Substitute teacher questions limits of diversity – The Herald-Independent: The Herald-Independent, Monona & Cottage Grove, WI

http://www.hngnews.com/monona_cottage_grove/article_ad09513c-ac0e-11e6-a158-cb35f34de0c9.html

Thursday, November 17, 2016 12:30 pm
By Kevin Passon [email protected]

“Matthew McCormick was administering a test to a social studies class at Monona Grove High School earlier this fall when, upon reviewing the test questions, he came across one that stirred his conscience.

The question asked students to complete the sentence, “Gender is defined by _____.” The correct response, according to the answer key was “culture.” But, McCormick, a Catholic, didn’t believe it.

“Gender is not something we determine for ourselves; it is a gift from God, one we should accept gratefully,” McCormick said later. “The test attempted to make the distinction between biological sex, which one does not choose, and gender, which according to ‘gender ideology,’ one does choose, or their culture chooses. I disagree.”
McCormick said he did not tell students what to believe, but he did allow them to take the exam home and have a discussion with their parents about the issue if they so desired. Some took him up on the offer, some did not.

“I want students’ parents to inform them what their ‘personal cultural identity’ is, not the state,” McCormick said. “I do not believe in secrecy between the classroom and the home. It smacks of totalitarianism.”

A few days later, McCormick was informed he would no longer be allowed to serve as a substitute teacher in the Monona Grove School District. However, he said he was never told why.
MG Principal Paul Brost said he could not discuss specifics about McCormick’s case, although he said the district has the authority to choose who can teach in the schools. The McCormick case was not the first such instance, he said.

He also referred to the district’s strategic plan and policy on diversity.

“We are very clear when it comes to our policy on this (gender issues),” Brost said. “It is clearly defined, abiding by the legal issues that go with it. We try to do what we think is in the best interests of the students.”

In August 2015, the Monona Grove School Board adopted a policy regarding nondiscrimination guidelines for transgender students and students nonconforming to gender role stereotypes.
In the policy, gender identity is defined as a person’s deeply held sense or psychological knowledge of their own gender, regardless of the biological sex they were assigned at birth.
McCormick believes public education has stretched the limits of diversity, and those who disagree are punished.

“I thought it was best for the student to have their own private conversation with the parents over these issues, hence, I allowed the exam to go home on my own authority, as teacher-of-the-moment and charged with the responsibility of acting in the best interest of students while I am there,” he said. “I cannot violate my conscience as a teacher or a parent, and I am not a robot. So much for diversity.”

McCormick described himself as a thoughtful Catholic, one who tries to understand what the church teaches.

“I am not surprised our public educators have once again failed our young,” he said. “How could they not, without integrity and a foundational grounding in Christian philosophy? We must pray for those people, especially the young, who for some reason experience ‘gender dysphoria,’ not encourage their illness, to their own detriment. This is an issue for modern medicine to address, not a Soviet-like rehabilitation camp masquerading as a public school in America.”

A person’s belief that one is something that one is not, is at best, a sign of confused thinking, according to a statement from the Catholic Medical Association. At worst, it is a delusion or disorder of the mind, not of the body.

“Medical ethics, beginning with a respect for the dignity of the human person as an embodied true male or female, and science, not cultural ideologies or political correctness, serve as the basis of all true healthcare,” the Nov. 3 statement read.

McCormick said the problem with diversity is that many of those who strongly espouse it also show little tolerance for those who disagree with them on social issues.”

I am a product of public schools, which were fine and posed no challenge to my beliefs, when I attended.