Sam and Elaine had been dating for two months. They met at their high school, and became close quickly. They would greet before lunch with a hug and a kiss. The next day both Sam and Elaine are suspended for their public display of affection, and pushed into conferences with school facility and parents. This action was taken for one simple reason: both Sam and Elaine are women.

This might seem drastic but similar events occur in every school system. Whether it be a school not admitting two gay men into a dance or teachers turning a deaf ear to peer taunts towards a lesbian student, the school system in America and elsewhere is perpetuating heteronormativity. Such an inaction not only discriminates towards homosexuals but fails to properly educate each student. Schools have grown tremendously in the past twenty years to meet the new standards set by society concerning race and gender, but now must confront issues of sexuality. Our problem is that we as Americans have created a myth of masculinity and femininity just as apparent in our school system as in the rest of American society. One way to battle this myth is through education, and the school system is one of the easiest routes to provide information to minds open to new concepts and ideas.

Nations create schools as a device to educate their children in the ways of their society and to instill topics needed for growth, both personal and career oriented. America's parents recently began to let schools teach evolution and sex education a mere decade ago; now Darwin and STD's are openly discussed, begetting a space for new controversy in the educational scope. Where previously seen as minor, sexuality and analysis of gender-roles is important. With a growing number of homosexual and bisexual individuals, currently higher that 2 percent of the population in America (Cameron '93), there is a need to recognize such a growing minority in an unbiased manner. It is essential that children must not only be taught that homosexuality and bisexuality is accepted, but that no man or woman is confined to the traditional myth of "masculine" and "feminine." Accepting the fact that there is a need for representation in the schools for this minority is a simple step, identifying and altering customary practices to fit such representation is much more difficult. Alteration must began with the educator, as they create what will be taught in the course.

The image of the good teacher is often one that can educate their course content while keeping a quiet and controlled class (Robinson 3). This preconceive

Discrimination Towards Homosexuals. (1969, December 31). In DirectEssays.com. Retrieved 03:18, May 26, 2013, from http://www.directessays.com/viewpaper/85686.html

Direct Essays. "Discrimination Towards Homosexuals." DirectEssays.com. DirectEssays.com, (December 31, 1969). Web. 26 May. 2013.

Direct Essays, "Discrimination Towards Homosexuals.," DirectEssays.com, http://www.directessays.com/viewpaper/85686.html (accessed May 26, 2013)