By John Klar
In Vermont’s Randolph Elementary School last year, a third-grade boy was disciplined and made to apologize to a girl classmate who instructed those around her that she desired to be addressed by the pronouns “they” and “them.” The boy was compelled to use the speech elected by the girl, not the other way around. The boy is deprived of the choice of what pronouns of the English language he must employ. These are determined in “gender theory” — not by rules of grammar, but of self-identity. This is profoundly foolish but increasingly the fad at ideologically polluted public schools.
The boy in question had remarked to another boy simply, “That girl ran 15 laps.” This was a verboten use of trans-English, and the girl promptly reported the boy to the language police. Both boys missed recess awaiting the official verdict — they were compelled to apologize to the girl, who self-identifies (for the moment) as “they.”
The problem for the eight-year-old boy is that his brain does not warp like the warped dimensions of gender pronouns; he is rooted in the functional linguistics imprinted by his parents and normative thinking. Vermont third-graders are governed by “teachers” who do not understand what they are teaching — have the adults imposing these rules memorized the dozens of gender identities and gender pronouns that have rapidly proliferated? This foolish thinking proposes an infinite number of gender pronouns, and even neopronouns.
The defining characteristic of these shifting linguistic sands is that they are based on subjective feelings. Grammarly instructs:
Pronouns are an important part of English. Understanding how to use personal pronouns is essential for being able to talk about people accurately and respectfully. … Pronouns have evolved to represent people’s identities beyond the gender binary of masculine (he/him) and feminine (she/her). … But there is one fairly simple rule when it comes to pronoun usage: The right pronoun to use for another person is whichever pronoun (or pronouns) that person wants you to use.
This amorphous standard is then imposed on others willy-nilly:
It can also be a matter of safety — using incorrect pronouns for someone may create problems for them as they try to go about their lives. … Treating someone with respect is never a grammatical mistake. Regardless of what you might have learned about subject-verb agreement, the singular they, or other areas of grammar, the most important consideration should be using the pronoun you have been asked to use.
For the Vermont eight-year-old, misusing this bizarre marker of wokeness “created problems for him as he tried to go about his life.” He felt ashamed but (understandably) didn’t know why. He went home fearing punishment, or disappointment, from his parents, who complained to the school’s deaf ears: “They have eyes to see but do not see, and ears to hear but do not hear, for they are a rebellious house.”
Do the deaf and dumb overseers of this faddish foolishness understand the nomenclature they are imposing? Can the school officials pass a basic gender theory quiz, and explain to their students the meaning of the terms “aporagender,” “cishet,” “maverique,” and “novigender”? This is a mere smattering of the new gender terminology, an Orwellian lexicon for the foolhardy. Until they can pass the quiz, how can instructors impose its dictates on elementary school children?
Students in Vermont classrooms are being deprived of an education in basic math and reading — they are being indoctrinated. As George Orwell noted in 1984, “freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows.”
The boy in question was subsequently enrolled in a private school, where he is thriving and learning proper English (and biology, and math). He now possesses the freedom to say that a girl is a girl. All else follows.
Editor’s note: The author, a Brookfield farmer and lawyer, said he received this information directly from a parent of the disciplined child, that the parents complained (to no avail) in a public forum, and that he has seen copies of texts between the parents of both children.
Reprinted with permission from 11/22/2022 The American Thinker.
Categories: Commentary
Good for his parents. And especially good for him. “When will they ever learn”? – As the Pete Seeger song goes – prophetically written so many decades ago.
When the crazy woke pendulum swings so far left, sanity will awaken and perhaps normalcy can visit us again.
Think about it… it all comes down to – brace yourselves – “Reproductive Autonomy”.
[From Choice to Reproductive Justice: De-Constitutionalizing Abortion Rights]
Yale Law Journal, Vol. 118, No. 7, pp. 1394-1431, 2009 Georgetown Public Law Research Paper No. 1508035
“The essay argues that the right to abortion constitutionalized in Roe v. Wade is by some measure at odds with a capacious understanding of the demands of reproductive justice. No matter its rationale, the constitutional right to abortion is fundamentally a negative right that rhetorically keeps the state out of the domain of family life. As such, the decision privatizes not only the abortion decision, but also parenting, by rendering the decision to carry a pregnancy to term a choice. It thereby legitimates a minimalist state response to the problems of pregnant women who carry their pregnancies to term and for poor parents who might need greater public support. These marginalized groups need greater community and state assistance with the demands of parenting, and the equation of reproductive justice with a right to terminate a pregnancy is in tension with a political or legal agenda for meeting those needs. The essay then explores the possibility of creating a right to legal abortion through ordinary political means, rather than through constitutional adjudication, in such a way as not to carry these costs.”
In other words, constitutionalizing Article 22 (Prop 5) renders nothing sacred. Anything goes. We are now, literally, in the midst of social anarchy.
I will eventually write a blog on this topic from my children’s experience with this new paradigm in schools now, in short; my daughter was subject to this “identity” matter in her school this year when it wasn’t a thing or an issue for my oldest daughter when she was in HS, my youngest was offended and shocked when a few of the teachers asked during the 1st day of school how she identified herself, in an upset tone she responded “I am a person, and I have a name” she was not going to be scrutinized by such nonsense.
When I questioned the school on this matter, it was noted that it’s a sensitive issue of safety and concern, teachers do not want to be on the spot dealing with sensitive students who may have returned to school “differently”. When Jack is now Jackie and Sofi is now Billy, this may cause confusion to all, so in consideration the teachers asked “how they identify” to avoid any conflicts.
Some Covid monies (tax payer money) went into establishing a new department in many schools with a new employee, (not an expert) to a D.I.E. department. Which is unfortunately is not bringing any equity at all, and rather excluding others if they spoke out, such as in the Randolph girls volleyball team case.
Just don’t use pronouns at all around people like this. The smart ones eventually notice, but can’t really call it out. Problem solved.
It being linguistically confusing and irrational to use the plural to refer to an individual, just call those with gender binary non-conforming issues “hey you”…and after a while they will tire of it.
The parents made a great decision pulling their child out of public school. Every Vermont parent should do the same thing. Government run schools have nothing to offer.
I think it’s past time to close th whole Randolph school district and revoke the credentials of all employed there
3rd grade? Really? What is wrong with people. What elementary student has a clue what or who they will be. Sounds like a parent is forcing this BS on their child
Mr Klar is still seething because he didn’t win the election to the Senate in Orange County. And he’s still seething about pronouns, and trans people, but not about gun violence or poverty or health care . . . What we need from ADULTS is not to fixate on grammar issues in third grade (regardless of whether we agree with them) but on how to make this a better state, and a better world, for girls AND boys and men and women and trans and binary folk too. For Heaven’s sake. And, in reply to those who don’t believe that an elementary school student can have a clue “what or who they will be,” they surely can and do. AND I object to Mr Klar’s use of “deaf and dumb,” as the spouse of a person with a serious hearing impairment and as a human being. We don’t use this antiquated phrase any more . . . Why not? Because we have learned better. Same with gender, pronouns, etc. Or perhaps Mr Klar and his ilk prefer that LGBTQ folk just shut up and allow themselves to be gunned down.
Re: “Or perhaps Mr. Klar and his ilk prefer that LGBTQ folk just shut up and allow themselves to be gunned down.”
No, Gina Logan: I’ve read this piece several times now, word for word. And while I may have missed something, I think a little introspection on your part is in order. This article is specifically about a school community compelling an 8-year-old boy to shut up after he was overheard saying to a friend: ‘That girl ran 15 laps’. And the boy’s friend was compelled to shut up too, just for listening to his friend.
I agree that the derogatory characterization by Mr. Klar, describing those who promote a certain nomenclature as being ‘deaf and dumb’, is not only thoughtless, but offensive. Well-meaning as he may be, Mr. Klar does seem to have a penchant for sticking his foot in his mouth. In fact, I haven’t been able to verify that the story is true.
But I don’t read that anyone on this forum is compelling you or anyone in the LGBTQ community to shut up… or to put you or anyone in the LGBTQ community in danger. They may be asking you to leave them alone. To live and let live. And you may be offended by the points made on this forum because they disagree with your sensibilities. But to project that anyone here wants to see someone ‘gunned down’, given what has actually been said, indicates that if John Klar is ‘seething’, so are you.
Yes, Mr. Eshelman, in regards to the truth of this story about the 8 year old boy: It is absolutely true, as I heard the parents of this 8 year old sharing this exact story that Mr. Klar writes about, at a public School Board meeting. Lately,
people have been a bit more confident in sharing frustrations with their school’s indoctrinations, but more parents still need to.
take your children out of the government’s woke school systems, your children will be better off not indoctrinated
When my precious grand daughter started kindergarden this fall she was informed by her teacher, ” they is not a girl, they is not a boy, they is a Mix. They said them’s name is Mix. Wow! My computer just corrected all my grammar mistakes. Need I say more?
This language is designed to promote acceptance of lies. When they control the language, they control the narrative. If boys can be anything other than boys or he/hims, then surely you’ll beleive in anything else they say is truth….like “the big lie”, “safe and effective “, “safest, most secure election ever”, “mostly peaceful protests “, “the border is secure”, etc., etc. In my experience, the people least likely to be infected with false thought are those of faith. I suggest we all trust the Lord as our father of truth. Happy Thanksgiving everyone.
“Ideologically polluted” schools. Bravo for his parents for sending him to a more sane school system. Transgender Madness overrides reading, writing and arithmetic. Russia, China and Iran are laughing at this country that was once known as the USA.
שלום
Perhaps the school leadership in Randolph should also take a look at the First Amendment provisions on freedom of speech. It would appear that they are placing gender theory, correctness above the standards set in the Constitution. This is the second time they have done this.
Surely they are “tickling the Dragon’s tail “ with political correctness.