Blakely teacher restricts Lego-play to her girl students in the pursuit of gender equity

a reply to: ketsuko

Who cares if Legos are girl-friendly or not? What you just said contradicts the anti-PC agenda you tried to force with the OP.

You're asking for PC, inclusive Legos. How "liberal" of you.

As for the real topic at hand, we cannot come to any conclusion, let alone demonize this woman as many have, until we have the complete context of what was said.

originally posted by: introvert

originally posted by: AmericanRealist
a reply to: introvert

well then, i am glad she quit. By her own admission she segregated the play areas for Lego.

You don't know that. The outlet that released this piece is also under fire because the interview was not published in it's entire context.

That's the issue that we should be addressing. What is the context in which she said these things and what else did she say?

We don't know that so it would be illogical to come to any conclusion until that context is understood.

Even the school district in the source you provided admitted that there was a segregated time for the girls to play with the building blocks. A practice which was ended. No, we don't have the entire interview in context and because of that, we can't really comment on what she was quoted as saying. But that doesn't negate what was admitted by Keller and the school district that took place.

a reply to: introvert

I'm pointing out that LEGOs as they are mainly as girl-friendly as they need to be. About the only thing LEGOs as a company could do to try to hook girls would be to add female mini-figs or female hair.

As far as anti-PC, this isn't about PC. This is about a teacher who thinks she knows best. She clearly thinks that all she has to do to get her little girl students into LEGOs is to more or less force them to play with them. And she doesn't want them to play with them in any old way, she wants them building.



Ask yourself if you think this teacher would be happy with the LEGO use demonstrated in the picture above?

a reply to: ketsuko

Ask yourself if you think this teacher would be happy with the LEGO use demonstrated in the picture above?

How would I know? Are you assuming that this teacher is some sort of feminist-type that would frown at little girls playing with toys in a way that reinforces "traditional roles"?

originally posted by: introvert
I read about this when the article went viral. Come to find out the OP's source took statements out of context and the school did respond.

Following the release of a recent news article, the Bainbridge Island School District (BISD) has received inquiries that reflect inaccurate perceptions about student access to Legos in Karen Keller’s kindergarten classroom at Blakely Elementary School.
In keeping with a science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education grant, Ms. Keller gave girls a designated time to play with the building toys during a 30-minute 'free-choice' time block in September 2015. This isolated, short-term practice ended in October. All students in all classrooms have and will continue to have access to all instructional and noninstructional materials.

Source

Also, people's ignorant, knee-jerk reactions caused the teacher to experience nasty emails, phone calls and FB posts. Apparently the teacher quit because of this.

This appears to be more of a case of bad journalism, not teachers forcing an agenda.

I live on Bainbridge Island and have three kids who went to this district K-12 including the school in the article. Indeed, the school district responded, as you cited, but please notice they never said it didn't happen, but that it is no longer happening. Thus this is an excellent example of backpedaling once you are caught.

If you want context I'll give you some: Bainbridge island, population about 20,000, is effectively a bedroom community to Seattle, a ferry boat ride away. It is EXTREMELY liberal with a great many liberal activists opposed to anything that does not fit their agenda. EVERY kid is not only above average, but belongs in the gifted program. Bainbridge has the second highest SAT scores in the state, second only to another island district in the middle of Seattle, Mercer, and all kids are college bound. "We islanders" (said with a loft air) are known as the snootiest, snottiest, richest, whitest, most liberal place in the county, clearly the 1%. Service people cannot afford the island's high cost of housing, though attorneys, the prevalent occupation, have no issues.

Unlike the rest of Kitsap County we have a Seattle area code, a Seattle zip code, and travel off-island should be by ferry boat if at all possible to avoid entering into the blue collar parts of the county altogether. Frankly, the rest of the county hates us--for good reason. If the revolution ever came, the torches would head for Bainbridge first.

The issue described here is "so Bainbridge" that it is laughable--just the kind of thing that would happen here, so it is easily believed. Whether we have the entire context of what happened here I don't know, but I certainly would take the district's response with a huge grain of salt. And so should you.

originally posted by: introvert
a reply to: ketsuko

Ask yourself if you think this teacher would be happy with the LEGO use demonstrated in the picture above?

How would I know? Are you assuming that this teacher is some sort of feminist-type that would frown at little girls playing with toys in a way that reinforces "traditional roles"?

She faults toymakers for reinforcing those roles — “the stuff LEGO is marketing for girls is just so limiting;” ‘girl’ sets replete with themes such as baking, cooking, care-giving, homemaking, decorating and hair styling — but she also faults teachers for not taking action.

Well that would tend to lead one to that conclusion, yes. Do you have anything other than your own distaste for the idea that would provide evidence to the contrary?

I have an 11 year old daughter and 8 year old son, clearly Lego is gender a neutral toy - unless you are an adult who has been indoctrinated to think otherwise.

If it was truly a "free choice" 40 mins at the end of the school day, would the kids have the choice to go home 40 mins early?

There is nothing free about compulsory government sanctioned indoctrination institutions - you are there to be educated, you are not there to learn and gain knowledge / wisdom - that is what happens after you leave school if your ego so chooses a path of enlightenment.

originally posted by: introvert
I read about this when the article went viral. Come to find out the OP's source took statements out of context and the school did respond.

Following the release of a recent news article, the Bainbridge Island School District (BISD) has received inquiries that reflect inaccurate perceptions about student access to Legos in Karen Keller’s kindergarten classroom at Blakely Elementary School.
In keeping with a science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education grant, Ms. Keller gave girls a designated time to play with the building toys during a 30-minute 'free-choice' time block in September 2015. This isolated, short-term practice ended in October. All students in all classrooms have and will continue to have access to all instructional and noninstructional materials.

Source

Also, people's ignorant, knee-jerk reactions caused the teacher to experience nasty emails, phone calls and FB posts. Apparently the teacher quit because of this.

This appears to be more of a case of bad journalism, not teachers forcing an agenda.

Well maybe it just late getting out. Because, your info definitely shows that at one time, Karen Keller WAS forcing her agenda on innocent children. She's got some serious educational idea flaws. A teacher educates, their goal should be to help all children learn the most they can to prepare them for making better decisions. By stifling one group's options of toy choices and pressuring another group to play with toys they had no interest in, she failed miserably.

This woman is stupid beyond words. Play is play no matter the materials, quit shoving your idea of it down the kids' throat lady, all you're doing is killing their enthusiasm & imagination.

Wait for it, because I'm going there
Karen Keller: Proving that thinking is indeed difficult to accomplish for some women.

a reply to: ketsuko

This is ridiculous. I hope she is fired for this blatant discrimination.

a reply to: ketsuko

Feminism=female chauvinism.

When will the US realize that making pro female, pro minority, pro gay etc, rules, laws, programs etc, is blatantly discriminatory against men, non miorities, non gays etc.

Straight, White Men are the one group you ABSOLUTELY CAN discriminate against. And who never get celebrated just for existing.

a reply to: ketsuko

Well that would tend to lead one to that conclusion, yes.

Tend to, or does?

I agree that this teacher did not present herself very well and may have been trying to push an agenda, but how can we come to any conclusion without proper context. That has been my point the entire time. What you say could very well be true, but you are coming to a conclusion based on your own ideological agenda and not based on the complete picture of what occurred.

It also bothers me that this is such a small issue, yet by looking at the posts on FB, the source's site and the comments here, people are willing to burn people at the stake for making stupid mistakes.

originally posted by: introvert

That's the issue that we should be addressing. What is the context in which she said these things and what else did she say?

The issue we should be addressing is the fact that they are deliberately confusing freedom and authoritarianism. It's "free choice", but you have to do this. This is freedom.

It goes way beyond the teacher and the school. The problem is the systemic mode of indoctrination that teaches children words that don't mean what they are being taught. It is the ongoing manipulation of our language that is crippling a child's ability to think for himself that is the problem.

Kids not having the same playing time with certain toys is an argumentative detour.

Public school - because when it's no longer enough to tell children what to think, you can always resort to telling them what toys they can and can't play with.

So she sees the boys playing with Legos and the girls playing with other things...
"Hey Jenny! I never see you playing with Legos :-) Would you like to play with some? Yeah? Ok, here's some Legos to play with! Hey Jessica! Would you like to play with some Legos too? No? Ok!"
Problem solved.

a reply to: ketsuko

I `get` what she is doing and why -but her methods are plain sexist and an injustice to students who show natural ambition for given subjects.

She wants girls in her classroom to be on the same level as the boys in regards to math and science. Building with Legos is a measurement of interest in these topics, but she views them as a stepping stone and can't get past her feminist views. Thus, why not inhibit boys while forcing girls in a given topic?

Women lag behind men in STEM fields. It may be biological, it may be social - but it's still irrelevant with children. A teacher is an educator, not a social activist.

Rather than leaving gender aside and encouraging students to excel as individuals in topics that interest them, she segregated students by gender and and tried to make them "equal"(in her eyes) by discouraging some and forcing others to excel at a topic that they aren't interested in.

Absolutely appalling and she should be fired. She has no qualifications to teach children when her feminist views segregate students by gender to force her ideologies, even if it was for a short period of time.

Edit: "No child left behind" has been an utter failure and needs to be repealed.

Ghost

originally posted by: ghostrager
a reply to: ketsuko

Edit: "No child left behind" has been an utter failure and needs to be repealed.

At the heart of the issue. The whole issue of "equality" is completely flawed. What if people do not wish to be equal? The whole idea here is that people would always choose "equally" if given the chance. So you have "initiatives" to increase "gender equality" to ensure that women, for example, are given "equal access" to careers such as computer programming which are, traditionally, male dominated.

But what if women do not like computer programming? What if they do not like to drive bulldozers? What if they do not like STEM issues? The whole initiative assumes that "equality" MUST MEAN that everyone likes professions or issues equally and that if they don't, it MUST mean due to unequal treatment, sexism, etc.

This whole idea is fundamentally flawed. I gotta tell ya, I bought a dump truck for my daughter, and she hauled around her doll in it. I bought a doll for my son, and he "Varoomed!" it around the carpet like it was a bulldozer. You people who think "everyone is equal, therefore they must be equal in every endeavor" have got your head up your butt.

a reply to: schuyler

Yeah pretty much.

I live on Bainbridge Island

Instantly wanted to punch you in the face (not really, but I'm pretty surprised you live there as I actually like/respect you).

The one redeeming quality about people that live on Bainbridge Island is that they don't live on Whidbey Island.

So for people that don't live in WA, imagine a community of snobby, rich (self hating), white (self hating), liberal (self loving in front of a mirror) people that think they all know each other because they live on an island and are pretty sure you're not smart enough to be as morally superior as they are.

I'm not sure if I'm even allowed to respond to you since I live in *gasp* Snohomish county now. When I lived in Factoria it was more acceptable, the median household income may have been higher, but we didn't have that island community where you know all of your 20k neighbors intimately.

TL;DR Bainbridge island is the kind of place where this story is very believable. It's a glorious place, where people care about the environment, evidenced by the energy efficient lightbulbs that glow in every 3,000+ sq. ft. house. I've also never been there, and am talking out of my ass based on local stereotypes. Whidbey Island has truly obnoxious people though. Just terrible, I'm accurate on that one.

originally posted by: Domo1
a reply to: schuyler


Instantly wanted to punch you in the face (not really, but I'm pretty surprised you live there as I actually like/respect you).

Star for you. I apologize for living here. It's convenient to Sea-Tac, and I've been here over 25 years. Moved here for the schools. I am not really a very good "Islander" and I suppose I should have been kicked out long ago. It''s just inertia at this point. C'mon over! I'll treat ya to "Da Pub"

My ex-mother in law lived in Facotria, so I know you are the pot calling the kettle black.

I see a girl that's stoked over Lego Scooby!




I see a boy stoked over Lego Scooby. And for a moment, singing miley cyrus's wrecking ball.


Needless to say, that stupid teacher is... stupid.

My point is that both boys and girls like Legos and they are in no way indicative of anything but imagination.

originally posted by: Athetos

Complete BS on this teachers nothing wrong with girly girls and nothing wrong with builder boys. There are definitely preferences that either sex gravitates toward and that goes for a whole lot more then Lego and barbies.

I just don't get why she would take it away from the boys. More power to girls who with Lego but why punish the boys for it.


As a young boy Lego was one of my favorite pass times. I have several 5 gallon buckets of stored at my parents place. I can wait to have kids so I can bust it all out and help them build with it. Lego is such s great imaginative and cognitive toy its limits are endless. For example I remember how I could build strong walls by staggering the blocks in the wall and interlinking the corners, Lego taught me structural integrity with out me even knowing it.

This has actually been a question for awhile. Something you may not be aware of is that computer programmers were at one time almost unanimously women, and then something happened and they're now something like 98% men. Similar things have happened in multiple STEM fields.

One of the big theories is that as kids women are taught to avoid areas such as engineering by not playing with certain toys, or their toys reinforce specific gender stereotypes, which then perpetuate those stereotypes as they grow up.

Interestingly enough, if you segregate classes by gender you see much less of this. The girls will play with traditionally boy toys and the boys will play with traditionally girls toys in addition to their own.