
Should a taxpayer-funded, government-employed teacher have the discretion to not teach the subject and use class time to talk about homosexuality?


I'm paid by the taxpayer to teach music. Homosexuality, together with all other sexualities, does not have any part to play in that. The same applies to my colleagues who teach maths, languages, PE, etc. As far as I'm concerned we should all be teaching the subjects we're paid to teach.
However, all of us also have a role for some of our time teaching personal, social, health and economic education. That includes dealing with relationships, which includes homosexuality. What it does not involve is trying to force my own lifestyle or any other aspects of my personal life, including but not limited to sex and religion on my students. They do not need to know, and they have no right to know, whether I'm in a sexual relationship, whether I'm straight or gay, or any other factors surrounding my personal life.
I have colleagues who are straight, I have colleagues who are gay - and we should and do keep that out of education. Our students need to know that homosexuality exists, just like heterosexuality exists. They need to know that both types of relationship are normal. But they must not be indoctrinated into believing that one is right and the other is wrong.
No absolutely not... That calls for instant dismissal.
There's usually a curriculum of topics that a school must cover, but it's up to them what else they choose to cover in addition to that (although learning about homosexuality would come under "personal and social education", which schools are required to teach anyway). How much discretion an individual teacher has, is up to the school.
Generally speaking though, a school is expected to do a lot more than just have its students achieve good grades - it is expected to produce happy, well-rounded young adults, who are capable of integrating into society and are fully prepared for life in the outside world, and this kind of discussion arguably helps with that. Obviously, if it were right before some important exams, things might be different.
Something like this is far less harmful than a religious school, where the teachers are filling the students' heads with nonsense, but that's a whole other subject.
My default answer would be no, but I'm always guided by details and context. I think teachers have some discretion but it is limited by the syllabus.
Video was TL;DW.
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Unless it's a sex ed class, there is no reason this should come up.
No. they should stick with education not indocrination,,,
The teacher should be fired.
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