Have our schools changed much?

Annasopra

In a recent discussion on Pride I suggested that our schools have changed a lot because of the work of belong to.

Shanerygan wrote: »

I think we still need pride today because of the mentality of schoolboys towards gay children is still a problem, amongst other things. Walking down the hallways, you still hear people calling each other "gay" as an insult. Its really hurtful and the schools never do anything about it. In other words, the mindset of schoolboys (and possibly schoolgirls) today is that its strange or wrong to be gay. Or at least, they presume that all their friends are straight.

Source: Is gay schoolboy

Joeytheparrot wrote: »

Is it?

The impression I have is that because of the massively work of belong to over the last 10 years that this has changed a lot.

jobbridge4life wrote: »

There has been no 'belong to' work in my former school nor in any of the schools that surround my home area. Liberal bubble?

J_E wrote: »

That's awfully naive. Majority of schools around the country have had little or no presence of any sort. Kids are left to learn about LGBT folk through either media or stories from friends. There's little you can do to convince many when they take those preconceptions to secondary school.These supports are nearly always biased towards Dublin schools too.

Shanerygan wrote: »

Definitely not in my school, nor any of my friends schools. We learned about homophobic bullying and how hurtful it is for about two minutes, tops before the teacher moved on to the next subject.

Schoolchildren just presume everyone in the school is straight, at least in my experience unfortunately.

It was a side discussion from Pride so I wanted to open it up a bit. Firstly I asked a question regarding schools. I didnt suggest that all schools have completely changed.

Secondly I do think that there has been a lot of work done in schools by belong to, glen and shout out and I am puzzled why mentioning that would be dismissed as naive.

Aard

I dunno. Shout Out dragged one particular school's name through the mud in a hugely messy and unnecessary display of media attention-grabbing.

Bazinga_N

As an openly gay 5th year student, I'd have to say that schools have definitely changed. Only once have I ever received any hostility towards me throughout my last 5 years in secondary school and at that it was a very minor situation. I think students in general today are much more accepting and open towards LGBT due to an increasing presence of LGBT people in the media, of LGBT issues in the news and of LGBT people in their communities. The referendum showed that a large majority of the country supports LGBT rights and I'd be inclined to believe the statistics would be similar if applied to teenagers.

Also I feel that the whole 'gay' thing as an insult has very little bearing any more. It's something people just say and often no harm is really meant behind it. I can't even begin to count the amount of times someone has called something gay in front of me and then apologised in fear of offending me. It's just a word. I think we kinda need to chill about it.

RagsOBrien

It's great to hear that some students like Bazinga are having wholly positive experiences in school as being openly gay. I wonder if this is more an urban occurrence and the exception though! I think Ireland is changing but there is definitely still homophobia in society and just because the referendum has passed and the world looked in on us as being liberal trail blazers, I feel we shouldn't make assumptions that it is a mecca to live as an lgbt person. There is still a LONG way to go. Homophobic bullying still happens but I do suspect a lot of the perpetrators are a bit more savvy and clever about the means they choose.

qweerty

Aard wrote: »

I dunno. Shout Out dragged one particular school's name through the mud in a hugely messy and unnecessary display of media attention-grabbing.

Have I missed that being the consensus? A "workshop" was cancelled at the last minute because some parents objected and the school refused to comment until the next day. I believe they were wrong to cancel it and slow to respond. That said, it probably wasn't in ShoutOut's interests.

Aard

qweerty wrote: »

Have I missed that being the consensus? A "workshop" was cancelled at the last minute because some parents objected and the school refused to comment until the next day. I believe they were wrong to cancel it and slow to respond. That said, it probably wasn't in ShoutOut's interests.

Ask anybody who goes to that school and they'll tell you that they fully support the principal and not Shout Out's version of the story.

L1011

Aard wrote: »

Ask anybody who goes to that school and they'll tell you that they fully support the principal and not Shout Out's version of the story.

What is the principals version of the story?

All that was made public at the time was some utter tosh about "both sides being represented" when the other 'side' would have to be claiming that homophobic bullying was OK, and that was from the Board of Management.

Schools across the board still have ineffectual and unenforced anti-bullying policies; for all kinds of bullying. Fear of parental recrimination and an inability to actually expel scrotes mean basically nothing gets done until the bullied kids parents go legal - or move them. And a kid being homophobically bullied is unlikely to even tell their parents.

LegacyUser

Belongto and their information packs are not making it into the schools, not all anyway, they might be sent onto the schools but they do not make it to the pupils. Perhaps they should follow up on the usage of their information packs. I have been in three different schools over the last six years and no mention of any was ever made (and I've checked with my pupils and some colleagues).

In saying that, I would also agree that schools have changed and most pupils are perhaps more open-minded and accepting than many of the staff. One of the most heartening things in the recent referendum campaign (for myself and no doubt any other gay student or staff member) was the amount of pupils proudly wearing YES equality badges.

I have also heard anecdotally of schools that could not get a speaker in when management requested one. I have also been refused as a speaker in another school, on the basis on the school "not having the necessary supports in place".

As it currently stands although a gay teacher can now marry their loved one, they could also be fired for doing so under section 37.1 of the Employment Equality Act. On the whole I would say schools are still pretty conservative.