The New York Times published a couple of weeks ago entitled, “In Sweden’s Preschools, Boys Learn to Dance and Girls Learn to Yell,” it outlines the work of a gender progressive pre-school in Stockholm. In this school, the teachers only use “gender-neutral pronouns,” and in an effort to stem off a split along traditional gender lines, they removed all dolls, cars, and other “gendered” toys. The article states: “Science may still be divided over whether gender differences are rooted in biology or culture, but many of Sweden’s government-funded preschools are doing what they can to deconstruct them. State curriculum urges teachers and principals to embrace their role as social engineers, requiring them to ‘counteract traditional gender roles and gender patterns.’” Social engineers, counteracting gender roles – in preschools.
Having just returned from the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, reading this article didn’t tell me anything I didn’t already know, but it did strike a cord. The very first discussion I attended, on the very first day of the commission, was a panel presentation put on by the Netherlands and France entitled, “Gender Stereotyping: Why We Do It, Why It’s a Problem and How We Fight It.” This panel, made up of four women and a transgendered man, sought to discuss the dangers of traditional genders as, “something that we have created,” and can thus get rid of. They discussed at great length the idea that, our unconscious gender stereotyping creates gender inequalities, and this begins in a large part in the home, where men and women are expected to fill particular roles. It was at this point that they really got to the crux of what they are seeking to establish: Gender and Intersectional Inclusive curriculums in schools, with the ultimate goal of “creating a civilization without the effects of gender.” And because children start to learn traditional gender norms at a very young age in the household, this non-gendered education needs to start very early, because children conform to what they learn and see and therefore need to be educated before traditional gender roles affect their unconscious biases.
When asked the question of, “what about parental involvement or belief of the parent in traditional gender roles?” The panel responded that parents cannot control the sexuality of their children, and regardless or not of parental agreement, children need to learn this information. This seems to create a very confusing and potentially dangerous environment for a small child, who at the age of four is asked to choose between what is being taught to them in the school system about their identity, and what they are told at home. The discussions ended with the moderator of the panel concluding that gender is simply a societal construct based on what body parts a child is born with, and the world is better off without them.
Sweden thus, is not alone in its approach toward gender-neutral schooling, and I predict that this trend will be one that continues to make its way through the school system unless immediate action is taken against this form of curriculum.
This is the link to the article by The New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/24/world/europe/sweden-gender-neutral-preschools.html
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