Gender Pronouns Education: A Misguided Priority for Young Children
In recent years, educational trends have leaned heavily into teaching young children about pronouns and gender identity, often starting as early as kindergarten. While these initiatives are often presented as progressive and inclusive, they raise serious concerns about appropriateness, practicality, and resource allocation. Teaching pronouns to six-year-olds is not only unnecessary but also a misuse of time, tax dollars, and educational priorities.
The Misplaced Priorities of Education
Pastor Gary VanRiper, during a recent interview, highlighted the absurdity of this educational direction. Referring to programs teaching six-year-olds terms like “ze,” “zer,” and “they,” he noted, “Z is for Ze. Get to know she, he, zer, they, and more.” The introduction of these concepts, ostensibly designed to foster inclusivity, instead creates confusion in young minds still learning the basics of language, math, and science.
Children in their formative years should focus on foundational knowledge, reading comprehension, arithmetic, critical thinking, and social skills. Diverting their attention to nuanced gender theories and pronoun usage wastes valuable classroom time that could be better spent on core subjects. This misguided emphasis raises the question: Why are schools prioritizing abstract gender terminology over essential life skills?
The Financial Burden on Taxpayers
The implementation of pronoun education programs isn’t just a philosophical issue, it’s a financial one. Developing new curricula, training teachers, and purchasing educational materials to teach these concepts come at a steep cost. Taxpayer dollars fund public education, and those funds should be allocated toward improving literacy rates, STEM education, and addressing resource gaps in underprivileged schools.
Instead, money is being funneled into initiatives that many parents find objectionable or irrelevant. As Pastor VanRiper observed, “Now they had the community’s attention,” signaling widespread discontent among parents over these unnecessary expenditures. This sentiment is not limited to a small demographic; it’s reflective of a broader frustration with the misuse of public funds in education.
Developmental Inappropriateness
Teaching children about pronouns and diverse gender identities at a young age is not only an inefficient use of time but also developmentally inappropriate. At six years old, most children are still mastering basic social and linguistic skills. Introducing complex concepts like non-binary pronouns and gender theory can overwhelm them, leading to confusion rather than understanding.
Pastor VanRiper articulated this concern, pointing out that “the middle school and high school stuff was abominable. Is abominable.” If these topics are too convoluted for older students, what makes educators think they are suitable for young children? It is far more sensible to let kids focus on building a solid foundation of knowledge and revisit such complex topics, if necessary, at an appropriate age.
Erosion of Parental Rights
Another alarming aspect of teaching pronouns in schools is the implicit undermining of parental authority. Parents have the right to determine how and when their children are introduced to discussions about gender and identity. By embedding these lessons into the public school curriculum, educators effectively bypass parental input, imposing controversial ideas on children without their families’ consent.
This overreach has sparked outrage among parents nationwide. Many are left wondering why their voices are being ignored when they raise valid concerns about the content and timing of these lessons.
The Bigger Picture: Restoring Educational Focus
Ultimately, the push to teach pronouns to young children is emblematic of a larger problem within the education system, the prioritization of ideological agendas over practical learning. American schools face a host of challenges, from declining test scores to teacher shortages, and yet significant resources are being diverted to promote concepts that offer no tangible benefit to students.
Young children deserve an education that equips them with the skills and knowledge they need to succeed in life. Pronoun education not only fails to meet that goal but actively detracts from it. By wasting time on topics that most parents deem irrelevant, schools risk alienating families and failing students.
Bad Idea
Teaching pronouns to six-year-olds is an exercise in absurdity. It wastes valuable classroom time, taxpayer money, and children’s developmental potential. More importantly, it reflects a troubling trend of misplaced priorities in the education system. As Pastor VanRiper aptly noted, the current approach is “abominable.” It’s time for schools to refocus on what truly matters, preparing children for the real world with the tools they need to succeed, not saddling them with unnecessary and confusing lessons on pronouns.