Last Updated on October 29, 2019
Ottawa’s largest school board intends to collect data about the race, religion, ethnicity, gender identity, and sexual orientation of its students–even as young as 3 or 4.
The Ottawa school board will ask parents of students ranging from kindergarten to grade 6 probing questions as part of a voluntarily completed survey.
Older, more autonomous, students will have the opportunity to complete the survey independently.
Other questions will inquire about potential disabilities suffered by the student and what they deem to be their first language.
Those behind the survey, trustees of the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board, believe the survey will assist in identifying root causes in discrimination to improve the educational experience for students.
Further, the survey wishes to gain data to act in such a way to minimize potential suspensions or expulsions from the school system in the future.
Additionally, students will be asked whether they feel adequately safe within the schools or if they feel sufficiently engaged and included within the learning process.
https://twitter.com/FaithGoldy/status/1189298916430405634
However, the planned survey hasn’t been well-received by all–and even slammed as “demonic.”
Canadian conservative, Faith Goldy, had the following to say: “You’re 3-4 in kindergarten. You’re not thinking about attraction to the opposite or same sex. You’re struggling to pronounce ‘library’ and learning the alphabet.
“These people are demonic.”
According to The Ottawa Citizen:
At focus groups held last spring, 147 parents and 60 students shared their experiences in schools.
They talked about the importance of identity while also exploring its complexity, according to a board report. While most said it was important to be themselves and express their identity, they also talked about the danger of stereotypes.
Some students at the focus groups said teachers had low expectations for minority students: “Teachers hold you back, and want you to know your place,” said one. “You score good marks, you are accused of plagiarism … they assume we are dumb.”
One student said that once teachers found out they were Indigenous, they were treated differently. “Opportunities that were open to me when teachers thought I was white have now been closed. Now that people know I am Indigenous, teachers expect me to only work on Indigenous topics and issues. Being Indigenous is treated like a disability.”
The issue surrounding identity and discrimination is carted out as a main concern in certain educational milieus.
However, the main concern is the increasingly drive to normalize sexual themes around children, such as attempting to ascertain the sexuality/gender identity of prepubescent children as young as three.
In the UK, National File reported on the country’s youngest trans kid–who had been identifying as such since the age of three.
The state-funded UK National Health Service is currently witnessing a two-year backlog for referrals of children suffering gender dysphoria–some as young as three and four.
