Identity In High Schools

In the documentary, Noah, an 18 year old male to female transgender, many people in school ask question about her gender over and over again. Because of the harassment, many tend to drop out from school. “Harassment and bullying lead almost one-third of LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning) students to drop out of high school” (T Salazar). For most of them dropping out from school means working at a lower wage. Or even worse they became homeless. Some people argue that we should create a separate school of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) students. However critics say that it means of “segregation or shielding the youth from the real world.” Giving a class about LGBT people in schools might be the solution, since students then will be aware of it. Education about LGBT people teaches not only students, but also the whole generation. Therefore, schools should be the primary targets to teach the society about LGBT

High School culture has changed since the “old days.” Students from all grades are not only striving for academic success, but also participate in many extracurricular activities as outside forces continue to impact social life. With this comes the typical struggles of students figuring out who they are, and what kind of person they want to become as college becomes a daunting factor.

The Lesbian, Gay, Bi, and Transgendered (LGBT) youth population is one of the most vulnerable groups in our community. Being gay does not lead to risky behaviors or bad decision making, rather, societal stigma and discrimination can lead LGBT youth to seek emotional outlets. Today’s society has improved immensely towards the LGBT community, although it has not always been this way. Society can affect a person in shocking ways, influencing one’s unhealthy and unsafe physical and mental behaviors. This current vulnerable population deserves a voice and the simplicity of someone listening to them in order for both sides, accepting and non-accepting, to find a common ground and settle the violence.

To expect greatness in any field of life, it all starts from a place of quality education and that's what America has constantly strived for. School is the place where everyone is given equal opportunity to learn and shape himself or herself into contributing members of society. At the same time each individual’s academic success defines what it means to have a good life. Unfortunately, schools face lots of problems trying to do the right thing. Among major challenges that schools face, bullying has a strong attribution to the poor academic experience among student victims. Today, students still risk being bullied everyday. This paper studies bullying in secondary school with

Along with verbal abuse, LGBTQ youth also experience physical violence in schools across the country everyday. Back in the 1980’s and 1990’s sociologists such as Joyce Hunter thought that much of the physical abuse happening towards the LGBTQ population stemmed from the stigma and fear that came from the AIDS epidemic that was spreading rapidly among the gay community in that time. In a study as recent as 2003, 60% of LGBTQ youth had reported being assaulted physically due to their sexual orientation (Chesir-Taran, 2003) These physical actions towards the gay and lesbian youth has caused many to fear going to school. In fact, many LGBTQ students avoid school in order to escape the physical harassment. This drop in attendance has detrimental effects on the student’s academics (American Educational Research Association).

[The Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA) organization at my high school, which meets twice per month, generated a list of concerns that they shared with school administration. The focus was specifically about gender identity, the lack of support from school staff, and the daily scrutiny they face as a result of their sexual orientation and gender identity. Through collaboration with my colleagues it was evident that there had been an increase in teacher and student referrals surrounding gender identity. The feedback from GSA clearly identified that as a school we are not meeting the needs of our LGBT students and those struggling with sexual orientation. Members of the GSA clearly feel that teachers ignore negative comments like “gay” and “faggot” when they hear them in class, that teachers may not clearly understand gender neutral language, and that our Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) students do not feel safe and protected in school. Students needed support advocating for their right to use a restroom, correct pronoun, etc., requiring district, community, parent, and colleague

Identity is a socially and historically constructed concept. An individual learns about their own identity through interactions with family, peers, organizations, media, and educational institutions. Education and identity are two closely related topics. On average, most Americans will spend a fourth of their life in educational institutions. During this time period students are growing and maturing, but most importantly they are discovering themselves. Students realize their qualities, determine their morals, and establish their beliefs during this time of instruction. Undoubtedly, education forms and challenges a person’s identity throughout the years.

School is thought of as a safe, friendly environment for all to learn and share their ideas, creativity, and opinions. It should be, especially since Americans send their children to school, five days a week, seven hours a day. Unfortunately, not all children feel that their safety is ensured at their schools. Transgender youth feel as if they cannot be their true selves in an environment that’s supposed to be radiating of positivity and support. This is a result of bullying, denial of their gender identity, and being prohibited from using the restroom that matches their identity. Gender identity refers to a person’s inner sense of being male or female, regardless of the gender they were assigned at birth. Gender expression refers to the way a person expresses their gender in ways socially defined as masculine or feminine. Examples of these expressions are: clothing, behavior, hairstyle, voice, or mannerisms. Approximately seventy-five percent of the transgender student population feel unsafe in school. Some end up not even attending school, which results in their GPA plummeting. Because of the feeling in unacceptance and insecurity, their desire to further their education decreases. (Schools). In fact, LGBT students altogether are twice as likely to choose to not further their education than cisgender students (National Center). No one should find their education unimportant

Sexual orientation and gender identity are two things that members of the LGBTQ community often fear opening up about. They fear that they will be rejected or harmed because of who they are, and it is important that we make all aspects of our society a safe place for every human being, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity. As School-based risk and protective factors for gender diverse and sexual minority children and youth: Improving school climate explained, “64% of students feel unsafe at school because of sexual orientation prejudice, and 44% feel unsafe at school because of gender expression” (American Psychological Association). Therefore, schools in America should be making a conscious effort to make their buildings a safe, comfortable place for members of the LGBTQ community. Schools can do several things to promote the

School psychologists must help create and foster an environment that educates administrators, teachers, and non LGBT students. Many lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, and transgender youth do not feel safe in school. Sexual minority students may suffer harassment (verbal and/or physical) from teachers and peers. As a result, they may experience more absences than heterosexual students. In addition, LGBT youth may turn to drugs and alcohol as a means of coping with the stressful school environment (Patterson 2013, p.192). Many will contemplate or even commit suicide.

My goal since beginning high school has been to create a safer school environment for LGBTQ students. Although the climate has become much more tolerant, bullying and discrimination are still rampant in the hallways, the classrooms and the Facebook statuses of students at my school.

High school is the most important time for teenagers and it is the time where they grow and learn to think differently about their self. If we could recall back to any films that has been made from the past years for example, Cyberbully, Mean girls, Cassi and vise versa, we could see that this these films focus on teenagers concerning about identity and their self; whether popularity that boost their confidence, and bullying. However, this paper will be about the observation conducted at McDonald’s; the first part of the essay will focus on the environment, secondly, the adolescent’s physical characteristic, then social skills, language skills, and behavior. The essay will continue on discussion about some possible programs that should be created to help middle adolescents or teenagers with identity issues; because identity affects all categories of development.

“I’ve already got one boy I’m supposed to call Heather instead of Mark and treat like a girl. Now there’s some other kid who says that she’s a boy, and wants to be called Michael! How am I supposed to teach when I’m having to keep track of all this shit?” This quote, from a veteran science teacher who became frustrated when I referred to a transgender male student by his appropriate name and pronouns during a department meeting, is reflective of the negative teacher interactions experienced daily by the estimated 150,000 transgender students currently enrolled in America’s schools (GLSEN, 2017). As United States (US) has become a more welcoming place for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and queer (LGBQ) students, an increasing number of transgender youth have had the courage to come out at school. Unfortunately, these students are not yet being met with kindness nor understanding from their peers or teachers. In a 2015 survey of nearly 3,500 transgender students across the US, 75% of students reported feeling unsafe at school due to their gender expression (GLSEN, 2016a). This paper will explore how the current US political climate is shaping the experiences of transgender youth in US schools, and the steps that educators can take to make their schools more supportive for transgender students.

It’s unbelievably hard to walk into school knowing I’m going to stand out from every single student. Not emotionally or mentally, but physically, the most demanding and worrying trait to deal with. Not only is it hard to go to school, but difficult to convince myself to get out of bed, to start the long day filled with seven hours of stares and suspicious looks. The worst part is knowing that it’s inevitable. I’m fully aware of the general reaction I’ll receive, but I still let my imagination play out the specific scenarios of bullying I might face. Despite the fact that I got bullied my first few weeks of freshman year, I still continue to wear a headscarf to school because it’s the biggest contributor to my identity. At the same time, it’s a visible symbol to others who immediately identify me as Muslim and then go on to make presumptions. Until recently, I hadn’t realized that beginning to wear my scarf at a relatively young age meant that I created a promise and commitment to myself to continue to wear it for the rest of my life. And that thought is definitely intimidating.

School is supposed to be a place of growth and learning, for this to be true schools have to provide a supportive and nurturing environment for students. Nevertheless, LGBT students are being disregarded and abandoned in whatever attempts are being made to maintain this belief. How can a child be expected to have a prosperous academic career when they are forced into an unwelcoming and hostile environment? 45% of LGB teens and 64% of trans teens are bullied at school for their