Safe Classrooms

Last week, I heard the student sitting next to me say under his breath, “That’s not right!” He was talking about a reference to homosexuality that one of his classmates made, during class discussion. Even before the boy’s indignant mutter, I was struck by the inappropriateness of the comment, so I interrupted the snickers and hoots. I explained that, while I understood the macho attitude, our class was not a place where we made fun of other people and the things that made people different. I referred to their health class and some of the things they’re covering in that curriculum. I used words and phrases such as sexuality, and human development to focus their attention. They were dumbfounded. I felt as if they had never been told by any adult that making fun of people’s sexuality was inappropriate.