Florida teacher sacked for asking students if they’re “comfortable” with gays
Students also asked about women, Muslims, African Americans, and disabled people
A Florida teacher has been sacked after asking students how “comfortable” they feel around gay people, Muslims and African Americans.
It was part of a homework assignment given to students at Fox Chapel Middle School in Spring Hill, Florida, by a recently hired teacher.
It posited various hypothetical situations, asking students to rate their comfort level in each, including “A friend invites you to a gay bar,” “You go to the gay bar and a person of the same sex asks you to dance,” “Your mother ‘comes out’ to you,” “Your two next door neighbors in your hall are lesbian/gay,” and “A child in the class in which you are student teaching is HIV positive.”
Others included: “Your new roommate is Palestinian and Muslim,” “A fellow RA is paraplegic,” “A group of black men are walking towards you on the street,” and “The young man sitting next to you on the plane is Arab.”
Tori Drews, one of the students in the class, told WPTV: “I thought it was very inappropriate. I thought some of them were racist. I thought some of them were sexist.”
Her mother, Jennie Block, said: “How comfy are you if you see a group of black men walking to you on the street?’ That’s completely inappropriate. In no world, whatsoever, is that okay to question a child on.”
The teacher apparently requested that students not share the homework assignment with their parents.
“Kids were asking if they could share it with their parents,” Block said. “She was like, ‘No. Don’t show your mom. Don’t take that home. I’m taking it back up.’”
According to reports, the assignment was intended to make the middle school students aware of their own biases. However, the school district said it “in no way” met the “standard appropriate of instructional material.”
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