In our school system there seems to be extraordinary focus on the "inclusion" of transgender individuals. Don't get me wrong, I think everyone should be included but this cause seems to be garnering focus that might be above and beyond the other problems that exist in the schools today.
A very close relation of mine is a school teacher and administrator at a high school in one of our major cities. She has experienced this almost obsessive focus from other faculty members and administrators to "fix" the transgender inclusion "problem" but she sees so much more wrong with system than the troubles of transgender kids. She wrote in with this to say about it:
Every Friday we have a Production meeting with the other Heads and Assistants. Another Department Assistant mentioned something today about some recent production in their conservatory about transgender something-or-other. I think every day I see or hear some reference to transgender something, and I was inspired to do some searches this afternoon for statistics. I wanted to know first what the approximate size of the trans population was. 0.2-0.3% of the population. About 700,000 Americans, or about twice the number of Amish in the country.It does seem that we focus on the ultra minorities when we should be focusing on bigger picture problems. I'm NOT saying ignore the trannies or discount their rights lib-tards. I'm just saying that we seem to be a society that focuses on the mouse when there are plenty of 10 ton elephants in the room that we seem to completely ignore.
I have seen (and discarded for lack of priority) too many emails from our counseling office with articles from the Huff post or the like about transgender issues.
I have nothing against transgendered individuals. I have known a few personally; one who as an adult actually went through the surgery to become a man. S/he is another musician who went from Jenny to Howard, and while I was on tour I was assigned to be her roommate much to her embarrassment since she had requested a single room. I felt bad for her. We didn’t spend too much time in the hotel room anyway, but I felt like my presence in the room violated the privacy she wanted to have. The people I have known have been very discreet about their situations and I had lots of respect for what their personal struggles must be.
I do have a problem with the gross over-emphasis our school puts on discussing transgender subjects while ignoring all the other issues that affect many more students.
Here is what I found out today. Have fun looking through this list.
62% of underage high school seniors have been drunk at some point
56% of teens said they talk on the phone while driving.
50% of women have experienced sexual violence in their lifetime"
46% percent of all teenage drivers admit to text messaging while driving
46% of high school students have had sex and are potentially at risk for pregnancy and STIs
40% of high school students have tried marijuana
40% of teenage females have eating disorders
Nearly one in three college men admit they might rape a woman if they knew no one would find out
33% of adolescents in the U.S. is a victim of physical, sexual, emotional or verbal abuse from a dating partner
30% of American teen girls will get pregnant at least once before age 20
17% percent of American high school students are drinking, smoking or using drugs during the school day
13.9% of high school students are obese
10% of high school students has been purposefully hit, slapped or physically hurt by a boyfriend or girlfriend.
9.3% of high school students smoke cigarettes
8% of teens deliberately hurt themselves
3.8% of the US population is homosexual
2.1% of the US population is Jewish
2% of the US population is Native American
1% of the world population has autism spectrum disorder
1% of the US population is Muslim
.75% of the US population is incarcerated
0.2-0.3% of the US population identifies as transgender
0.09% of the US population is Amish
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