Talking Point #3 on Carlson

1) WHAT IS THE ARTICLE ABOUT:

Racism

Prejudice

Power

Normalizing community (whites, middle class, male, heterosexuals)

Abnormal community (blacks, working class, female, homosexuals)

mainly focuses on heterosexuals and homosexuals

School curriculum is linked to normalizing community

prejudice against homosexual teachers

avoidance of homosexual conversations in schools

no credit for homosexual authors and poets

2) AUTHOR'S ARGUMENT

Carlson argues that today's society is divided into the normal (heterosexuals), and abnormal communities (homosexuals). The normal community is viewed as the powerful community, while the abnormal is viewed as the sick powerless community. Carlson strongly believes that schools can play a major role in helping identify the abnormal community. However, school's community is strongly linked to the normal community.

3) EVIDENCE

The normal vs. abnormal community

"Within normalizing communities, some individuals and subject positions (i.e., white, middle class, male, heterosexual, etc) get privileged and represented as "normal" while other individuals and subject positions (i.e. blacks, working class, female, homosexual, etc.) are disempowered and represented as deviant sick, neurotic, criminal, lazy, lacking in intelligence, and in other ways 'abnormal.'" (pg. 233)

Schools playing a big role

" I want to suggest that public schools may play an important role in helping build a new democratic, multicultural community, one in which sexual identity (like other makers of difference including class, gender, and race) is recognized..." (pg. 223)

School's community linked to normal community

"...(1) the erasure of gayness in the curriculum, (2) the 'closeting' and 'witch hunting' of gay teachers, and (3) verbal and physical intimidation of gay teachers and students." (pg 236)

"... normalizing texts systematically exclude and neglect the culture of those outside the norm for the purpose of ratifying in legitimating the dominant culture as the only significant culture worth studying." (pg. 236)

"...a number of states explicitly prohibit teaching about homosexuality." (pg. 236)

"...major textbook publishers avoid gayness like plague. English literature anthologies still go out of their way to avoid acknowledging that certain famous writers were gay..." (pg. 236)

"...gayness...it is likely to be in the health curriculum, where it is associated with disease...'the first group in the Unites States diagnosed with AIDS were male homosexuals.'" (pg. 237)

"...gay teachers were to be fired because they too were understood as contagious...homosexuality...linked as threats to the 'American way of life.'" (pg. 237)

4) Comments

Schools today are linked by the normal community, especially when it come to heterosexuals vs. homosexuals. I never had a homosexual teacher (that I know of), and if I did he/she did a good job hiding it. Everything in schools from math problem solving (family theme) to conversations is linked to the normal community. There were many points in the article that were disappointing. For example, the quote from the guy who says " I think gay guys are just sick. How could they do that? It's wrong!'..." (pg. 238). Coming from a Catholic family, I was brought up looking at the gay community as something wrong and against my religion. Even though I was brought up believing this way, I never spoked negatively about homosexuals. Everyone has a right to live life the way they want it, it is not fair for others to discriminate.I believe homosexual conversations in schools are difficult (especially in high school) to habdle because students do not take the conversation seriously. Their mentality is not there yet to search for a solution to help recognize ones sexual identity. It is really difficult to place homosexuals in the normal community. There are many obstacles in between, especially religion. I do hope something gets done because homosexuals are not deviant, sick, or criminals, like posted on this article. Instead they are people like you and me that can see, hear, and feel the discrimination against them.