School lessons

BY DISMISSING the Parker/Wirthlin lawsuit, Judge Mark Wolf of the US District Court of Massachusetts reaffirmed that our public schools are not compelled to cooperate with some parents who wish to push gays, lesbians, and their families back into the closet ("Same-sex teaching upheld," Page A1, Feb. 24).

The judge noted in his ruling that the opt-out request in the lawsuit is far from harmless. How could a child of gays or lesbians feel safe and welcome in a classroom when the mere mention of that child's family means some other children must leave?

This decision is an important step toward making all children safe and welcome in our public school classrooms.

JON DREYER
Lexington

WITH EACH passing day, I come to realize how right I was to take my daughter out of the public school system. Although the public schools here in Florida aren't attempting to teach perverse behavior to our children, Massachusetts is an example of the complete decay now festering in public schools. I feel utter shock and dismay for the parents living in your state.

What's next? Teaching S&M, bestiality, polyamory, or necrophilia? To think your newspaper actually heralded this insane ruling. I can only hope that this will spur a mass exodus of students to private schools and home schooling. Perhaps that's the only way to send the message that schools should not play a part in destroying the innocence and moral fiber of children.

JOHN A. FERRADO
Palm Coast, Fla.

THE COUPLES who are so fearful of their children's being taught about gay marriage in school should be more concerned that one day these children will come to realize that their parents taught them the very un-American values of intolerance and prejudice in their own homes.

LOUIS JAY FRANK
Natick

AFTER READING "Upholding diversity lessons" (Editorial, Feb. 24), I couldn't believe how hypocritical the Globe is.

If you are in favor of tolerance and inclusion, then you should also support having the word God mentioned in school and letting the Christian children in Cambridge sing Christmas songs. Only when something fits your idea of inclusion do you defend it.

And I'm sorry, but teaching about sexuality, heterosexual or homosexual, should not be part of any lesson plan in elementary school. Why shouldn't parents have a say as to what their children are being taught at school, especially on social issues? Isn't it the residents of the town who are paying the taxes to support the schools? If the issue involved math, science, or English, then I would agree with you, let the teachers teach. But teaching social values should be left to parents.

DAVID PELLEGRINO
Newburyport

I'M SO glad the Globe is enthusiastically supporting "diversity" of thought in the public schools. The Globe will get another chance to show its broadmindedness when the federal lawsuit by the Hudson High School Conservative Club comes to court this spring. As reported by Globe reporter Peter Schworm, the club formed two years ago for the purpose of giving conservative students a place to express their viewpoint without the usual hostility they face in the liberal-biased classrooms. Instead they had their meeting posters torn down by the school administrators and were continually harassed by teachers .

In a positive sign that students have learned the lessons of civil debate, no students were involved in any harassment of club members, and many self-described liberals attended the meetings and participated in the debates. But the radical liberal teachers and administrators could not seem to help themselves when faced with opposing views .

Let's see if the Globe likewise believes in so-called diversity and tolerance when it comes to views it doesn't share.

STEVE BOWLER
Hudson

LETTER WRITER Bartolomeu Barros believes that kindergarten is the wrong time to teach children acceptance and tolerance for homosexuality ("School feeds kids same-sex ed," Feb. 28). Mr. Barros didn't offer any suggestions for the right time , but I will: The right time to teach children that it's OK to be gay is before the church and their parents start teaching them it's evil. From what I can tell, kindergarten is way too late. Homophobes don't wait before they teach hate. This leaves the school systems with little alternative but to take whatever corrective measures they can.

DAVE BROWN
Malden

AS A Lexington parent, I can assure Mr. Barros that the Lexington school system is not indoctrinating students with regard to same-sex relationships. It has been said before but perhaps needs to be restated: The books involved in the Parker case were teaching young children about the different kinds of families they might encounter in their school community, and in their lives. They were not books about sex-education or dating.

Whether Mr. Barros likes the idea, families come in many different varieties today: same-race, biracial, single-parented, heterosexually parented, same-sex-parented, stepparented, and grandparented. Many people feel that any type of loving family is cause for celebration.

Even if Mr. Barros disagrees, surely he would not want to stigmatize the children of those families. School bullying and the tragic outcomes possible when children victimize classmates for being somehow different are very much on the minds of parents and educators. Parents and teachers must indeed reach children at the kindergarten age to foster the growth of the kind of acceptance of diversity that most children naturally feel.

SARA McGLINCHEY
Lexington

CONSIDERING THAT the second most common insult among second-graders is "That's so gay," according to Kevin Jennings, executive director of the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network, I found it amusing that Bartolomeu Barros claims that Lexington public schools are "indoctrinating" elementary students to be accepting of families headed by same-sex couples. Ask any gay student or any child of same-sex parents about indoctrination, and he or she will tell you about years of experiencing a curriculum that excludes them, that ignores the impact sexual orientation has had on the works of gay authors, that presumes heterosexuality, or, worse, that portrays homosexuality as deviant.

Until our history textbooks include the Stonewall riots and families of all kinds are fully represented in the curriculum, I would urge Mr. Barros and others to think carefully about what kind of indoctrination is being done in our schools.

JANNA JACKSON
Melrose