From here:
A former Canadian Prime Minister, Pierre Trudeau, once famously quipped: “The state has no business in the bedrooms of the nation.”
Unless, it would seem, the “nation” means schoolchildren ages 12-17, and the “state” is local school board bureaucrats and/or the provincial Ministry of Education.
The Ottawa-Carleton District School Board (Ontario, Canada) plans to issue a survey which asks, among other things, for children to disclose their gender (four choices) and sexual orientation (nine choices). Proponents claim the survey is voluntary, but rather than requiring parental permission for the survey to be administered, the onus is on parents to opt out in writing (by Nov. 19), if they do not wish their child to participate.
Not surprisingly the survey, which runs Nov. 22 – Dec.10, has sparked controversy:
Some parents say the survey—which also asks about students’ religion, their ethnic backgrounds, who they live with at home, and their parents’ employment [and educational] status—is an invasion of privacy.
Although the survey is touted as being anonymous, each form is tagged with a code that can be traced back to the individual child, and, by extension, his or her family. Critics wonder what kind of inferences will be drawn, and who will have access to information that involves the cultural, religious, financial, and educational status of students’ parents.
The school board, predictably, claims that such delving into personal information is crucial, and ultimately for the students’ own good, so that the school can offer better anti-bullying and anti-homophobia programming.
For anyone wondering what the nine choices are for sexual orientation, they are:
Bisexual Gay (male); Heterosexual (straight); Lesbian (female); Queer Questioning; Transsexual; Two-spirited; Prefer not to disclose.
“Only nine?” I expect you are thinking; what about hermaphrodites, the androgynous, and necrophiliacs? As soon as I’ve finished this I will be writing to the Minister of Education to report this discrimination.
Which reminds me of an episode in Anthony Powell’s great novel series, A Dance to the Music of Time. Powell, a comic novelist second only to Evelyn Waugh, tells us of the demise of Pamela who hated her husband and had a necrophiliac lover – who couldn’t perform, of course. In order to exact revenge on her husband, she committed suicide, leaving him with the anguish of both losing her for himself and to her lover.
That’s the trouble with school boards today: their narrow little world of “diversity” shows no imagination whatsoever.
Don’t ask, don’t tell? Details! We want all the sordid facts on little Johnny and Jane so we can put this on their permanent file in case something happens. What would Frank N. Furter, the sweet transvestite from Transexual, Transylvania put on his form?
The “survey” link is dead.
That’s interesting – it was working.
I happened to keep a copy for myself, so I’ve put it on my site: the link should work now.
My kids are in the Ottawa Carleton District School board -I’d heard about the survey, but not the sexual questions. How do I opt them out??
Somebody complained to the privacy commissioner (the survey is NOT anonymous) and the board is delaying the implementation of the survey. I wasn’t going to allow my kids to participate in any event.