Figure 1.-- A press report describes how a school on New Zealand’s South Island has introduced a gender neutral uniform policy. It allows girls to wear pants and boys to wear kilts. The purpose is an attempt to eradicate gender stereotypes. The uniform decesion is reasonable, we wonder, however, about this concern about gender stereotyping.

A press report describes how a school on New Zealand’s South Island has introduced a gender neutral uniform policy. It allows girls to wear pants and boys to wear kilts. The purpose is an attempt to eradicate gender stereotypes. The report reads, "Dunedin North Intermediate School, which has a strong Scottish and Maori heritage, has welcomed five uniform options, featuring shorts, long pants, culottes and a kilt, the Otago Daily Times reports. Since taking over the school’s top job 18 months ago, Principal Heidi Hayward said she had received a number of request from female students asking if they could wear pants rather than a kilt. 'Last year I had a couple of kids who challenged me. They said: `Why do we have to wear kilts? You can wear pants. Why can't we'?' she said. 'That seemed pretty logical to me. It was 2016 and I thought it was odd that we still have these stereotypes. What we were hoping to avoid is making it hard.' Ms. Hayward explained that in the winter months’ girls can wear pants and boys can wear the traditional Scottish kilt if they please. She said the students are rapt with the ideas, but parents were in need of much more convincing. 'The kids weren't really fussed about it. It's adults that have taken a while to get their heads around it - they've asked lots of questions,' Ms Hayward said."

Ms Hatward's uniform decision does not seem unreasonable. In fact there are other schools in New Zeakland that allow the girls to wear pants. And what ever the rules, very few if any boys are going to choose to wear kilts to school. But her concern with gender stereotyping get to a very serious problem with modern education. Many educators ciming from the left-wing dominanht university system are focused on this gender sterotyping idea. Unlike racial stereotying, there are real dufferences between boys and girls. What is at the base of this concern with gender stereotyping, is the cionviction that there SHOULD not be differences between boys and girls. This is startreling as any one connected with young people knows that there ARE differences between boys and girls. And those difference manifest thenmselves in the pre-school years before societal gender sterotyping has had any real impact on the children. Despite this, educators like Ms. Hayward want to stamp out those differences. Rather than ideological crusades, educators should try to understand the differences that exist and develop an academic program designed to meet the educational needs of boys and girls. Trying to change genetics and biology is only goung to adversely impact the academic achievement of children. It is not unlike the Stalinist effort to create the New Soviet Man.

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Created: 6:07 PM 7/30/2018
Last updated: 6:07 PM 7/30/2018