Response to Common Criticisms to Gender Inclusive Teaching

Making gender-inclusive changes to our curriculum sometimes elicits the attention and concern of the school community. This resource, containing suggested responses to common criticisms and concerns, was a part of our The Science Teacher article “Gender-Inclusive Biology: A framework in action

Image by Creative Mania from the Noun Project.

Gender Spectrum have also put together a collection of responses to common concerns about teaching about gender in non-science-specific context.

"School connectedness & school adult support were associated w/ 22% decrease in drug use in LGB California public school students." (LGBT Health)

Article title:

School Protective Factors and Substance Use Among Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Adolescents in California Public Schools.

From the abstract:

A secondary analysis of the 2013-2015 California Healthy Kids Survey (CHKS) was conducted to examine associations between school protective factors (i.e., school connectedness and adult support) and substance use among LGB youth, above and beyond a key risk factor, school victimization. The study outcomes were past 30-day and in-school use of cigarettes, alcohol, marijuana, inhalants, prescription pain medication, and other illegal drugs.

Overall, school connectedness and school adult support were associated with lower odds of substance use. For example, higher levels of school connectedness were associated with 22% decreased odds of past 30-day inhalant use (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] = 0.78; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.72-0.86), and 25% decreased odds of past 30-day prescription pain medication use (AOR = 0.75; 95% CI = 0.69-0.82). Higher levels of adult support in school were also associated with 17% decreased odds of marijuana use on school property in the past 30 days (AOR = 0.83; 95% CI = 0.77-0.91).

Citation

De Pedro KT, Esqueda MC, Gilreath TD. School Protective Factors and Substance Use Among Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Adolescents in California Public Schools. LGBT Health External . 2017 Jun;4(3):210-216. doi: 10.1089/lgbt.2016.0132. Epub 2017 May 12.