Gay High School?

I find it downright disheartening that my generation has grown up to be the whiniest bunch of drama-queens, a bunch of self-obsessed know-it-alls, a collective of pampered wusses who can’t take a joke, let alone shrug off insults directed at them. Knowing this, it is easy to see why so many insult Barack Obama, a man who hired a legal team in Missouri to keep silent those who would criticize him. In any event, I think all this coddling has gone a little too far now…

CNN has posted a story about how Chicago will be setting up a”gay-friendly” high school for children with “alternative lifestyles”, like gay, bi, transgender and anything in between. The reason for this? Because children across the country are under threat of harassment for their sexual orientation and the city of Chicago wants to provide a safe environment for them to study. This high school will not be for gays only, but it will cater to them specifically, giving them a place where they can “be themselves” without fear of being harassed. The School for Social Justice Pride Campus is the first of 17 other proposed schools to meet the needs of various different groups. Just when you thought things couldn’t get any worse, the “politically correct” have decided to strip away an important stage in a person’s development, the trials and tribulations of high school.

I remember my time at Sir Wilfrid Laurier Secondary School, an awful place which was overrun by Muslims gangs and teachers who cared more about their paycheck than their students (with notable exceptions, you know who you are and thanks once again for the help). I remember being bullied in my first years by students and teachers alike (pathetic how some can’t succeed in life and decide to relive their “glory days” by picking on their own students), I remember hitting a growth spurt and becoming just as big as those bullies, beating a few up before being left alone. I was feared and respected, I was called in to fight for those who couldn’t, and while I wasn’t overly popular with the girls, many of them knew that I was a good guy, someone they could sit down and talk with, even depend on for class projects. It was rough, things didn’t smooth out for a few years, but when they did, I was far more ready to deal with the problems that came. High school helped prepare me for university life and helped harden me enough to deal with the racism and downright mistreatment during my time in China. If I had grown up in the system students have now, I couldn’t have accomplished what I have already, and what I will in the coming years.

This reminds me of RightandBlack’s Bob Park when he discussed his feelings on Generation Y. Many of this generation have been over coddled, we have stripped away much of what they need to grow individually, such are the concepts of failure. Many students are pushed through lower grades now to not “break their spirit”, instead of teaching them the value of hard work. Fighting at school has become forbidden, something which has lead to a sharp rise in school violence. Why you ask? Bullies usually aren’t punished, while those being bullied are restricted from fighting back, and aren’t allowed to release pent up rage. This rage builds and we have incidents like the Columbine High School Shooting, or the Massacre at Virginia Tech. While many people suffered humiliation and harassment in high school, many more found themselves and were even celebrated for it. The top students, the star athletes, and yes, the overly homosexual teenagers…

At my school, there were a number of them, at least three proudly gay individuals in my grade. While it didn’t bother me that they choose their sexual orientation and decided not to hide it, what did irk me and many others was that they forced it down everyone’s throat. Answering questions about various subjects while reminding the class how gay they were, discussing their dating habits openly during English class instead of actually answering the questions the teachers asked, going around and sexually harassing a variety of students without being punished, all the while being celebrated because allowing them to break the rules and enforce their own somehow showed how “progressive” we all were. I can remember seeing these guys smoking in the hallways without being scolded for breaking school rules, something even the jocks and popular girls were punished for. If anything, these students were given “celebrity status” and protected from even the most innocent remarks about homosexuality. Even with their country wide surveys, I have a hard time believing that a “gay high school” will solve their problems, especially since most of them are at home.

You heard me, while the school population adored them, these students couldn’t help but remind us at every turn how they were a disappointment for their families. Maybe that is why so many are dropping out, because they don’t have the support at home that most students do. Maybe that is why suicide rates are higher amongst homosexuals, especially those who come from overly restrictive backgrounds. Without doing actually research, the Chicago Public Schools’ Office of New Schools has decided to spend money, in my opinion, unwisely. Parents who send their kids to these schools are already providing the support their children need, while those who don’t will reject these “gay high schools” because of they don’t want to encourage the “inappropriate” behaviour of their son or daughter. Why couldn’t these idiots figure that one out? Instead of building a new school and spending millions of tax payer dollars, why not simply set up programs at existing schools to coddle these students who can’t take even the slightest offense? I was called numerous things when I was in high school, but I developed a tough skin, learned to defend myself, and became strong for it, so why can’t they?

I am simply not buying this argument that the gay community has it tough, not anymore. TV shows, movies, even their own parade so that the rest of us can “adapt” to their differences, and now this? Is this the start of “separate sexualities but equal” laws? With even first graders getting this forced down their throats, it is getting to the point where enough is enough. When the minority dictates how society will run, something is definitely wrong…