my kids see something that they are uncomfortable with, I’ll talk to them about it. I’m not going to storm down to the principal and demand to know why someone dared to not include my child. Over-sheltering kids does them an injustice because they’re unprepared. That’s the point I was making, not some pro-bigot diatribe or whatever you’re describing.
We absolutely should be inclusive, and we should also prepare our children for an imperfect world. You can do both.
If you don’t see a problem with the sign being up then I’m not sure why you needed to offer a counterpoint that we’re “over sheltering” children. Taking the time to write out a rebuttal sure would seem to indicate that you think the signs coming down are a good thing.
I strongly disagree with you.
Aside from the fact that teaching children to be inclusive and accepting is the path to these things being normal in the future, “well you have to learn to be offended” is the shield of the bully. It’s what people who want to be assholes say to protect their assholery.
But you know what, if someone needs to learn to be offended then maybe it’s the bigots and bullies that need to learn that inclusive language is here to stay and to just deal with it.
I agree with that last part, but I do think the notion that people should not learn that they won’t be offended is not a great life lesson. I also don’t think anyone should be messaging that bullies are right or that they are given a free pass and so on.
But I think instilling a certain amount of resilience in everyone would be beneficial, long term. Life throws a lot of shit at you, including a barrage of offensive things.
Ironically, it actually turns out that the cons are weaponizing this sort of thing by demanding the signs come down, because they are claiming they are “offended”.
I’m not sure why we’re name calling (that’s what bullies do, right?) but I was definitely the receiver of the bullying growing up and have never bullied others.
I think the sign is fine and when I see signs that aren’t inclusive of me, I’m fine with that too. If my kids see something that they are uncomfortable with, I’ll talk to them about it. I’m not going to storm down to the principal and demand to know why someone dared to not include my child. Over-sheltering kids does them an injustice because they’re unprepared. That’s the point I was making, not some pro-bigot diatribe or whatever you’re describing.
We absolutely should be inclusive, and we should also prepare our children for an imperfect world. You can do both.
If you don’t see a problem with the sign being up then I’m not sure why you needed to offer a counterpoint that we’re “over sheltering” children. Taking the time to write out a rebuttal sure would seem to indicate that you think the signs coming down are a good thing.