http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/sen-ben-sasse-says-america-is-in-a-crisis-of-public-trust/
Two in five schools don’t offer physics
2 in 5 High Schools Don’t Offer Physics, Analysis Finds
Smaller schools least likely to offer subject
By Liana Heitin
August 23, 2016
http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2016/08/24/2-in-5-high-schools-dont-offer.html?cmp=SOC-SHR-twitter&override=web
“Physics, as champions of the subject will remind you, is the cornerstone of many professions, including those in engineering, health care, aerospace, and architecture. And for students hoping to pursue those and other science, technology, engineering, and math fields during college, getting a jump on physics during high school is all but a requirement.
Yet, across the country, 2 in 5 high schools don’t offer physics, according to an Education Week Research Center analysis of data from the U.S. Department of Education’s office for civil rights.
The numbers are worse in some states than others: In both Alaska and Oklahoma, about 70 percent of high schools don’t offer the course. Florida and Utah are close behind, with nearly 60 percent of high schools lacking physics. Iowa, New Hampshire, and Maine do much better, with only about 15 percent of schools not offering the subject.
A closer look shows that the problem is associated with school size: Nationally, the high schools that offer physics have an average of about 880 students. Those that don’t offer it enroll an average of just 270 students.
“When you have graduating classes of less than 80 to 100 kids, sometimes you have to make decisions in terms of what licensure you have teachers come in at,” said Doug Paulson, the STEM specialist for the education department in Minnesota, where about half of high schools have physics.
In any case, STEM advocates agree that every high school should ideally offer the course—and all students should have the chance to take it.
“Physics is often seen as an elite discipline that requires a lot of math and is only for college-bound students,” Monica Plisch, the associate director of education and diversity at the American Physical Society, said in an email. “This view is not only outdated, it risks underestimating students’ abilities and cutting off their future opportunities in STEM.”
Small Schools, Small Budgets
For small schools, perhaps the biggest hurdle to offering physics is being able to fit such classes, which just a few students might want to or be eligible to take, into the budget.
Steven Maier, a physics professor and the chairman of the department of natural science at Northwestern Oklahoma State University, said more than a dozen counties in his state—most of which are rural—don’t have any high schools offering physics. In small districts, “there’s often one science teacher teaching high school and maybe some middle school courses,” he said. “Districts can’t justify paying someone to come in and just teach physics.”
In Alaska, the large high schools tend to offer physics. But of the 250 schools that serve high school students across the state, about half enroll fewer than 25 high school students—so creating a stand-alone physics course is often just not feasible.
“We have village K-12 schools that have literally two or three high school students,” said Eric Fry, an information officer for the Alaska education department. “Teachers may teach all subjects and all grades. Those small schools do not have the capability to offer physics.”
According to Jim Bradshaw, a spokesman for the federal Education Department, schools were allowed to include virtual courses in reporting to the federal government whether they offer physics, but it’s unclear whether schools did so consistently.
Across the country, about 80 percent of alternative schools, which also tend to be small, don’t have physics, the OCR data show. Juvenile-justice facilities are even more unlikely to have physics: 9 in 10 don’t offer the course. (Those facilities were removed from Education Week’s national analysis.)
Some small schools do a rotation, offering physics one year and chemistry the next, which, as district and state administrators from several states pointed out, the OCR data may not have captured.
Dearth of Teachers
Among the most commonly cited barriers to offering physics by all states is difficulty finding qualified teachers.
“I get a call nearly every day from a school district—especially during July, as school districts are trying finalize their teachers—[that is] looking for a physics teacher,” said Tiffany Neill, the director of science education for the Oklahoma education department.
“Finding physics teachers is hard,” said James Ryan, the STEM executive director for the San Francisco school system, which does offer physics in a majority of high schools. In California, unlike in many other states, teachers need to be specifically prepared to teach physics. “We don’t have a [general] high school science credential,” he said. “So there are just fewer physics credentials out there available to teach.”
Michael Marder, a co-director of UTeach, a STEM teacher-preparation program that operates out of 44 universities, said upping the physics-teacher pool has proven tough. “Increasing the number of math and biology teachers has persistently been easier than raising the number of physics teachers,” he said, adding that only computer science has been more difficult.
Yet, at the same time, there’s evidence that student interest in the subject is growing—perhaps partly because of the recent nationwide push to get more, as well as more-diverse, students interested in STEM.
The number of students taking the Advanced Placement physics exam doubled between 2014 and 2015, according to the College Board, which administers the test.
Data from the American Institute of Physics show that enrollment in high school physics classes has gone up significantly since 1990. About 39 percent of students now take physics in high school. That’s still far behind biology, though, which nearly every student takes before graduating.
Low pay is among the culprits for why it’s so hard to find teachers.
“The median starting salary for a physics major who becomes a high school teacher is about $10,000 less than getting a STEM job in the private sector,” Plisch explained by email, “and that can be after an additional year in college to earn certification.”
Pay has been a particular problem in Oklahoma, which ranks 48th for average teacher salary in a state comparison this year by the National Education Association.
“Many teachers who are teaching physics in public high schools are being offered positions in career-tech schools or business and industry that can pay more,” said Neill of Oklahoma’s education department.
But pay alone doesn’t explain the physics-teacher shortage, since math, biology, and chemistry teachers could also up their salaries outside of education, and yet there are many more of them in schools. Another major factor is that universities simply aren’t churning out very many physics majors—and of those who do get a physics degree, just a fraction will end up going into teaching.
“At the college level, [physics] is one of the least-liked classes on campus and has been for a long time,” said Marder of UTeach. “It’s really hard, and we’ve gone in for grade inflation less than just about anybody else.”
The most prolific teacher-preparation programs in the country are only producing about a dozen physics teachers per year, according to a 2012 report by the Task Force on Teacher Education in Physics, a group formed by the American Physical Society, the American Association of Physics Teachers, and the American Institute of Physics.
Most universities are producing far fewer, if any.
Because the pool of physics education graduates is so small, many of the people who end up in physics classrooms have taken nontraditional routes to get there. They may go through emergency certification or professional-development programs or simply take the physics-certification test—often without having ever studied the subject in a university setting.
‘Cyclical Problem’
That’s despite the fact that the American Association of Physics Teachers says a new physics teacher needs an undergraduate major or minor in the subject to reach an “acceptable” minimum level of preparation.
“The teachers teaching physics aren’t well prepared,” said Eric Brewe, a physics education researcher at Florida International University in Miami. “Students are not getting the best educational experience you can get in physics.”
That leads to a few different problems: An unprepared teacher can eventually drive enrollment in the class down, Brewe said. “The students understand, and guidance counselors understand, and probably other teachers understand this isn’t a good course or a good situation.”
Then when funding gets tight, small classes can end up on the chopping block. “As schools introduce budget cuts, that becomes low-hanging fruit,” said Neill.
And either taking a bad physics course in high school or not taking one at all often discourages students from pursuing STEM in college.
“It’s a cyclical problem,” said Brewe.
ESSA Effect
The new federal education law has some STEM administrators on edge about whether finding and training physics teachers may soon get even harder.
The Every Student Succeeds Act eliminates the Math Science Partnerships program, which put about $150 million toward collaborations between higher education institutions and high-need school districts.”
Distracted youth
Researchers say extensive use of media has led to greater distractibility
03/14/2017 | ConsumerAffairs |
By Christopher Maynard
“The rise of smartphones has allowed consumers to multitask and get more things done than ever before, but researchers state that it has led to greater distractibility amongst young people.
In a recent study, scientists from the University of Helsinki tested participants between the ages of 13 and 24 on their ability to perform working memory and attention tasks. They found that this younger generation had trouble filtering out disturbances and sticking to the task at hand.
“[Participants] had a harder time filtering out distractive stimuli. This was also seen as higher activity in regions of the frontal lobe, which can be a sign of excessive strain,” said lead researcher Mona Moisala.
Competing for resources
The researchers theorized that young people who extensively use multiple types of media use brain resources differently than other people. To test this, they monitored participants’ brain activity through functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) as they attempted to complete a task that required listening and reading.
The participants in the study were selected, at least partially, due to their extensive use of several types of media; the findings showed that those who had the most trouble during the task also had the most competition for neural resources in relevant brain areas. This, the researchers say, is a major limiting factor that could help explain the poor performances.
Moisala says that the study findings could go a long way towards understanding how screen time affects young people. She states that additional studies could help reveal how technology affects the developing brain and how negative outcomes could be avoided.
“Taken together, the results from these studies are of great importance, since it is vital to understand how the increasing amount of on-screen time might affect or interact with the cognitive and brain functioning of the current youth,” she said.
For more information, Moisala’s full dissertation concerning the study can be found here: https://helda.helsinki.fi/handle/10138/175346
The Neuromyth of Learning Styles
Teachers must ditch ‘neuromyth’ of learning styles, say scientists
Eminent academics from worlds of neuroscience, education and psychology voice concerns over popularity of method
The academics say the learning style approach is ineffective, a waste of resources and potentially even damaging.
-by Sally Weale, Education correspondent, The Guardian
Sunday 12 March 2017 20.01 EDT Last modified on Monday 13 March 2017 05.46 EDT
https://www.theguardian.com/education/2017/mar/13/teachers-neuromyth-learning-styles-scientists-neuroscience-education
“Teaching children according to their individual “learning style” does not achieve better results and should be ditched by schools in favour of evidence-based practice, according to leading scientists.
Thirty eminent academics from the worlds of neuroscience, education and psychology have signed a letter to the Guardian voicing their concern about the popularity of the learning style approach among some teachers.
They say it is ineffective, a waste of resources and potentially even damaging as it can lead to a fixed approach that could impair pupils’ potential to apply or adapt themselves to different ways of learning.
The group opposes the theory that learning is more effective if pupils are taught using an individual approach identified as their personal “learning style”. Some pupils, for example, are identified as having a “listening” style and could therefore be taught with storytelling and discussion rather than written exercises.
The letter describes that approach as “one of a number of common neuromyths that do nothing to enhance education”. It is signed by Steven Pinker, Johnstone family professor of psychology at Harvard University; Dorothy Bishop, professor of developmental neuropsychology at the University of Oxford; and leading neuroscientist Prof Uta Frith of University College London among others.
School leaders say the enthusiasm for learning styles in schools has faded, but research in 2012 among teachers in the UK and Netherlands found that 80% believed individuals learned better when they received information in their preferred learning style. In 2013, research by the Wellcome Trust found that 76% of teachers had used learning styles in their teaching.
As part of international Brain Awareness Week, which starts on Monday, scientists want to raise awareness of these commonly held beliefs about how to improve learning, which are supposedly based on research but not backed up with scientific evidence.
As part of the campaign, an organisation called Speakezee is sending neuroscientists into schools to raise awareness among teachers and pupils of the latest research based on established scientific findings, and to flag up the shortcomings of the learning style approach.
“Teachers need to be armed with up-to-date evidence of what has been shown to be effective so that schools are not wasting time or money on unsubstantiated practices that do not help students,” the letter says. “It is hard to establish the cost to the education system of using learning styles. Some schools have it as part of their teaching ethos whereas others bring in external consultants or send teachers on training courses.
“Aside from the cost in terms of time and money, one concern is that learning styles leads to belief that individual students are unable to learn because the material is inappropriate.”
It continues: “The brain is essential for learning, but learning styles is just one of a number of common neuromyths that do nothing to enhance education.”
The letter, organised by Prof Bruce Hood, chair of developmental psychology in society at the University of Bristol, says most people believe they have a preferred learning style – either visual, auditory or kinesthetic – and teaching using a variety of these styles can be engaging.
“However the claim that students will perform better when the teaching is matched to their preferred sensory modality (learning style) is simply not supported by the science and of questionable value,” he said.
According to Hood, a recent poll of more than 100 head teachers of independent schools found over 85% believed in learning styles, and 66% used them in their schools with many sending teachers on courses and 6% paying for external consultants. Amounts spent ranged from nothing to over £30,000 per year, he said.
Geoff Barton, headteacher of King Edward VI school in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, who is soon to take over as general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said he hoped the age of neuromyths was over.
“I think the fad about learning styles faded long ago, and I would be surprised if many schools continued to subscribe to the approach. That said, the notion of making teaching and learning more varied in classrooms is helpful and likely to motivate a wider range of students,” he said.
“Modern neuroscience – rather than some quick-fix version of it – should help teachers and students to develop real learning, real progress and real success.”
The Educational Endowment Foundation, an independent grant-making charity, has also documented its concerns about a learning styles approach.
It said: “There is very limited evidence for any consistent set of learning ‘styles’ that can be used reliably to identify genuine differences in the learning needs of young people, and evidence suggests that it is unhelpful to assign learners to groups or categories on the basis of a supposed learning style.”
The Department for Education declined to provide a formal comment on learning styles, but a spokeswoman said it was up to teachers to decide what they wanted to use in their classrooms.”
Substitute Teacher Questions Limits of Diversity
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.
Wise words….
-by Rachel Baker, 12/15/16, age 20, graduate of Canon City High School, Colorado
“I remember when a boy asked me for a picture. At first I ignored him because I didn’t understand.
A picture of my face? Why would he need that if sees me at school every day? (Ignorant, naïve, I know.)
I was 16 years old, the new girl from Michigan, just yippy, skipping my way around.
Eventually, I figured out what a picture really meant and I told him if he ever asked again, we would not speak.
I remember when a different boy asked to send me a picture. Again, I said no.
I remember hearing about the time the basketball team unlocked one of the player’s phones and found dozens of pictures of naked peers of ours.
I remember that when I was the captain of the volleyball team, one of the younger players told me she used to be one of those girls that sent pictures. I looked at her and told her I am very glad she doesn’t do that anymore. It never even crossed my mind to report any of this.
Let’s be brutally honest here. This is just the world we live in. Our parents and administrators can be shocked but the issues their generation faced are very different from the ones my generation faces. They didn’t walk around with pornography in their pockets, accessible at the touch of a finger via smart phones. They didn’t even have texting for goodness sake, so sending naked pictures to their boyfriends or girlfriends, or just a hot guy for that matter, wasn’t even possible. Right or wrong, good or bad, technology has opened a whole new world and this generation is the first one to navigate that. So let’s forget about our parents for a second.
High school is a weird time of life. I spent most of high school trying to get into the higher classes with the smart kids, earn playing time on the volleyball team, break my way into the “in-crowd” of jocks, be invited to all the parties, date the best football, baseball, and basketball players. I had a lot of fun, enjoying the vanity of it all.
I used to drive around at night or get out of class and walk around the school grounds with one of my best guy friends, talking about the annoying, clingy girls or boys in our lives, laughing at the people who claim to be “in love” because it is only high school. What happens now isn’t that big of a deal and doesn’t really matter in the long run.
We were dead wrong.
Let me get vulnerable for a minute. I didn’t send or receive any pictures and I’ve never looked at pornography. But I did other things. My mistakes look different but they were very much colossal and detrimental to me. I thought I was just having fun with the popular kids or just hanging out with the cute boy. It was just the norm to let things go a little, or way too far. Everyone else was doing it, right? It was exciting and inviting to live like my life was an episode of Awkward.
If you are someone who has known me closely the last two years, you know that I am not the same person I was in high school. You also know that I have battled hard with the burdens and baggage of regrets that I carry from choices I made in high school.
Let me tell you why. Because the choices you make, especially the choices you make regarding anything sexual, whether it is going all the way or not, become an identity issue. I have felt the shame and the guilt and the worthlessness and the isolation and the abandonment and the insecurity and the doubt and the emptiness and the void that is tied to my choices. Those things became part of who I thought I was. Without knowing it, what I did changed how I viewed myself.
Maybe you know what I’m talking about because you’ve been there. Maybe you are still living in the moment so you think I am off base and being overly dramatic. Maybe your experience is different. Maybe you think that since you’ve never gone all the way or never got behind the wheel after a few too many or actually rolled a joint you’re off the hook on this one.
I don’t know what you’re thinking but I do know that whatever your pitfall is, you don’t get to climb out unscraped. There will always be consequences to our choices. Some cut a little deeper or take a little longer to appear than others but they will always come, in one form or another. Sadly, some of you reading this, have probably come to know this all too personally in the last week.
What happens in high school does matter.
I’ve heard that teachers and coaches are trying to handle this situation by talking about the legacy you leave behind at Cañon City High School. Nice try, but truly, that is the least of your worries. What really matters is those things that you can’t leave behind when you finally graduate. I’m talking about the baggage you take with you wherever you go from there, the deepest parts of your heart and mind that you can’t just check at the door when they hand you your diploma.
So next time you’re about to take your clothes off in the backseat of his car late at night on Skyline Drive, think about how it’s going to feel when you find the person you want to spend the rest of your life with but you have to explain to him or her the time hanging out became intimate with that kid from high school when you were 16. Next time you’re about to down three shots of liquor, and with only half a brain, end up in bed with that girl on Saturday night, think about what Sunday morning is going to feel like, trying to remember what happened. Or worse yet, when you are on your 8th beer and getting in your car to go home for the night, think about what it would feel like to spend ‘the best years of your life’ in a cell because you crashed into another driver and he or she didn’t pull through. Next time you’re about to push send with that erotic picture, imagine yourself with a son of your own and never knowing when he might discover that picture that resurfaced out of nowhere. Next time you are about to pull up porn on your phone or laptop, remember that those are real people you are watching behind that screen. That is somebody’s daughter or sister or aunt or mother. Fast forward to your marriage and your future wife or husband, always wondering if he or she is good enough, if he or she will ever measure up to all the men or women you have exposed your eyes to over the years…”
College courses taught
Summary:
DeVry
Spring 2002 2. TCM 130 – Into Telecom, TCM 233 – Voice Communictions
Fall 2002 3. TCM 250 – WAN/LAN, TCM 474 – Infosec, IT 320 – IT Architecture/OS
DePaul
Fall 2009 2. CNS 378-Host Infosec – ONLINE
Spring 2010 1. ECT 582-ecommerce – ONLINE
Summer 2010 2 TDC 477 – Network Security – ONLINE +10
City Colleges of Chicago – Harold Washington College
Spring 2013 1. CIS 120
Fall 2013 2. CIS 120
Madison College
Fall 2013 3. Algebra 1
Fall 2014 2. Math of Finance
Spring 2015 3. Math of Finance
Fall 2015 3. Math of Finance – ONLINE +14
Herzing University
Fall 2014 1. IS 120
Spring 2015 1. BU 345 – ONLINE
Lakeland College
Fall 2015 1. CPS 445 Systems Analysis & Design – ONLINE
University of Wisconsin – Madison
Fall 2017 1. ISyE 601 Internet of Things
Spring 2018 1. ISyE 601 Internet of Things
University of the Cumberlands
Fall 2018 1. ISTCOL 439 Cybersecurity Capstone II – ONLINE
Spring 2019 1. ITSIOL 332 Interconnecting Cisco Network Devices 1 – ONLINE
Spring 2019 1. ITSIOL 432 Cisco Routing & Switching Essentials – ONLINE +8
Columbia Southern University
Fall 2019 1. CS 1010 Computer Essentials – ONLINE
Fall 2019 1. BBA 3551 Information Systems Management – ONLINE
Fall 2019 1. ITC 3840 Maintaining Microcomputer Systems – ONLINE
Fall 2019 1. ITC 3450 Introduction to Data Communication – ONLINE
Fall 2019 1. ITC 3001 Personal Computer Fundamentals – ONLINE
Winter 2020 1. ITC 3450 Introduction to Data Communication – ONLINE
Winter 2020 1. ITC 3001 Personal Computer Fundamentals – ONLINE
Spring 2020 1. BBA 3551 Information Systems Management – ONLINE
Summer 2020 1. ITC 3840 Maintaining Microcomputer Systems I – ONLINE
Summer 2020 1. ITC 2302 Introduction to Data Communication – ONLINE
Summer 2020 2. BBA 3551 Information Systems Management – ONLINE
Fall 2020 1. ITC 3840 Maintaining Microcomputer Systems I – ONLINE
Winter 2021 1. ITC 3840 Maintaining Microcomputer Systems I – ONLINE
Spring 2021 1. ITC 3840 Maintaining Microcomputer Systems I – ONLINE
Summer 2021 1. ITC 2302 Introduction to Data Communication – ONLINE
Spring 2022 2. ITC 2302 Introduction to Data Communications – ONLINE
Summer 2022 1. ITC 2302 Introduction to Data Communications – ONLINE
Fall 2022 4. ITC 2302 Introduction to Data Communications – ONLINE
Summer 2023 1. ITC 2302 Introduction to Data Communications – ONLINE
Summer 2023 1. ITC 3301 Maintaining Microcomputer Systems I – ONLINE
Fall 2023 2. ITC 3301 Maintaining Microcomputer Systems I – ONLINE
Winter 2024 1. ITC 3301 Maintaining Microcomputer Systems I – ONLINE
Spring 2024 1. ITC 3301 Maintaining Microcomputer Systems I – ONLINE +29
Capitol Technology University
Fall 2020 1. CS 458 Senior Design Project II – ONLINE
Spring 2021 1. CS 130 Computer Science Fundamentals I – Introduction to Programming in Java – ONLINE
Eastern Gateway Community College
Winter 2021 1. NET 109 Introduction to Cybersecurity – ONLINE
Fall 2021 1. CYS 101 Networking Foundations – ONLINE
Fall 2021 2. CYS 100 Security Foundations – ONLINE
Spring 2022 1. CIS 225 Database Concepts – ONLINE
Odessa College
Summer 2021 1. BCIS 1305 Business Computer Applications – ONLINE
Fall 2021 2. BCIS 1305 Business Computer Applications – ONLINE
Benedictine University
Fall 2021 1. CMSC 4365 Intro to Cybersecurity – ONLINE
Arkansas State University
Fall 2021 1. CS 1114 Intro to Python Programming – ONLINE
Spring 2022 1. DIGI 3003 Intermediate Swift Programming – ONLINE
Spring 2022 1. CS 1114 Intro to Python Programming – ONLINE
Summer 2022 1. DIGI 5023 Build & Teach: Introduction to Machine Learning – ONLINE
Summer 2022 1. DIGI 5063 Build & Teach: Analysis & Design of AI – ONLINE
Fall 2022 1. DIGI 6023 Build & Teach: Design & Development of Artificial Intelligence
Fall 2022 1. DIGI 6033 Build & Teach: Artificial Intelligence Deployment Solutions +18
Saint Ambrose University
Spring 2022 1. CSCI 140 Advanced Foundations of Computer Science – ONLINE
Fall 2022 1. Build and Teach: CSCI 250 Introduction to Cybersecurity – ONLINE
Fall 2022 1. Build and Teach: CSCI Network & Data Communications – ONLINE
Spring 2023 1. Build and Teach: CSCI 315 – Cybersecurity Management – ONLINE
Spring 2023 1. Build and Teach: CSCI 480 – Blockchain Fundamentals – ONLINE
Webster University
Fall 2022 1. ITM 5000 – Information Technology Management – ONLINE
Fall 2022 1. ITM 5400 – Systems Analysis, Design, and Implementation – ONLINE
Spring 2023 1. ITM 5000 – Information Technology Management – ONLINE
Spring 2023 1. ITM 5100 – Information and Communications Systems Networks – ONLINE
Summer 2023 1. ITM 5100 – Information and Communications Systems Networks – ONLINE
Summer 2023 1. ITM 5600 – Information and Communications Security – ONLINE
Fall 2023 1. CSSS 5000 – Introduction to Cybersecurity – ONLINE
Fall 2023 2. ITM 5100 – Information and Communication Systems Networks – ONLINE
Winter 2024 1. ITM 5000 – Information Technology Management – ONLINE
Winter 2024 1. ITM 5100 – Information Communications Security – ONLINE
Fall 2024 1. ITM 5400 – Systems Analysis, Design, and Implementation – ONLINE
Fall 2024 1. ITM 5600 – Information and Communications Security – ONLINE +18
Mount St Mary’s University
Fall 2022 1. CMSCI 120 Introduction to Python – ONLINE
Lindsey Wilson College
Spring 2023 3. MBA 6033 – International Business Management – ONLINE
Spring 2023 1. MSTM 6023 – Project Management – ONLINE
Summer 2023 1. MSTM 5013 – Disaster and Recovery Planning – ONLINE
Malone University
Fall 2023 1. CYBR 332 – Organizational Cybersecurity – ONLINE
Concordia University Wisconsin
Fall 2023 9. CSC 515 – Applied Artificial Intelligence – ONLINE
Spring 2024 5. CSC 515 – Applied Artificial Intelligence – ONLINE +21
Georgia Military College
Winter 2024 1. CIS 220 – Data Systems Analysis & Design – ONLINE
Spring 2024 1. CIS 220 – Data Systems Analysis & Design – ONLINE
Summer 2024 1. CIS 214 – Data Structures in Python – ONLINE
121 courses taught = +15 yrs, 4-4, or, +20 yrs, 3-3 full time
Winner Columbia Southern University’s student nominated “Raising the Bar Award” for teaching excellence – http://magister.us/2020/01/columbia-southern-university-raising-the-bar-award/.
Course details:
Malone University
CYBR 332 – Organizational Cybersecurity
Students will study the knowledge and skills needed for the management of cybersecurity in organization IT environments. It focuses on planning, designing, implementing, managing, and auditing security at all levels. Topics may include: risk management, governance and policy, laws and compliance, strategy and planning, and ethical concerns.
Webster University
George Herbert Walker School of Business & Technology
ITM 5000 – Information Technology Management
This overview course presents a managerial and technical perspective that considers the application and management of information and communications technology in business and other types of organizations. The course includes an overview of all the core courses in the ITM curriculum. This course is a prerequisite for all other courses in the program.
Upon completion of this course students will know and explain basic technical terminology, concepts, principles, and practices as they relate to the use of information and information and communication technologies in support of organizational strategic goals.
Students will also know and explain basic organizational management, project management, contract management, security management, and financial management concepts, principles, practices, and techniques as they relate to managing people, information, and information and communications technologies in support of organizational strategic goals.
ITM 5400 – Systems Analysis, Design, and Implementation
This course covers the spectrum of activities in information systems life cycle management. The life cycle from the feasibility study through implementation and maintenance is examined. The course includes examination of structured analysis and design, prototyping, procurement and conversion methods. The roles
and responsibilities of various personnel involved, as well as the communication and documentation tools and techniques employed, are studied.
Saint Ambrose University
CSCI 140. Advanced Foundations of Computer Science
Introduces the software and hardware components that comprise modern computer systems. It approaches problem-solving through algorithms and their implementation in programming languages. It presents elementary concepts of computer architecture and the constraints such architectures impose on the representation of data and on the efficiency of operations. The course provides a brief overview of networking, security, and representative software applications. Topics include: Algorithms, efficiency, binary math, boolean logic, logic gates, virtual machines, networking, cloud computing, information security, programming, compilers, computer simulation & modeling, ecommerce, databases, data science, artificial intelligence, computer graphics & games, digital media, virtual communities.
CSCI 250. Build and Teach: Introduction to Cybersecurity
This course emphasizes our current dependence on information technology and how its security in cyberspace (or lack thereof) is shaping the global landscape. Several historical and contemporary global events that have been influenced by the exploitation of information technology motivates topics on cybercrime, malware, intrusion detection, cryptography, among others, and how to secure one’s own data and computer system. Several aspects of this course are geared toward developing an understanding of the “cyberspace” as a new medium that breaks all geographical boundaries, while highlighting noticeable influences on it from social, political, economic and cultural factors of a geographical region.
CSCI 270. Build and Teach: Network & Data Communications
Introduction to computer networks. Covers principles of the OSI model, network topologies, physical networks and connection schemes, protocols, error handling, security, and local area networks.
Benedictine University
CMSC 4365 – Intro to Networking
This course covers the definition of the internet along with a brief history, services required for the internet to operate, protocols, access networks, transmission media, network core, packet/circuit switching, transmission delay, loss, and throughput, queuing, layered architecture, encapsulation, cybersecurity, application layer, the world wide web, HTTP, caching, persistent and non-persistent connections, cookies, conditional GET, FTP, SMTP, DNS, P2P, distributed hashing tables, socket programming, creation of network applications, UDP/TCP, transport layer, relationship between different layers of the OSI 7 Layer model, multiplexing/demultiplexing, connectionless transport, checksum, flow control, congestion control, network layer, forwarding and routing, routers and their function, switching, control planes, IPv4/IPv6, routing algorithms, parity checks. CRC, DOCSIS, ARP, RIP, OSPF, BGP, Ethernet, VLANs, MPLS, wireless, latency sensitive communications.
Arkansas State University
CS 1114 – Introduction to Python Programming – Course Architect
Introduction to problem solving, algorithm development, and structured programming. Emphasis will be placed on problem solving and algorithm development. This course provides an introduction to programming and the Python language. Students are introduced to core programming concepts like data structures, conditionals, loops, variables, and functions. This course includes an overview of the various tools available for writing and running Python, and gets students coding quickly. It also provides hands-on coding exercises using commonly used data structures, writing custom functions, and reading and writing to files.
DIGI 5023 – Build & Teach: Introduction to Machine Learning
Programming fundamentals & logic, evolution/impact AI & ML, use cases, future trends/best practices AI & ML, analytics. Basic machine learning concepts and examples. Topics covered include basic probability notions, Bayesian inference, nearest-neighbor algorithms, on-line learning (Halving, Weighted Majority, Perceptron, Winnow), support vector machines, kernel methods, decision trees and ensemble methods (Boosting, Bagging).
DIGI 5063 – Build & Teach: Analysis & Design of AI
Use cases AI, exception conditions, problem statements, convert high/low-level design, intelligent agents, expert systems, machine neural networks, machine learning models, deep learning use cases, natural language processing, business requirements translation, flows, exceptions, thesis project.
DIGI 6023 – Build & Teach: Design & Development of Artificial Intelligence
This course includes continued work from DIGI 5063 and includes furthering work on Master’s thesis, coding in Python for Artificial Intelligence, semantics of first-order logic, validity & logical implication, derivation systems, universal instantiation, universal generalization, existential generalization, existential instantiation, certain knowledge representation, taxonomic knowledge, semantic nets, frames, nonmonotonic logic, circumspection, default logic, supervised learning, regression.
DIGI 6033 – Build & Teach: Artificial Intelligence Deployment Solutions
This course includes continued work from DIGI 5023 and includes furthering work on Master’s thesis, coding in Python for Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning. Topics included are logistic regression, density estimation, ML, MAP, Maxent models, multi-class classification (Conditional Maxent models, binary classifiers and error-correction codes), regression (linear regression, Kernel Ridge Regression, Lasso, neural networks), clustering (K-means, DT clustering), dimensionality reduction (PCA, KPCA), introduction to reinforcement learning and elements of learning theory.
Eastern Gateway Community College
NET109 – Introduction Cyber Security
This course introduces foundational topics of IT security concepts, tools, and best practices. This course will introduce security architecture and how it integrate a culture of security into your organization. Students will develop critical thinking in IT security. Utilizing those critical thinking parameters, students will learn about threats and attacks, encryption algorithms, and methods of safeguarding data. The major topics of the course include cryptology, AAA security, securing your networks, defense in depth and creating a company culture for security.
CYS101 Networking Foundations
This course will provide instruction in technical skills required in network administration and support. This course will include information on media, topologies, protocols and standards, network support, and the knowledge and skills to sit for network certification.
CYS100 Security Foundations
The Security Foundations course will help students gain a fundamental understanding of security concepts that will be used throughout the Cyber Security track. Topics covered include basic security concepts, threat actors and attributes, organization security, policy, procedures and frameworks, security controls business impact analysis, risk management, incident response and disaster recovery.
CIS 225 Database Concepts
This course covers the most important and useful features of Microsoft Access, including the skills required for Microsoft Office Specialist Certification. The course progresses from introductory topics including planning and structuring databases, data retrieval, report generation, and custom screen design to advanced topics that may include custom screens
and menus, and programming using Access.
Capitol Technology University
CS-458 Senior Design Project II
Students/teams build and test their selected designs (completed in 457). Each student team delivers a tested prototype and defends its project in front of a panel of experts. Students/ teams submit a final report that includes description of the design, realization, and test
processes as well as test results, discussion, and conclusion. Failure to deliver a completed design and a working prototype that meets engineering, software, and/or security specifications by the end of the semester may result in failing the course.
CS-130 Computer Science Fundamentals I – Introduction to Programming in Java
Introduces students to the discipline, methodologies, and techniques of software development. The emphasis is on developing essential programming skills, an understanding of object-oriented design and good software engineering practices using the Java programming language. Program constructs include selection, looping, arrays, graphical output of data, the use of the standard Java class library, and construction of simple user-defined classes. Programming projects are assigned as part of the homework requirements. Prerequisite: MA- 110. MA-112 or MA114. (3-2-3)
University of the Cumberlands
ITSIOL 332
After taking this course, you should be able to:
● Describe network fundamentals and build simple LANs
● Establish Internet connectivity
● Manage and secure network devices
● Expand small to medium-sized networks
● Describe IPv6 basics
● Basic computer literacy
● Basic PC operating system navigation skills
● Basic Internet usage skills
● Basic knowledge of IP addressing
● Simple Network
◦ Exploring the Functions of Networking
◦ Understanding the Host-to-Host Communications Model
◦ Introducing LANs
◦ Operating Cisco IOS Software
◦ Starting a Switch
◦ Understanding Ethernet and Switch Operation
◦ Troubleshooting Common Switch Media Issues
● Internet Connectivity
◦ Understanding the TCP/IP Internet Layer
◦ Understanding IP Addressing and Subnets
◦ Understanding the TCP/IP Transport Layer
◦ Exploring the Functions of Routing
◦ Configuring a Cisco Router
◦ Exploring the Packet Delivery Process
◦ Enabling Static Routing
◦ Learning the Basics of ACL
◦ Enabling Internet Connectivity
● Summary Challenge 1
◦ Establish Internet Connectivity
◦ Troubleshoot Internet Connectivity
● Medium-Sized Network
◦ Implementing VLANs and Trunk
◦ Routing Between VLANs
◦ Using a Cisco IOS Network Device as a DHCP Server
◦ Implementing RIPv2
● Network Device Management and Security
◦ Securing Administrative Access
◦ Implementing Device Hardening
◦ Configuring System Message Logging
◦ Managing Cisco Devices
◦ Licensing
● Summary Challenge 2
◦ Implement a Medium-Sized Network
◦ Troubleshoot a Medium-Sized Network
● IPv6 Overview
◦ Introducing Basic IPv6
◦ Understanding IPv6 Operation
◦ Configuring IPv6 Static Routes
Lab outline
● Get Started with Cisco CLI
● Perform Basic Switch Configuration
● Observe How a Switch Operates
● Troubleshoot Switch Media and Port Issues
● Inspect TCP/IP Applications
● Start with Cisco Router Configuration
● Configure Cisco Discovery Protocol
● Configure Default Gateway
● Explore Packet Forwarding
● Configure and Verify Static Routes
● Configure and Verify ACLs
● Configure a Provider-Assigned IP Address
Configure Static NAT
● Configure Dynamic NAT and PAT
● Troubleshoot NAT
● Configure VLAN and Trunk
● Configure a Router on a Stick
● Configure a Cisco Router as a DHCP Server
● Troubleshoot DHCP Issues
● Configure and Verify RIPv2
● Troubleshoot RIPv2
● Enhance Security of Initial Configuration
● Limit Remote Access Connectivity
● Configure and Verify Port Security
● Configure and Verify NTP
● Configure Syslog
● Configure Basic IPv6 Connectivity
● Configure IPv6 Static Routes
● Implement IPv6 Static Routing
ITSIOL 432
Understand and describe basic switch concepts and the operation of Cisco switches
Understand and describe enhanced switching technologies such as VLAN’s, VLAN Trunking Protocol (VTP), Rapid Spanning Tree Protocol (RSTP), Per VLAN Spanning Tree Protocol (PVSTP) and 802.1q
Configure and troubleshoot basic operations of a small switched network
Understand and describe the purpose, nature, and operations of a route, routing tables, and the router lookup process
Configure and verify static routing and default routing
Understand and describe how VLANS create logically separate networks and how routing occurs between them
Understand and describe dynamic routing protocols, distance vector routing protocols, and link-state routing protocols
Configure and troubleshoot basic operations of routers in a small routed network: Routing Information Protocol (RIPv1 and RIPv2): Open Shortest Path First (OSPF) protocol (single-area OSPF)
Configure, monitor, and troubleshoot ACLs for IPv4 and IPv6
Understand and describe the operations and benefits of Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) and Domain Name System (DNS) for IPv4 and IPv6
Understand and describe the operation and benefits of Network Address Translation (NAT)
Configure and troubleshoot NAT operations
ITSCOL 439
Requires the student to apply the research conducted in the following concentration coursework:
ITSC330 Prevention and Protection Strategies in Cybersecurity
ITSC331 Ethical Hacking
ITSS332 Database Administration
ITSC430 Information Security Management
ITSC431 Legal and Ethics
ITSS 490 Internship
University of Wisconsin – Madison
ISyE 601 – Internet of Things
This will be a hands-on course with lab focusing on the Arduino 101 microcontroller and Arduino IDE specific to your computer. In addition, we will be covering salient topics involving IoT including LANS/WANS, Ethernet, IP networking, wireless, routing, security, and cloud computing.
Objectives:
1. Be able to understand and explain how someone in industry might begin an IoT related project.
2. Successfully and effectively interact with and use the Arduino IDE software to control and configure the Arduino 101.
3. Understand Ohm’s law, breadboarding, very basic electronics.
4. Understanding connectivity to the Internet, either wired or wireless.
5. Understand the data load a single or a swarm of IoT devices may generate.
6. Gain a basic understanding of methods of connecting to the internet and how this occurs.
What are the steps?
7. Understand basic LAN/WAN architecture and function.
8. If your IoT application is not working as you expected, how to review your logic to ensure it
is correct, including your understanding of how the network you initially connect with is
configured and what technical issues, outside of logic, may be affecting.
9. A high level consideration of the business case for your IoT idea: competition, rate of
change in the market, financials, etc.
Lakeland University
CPS 445 – Systems Analysis & Design/Intro to Visible Analyst/SDLC/Agile/Scrum
This a Computer Science capstone course. Students, upon completion, will have:
-identified and described the phases of the systems development life cycle (SDLC), and understand the various agile methodologies used in the analysis of current software development.
-develop and evaluate system requirements through business analysis (BA)
-use tools and techniques for process and data modeling, such as data-flow diagrams, data dictionaries, and CASE tools which allow the business analyst and software developer a common reference ensuring business priorities in software design.
-explain the common ways projects fail and how to avoid these failures, through real-world scenario, and
-plan and undertake a major individual project, complete a feasibility analysis of a proposed system, and prepare and deliver coherent and structured verbal and written technical reports, and code.
Wisconsin Technical College System Certification, valid until 8/2021:
#51 – Teaching & Adult Education
#52 – Preparing to Teach Online/Teaching Methods
#52 – Preparing to Teach Hybrid
#54 – Educational Evaluation
#55 – Guidance & Counseling
#69 – Educational Diversity
#50 – Curriculum & Course Instruction
#53 – Educational Psychology
State of WI – Career Access Network
Religious schools may discriminate on the basis of creed. Standard description & questions for Catholic schools in WI on WECAN:
“Applicants of the Catholic faith may be given preference.”
USCCB gender ideology teaching resources
The following select excerpts from various sources are intended to provide some information (not exhaustive) in the area of “gender theory”/“gender ideology” and may be helpful for educational purposes in the pastoral and public policy context.
Catechism of the Catholic Church
Sexual Identity
(No. 2333) “Everyone, man and woman, should acknowledge and accept his sexual identity. Physical, moral, and spiritual difference and complementarity are oriented toward the goods of marriage and the flourishing of family life. The harmony of the couple and of society depends in part on the way in which the complementarity, needs, and mutual support between the sexes are lived out.”
(No. 2393) “By creating the human being man and woman, God gives personal dignity equally to the one and the other. Each of them, man and woman, should acknowledge and accept his sexual identity.”
Body and Soul
(No. 364) “The human body shares in the dignity of “the image of God”: it is a human body precisely because it is animated by a spiritual soul, and it is the whole human person that is intended to become, in the body of Christ, a temple of the Spirit:
Man, though made of body and soul, is a unity. Through his very bodily condition he sums up in himself the elements of the material world. Through him they are thus brought to their highest perfection and can raise their voice in praise freely given to the Creator. For this reason man may not despise his bodily life. Rather he is obliged to regard his body as good and to hold it in honor since God has created it and will raise it up on the last day.”
Modesty
(No. 2521) “Purity requires modesty, an integral part of temperance. Modesty protects the intimate center of the person. It means refusing to unveil what should remain hidden. It is ordered to chastity to whose sensitivity it bears witness. It guides how one looks at others and behaves toward them in conformity with the dignity of persons and their solidarity.”
(No. 2522) “Modesty protects the mystery of persons and their love… Modesty is decency. It inspires one’s choice of clothing. It keeps silence or reserve where there is evident risk of unhealthy curiosity. It is discreet.”
(No. 2523) “There is a modesty of the feelings as well as of the body. It protests, for example, against the voyeuristic explorations of the human body in certain advertisements, or against the solicitations of certain media that go too far in the exhibition of intimate things. Modesty inspires a way of life which makes it possible to resist the allurements of fashion and the pressures of prevailing ideologies.”
Privacy
(No. 1907) “First, the common good presupposes respect for the person as such. In the name of the common good, public authorities are bound to respect the fundamental and inalienable rights of the human person. Society should permit each of its members to fulfill his vocation. In particular, the common good resides in the conditions for the exercise of the natural freedoms indispensable for the development of the human vocation, such as ‘the right to act according to a sound norm of conscience and to safeguard . . . privacy, and rightful freedom also in matters of religion.’”
Mutilation
Pope Francis
Encyclical letter Laudato Si’ (2015)
(No. 155) “Human ecology also implies another profound reality: the relationship between human
life and the moral law, which is inscribed in our nature and is necessary for the creation of a more dignified environment. Pope Benedict XVI spoke of an ‘ecology of man’, based on the fact that ‘man too has a nature that he must respect and that he cannot manipulate at will’. It is enough to recognize that our body itself establishes us in a direct relationship with the environment and with other living beings. The acceptance of our bodies as God’s gift is vital for welcoming and accepting the entire world as a gift from the Father and our common home, whereas thinking that we enjoy absolute power over our own bodies turns, often subtly, into thinking that we enjoy absolute power over creation. Learning to accept our body, to care for it and to respect its fullest meaning, is an essential element of any genuine human ecology. Also, valuing one’s own body in its femininity or masculinity is necessary if I am going to be able to recognize myself in an encounter with someone who is different. In this way we can joyfully accept the specific gifts of another man or woman, the work of God the Creator, and find mutual enrichment. It is not a healthy attitude which would seek to cancel out sexual difference because it no longer knows how to confront it.”
Address to Équipes de Notre Dame (September 10, 2015)
“This mission which is entrusted to them, is all the more important inasmuch as the image of the family — as God wills it, composed of one man and one woman in view of the good of the spouses and also of the procreation and upbringing of children — is deformed through powerful adverse projects supported by ideological trends.”
Full text
Address to the Bishops of Puerto Rico (June 8, 2015)
“The complementarity of man and woman, the pinnacle of divine creation, is being questioned by the so-called gender ideology, in the name of a more free and just society. The differences between man and woman are not for opposition or subordination, but for communion and generation, always in the ‘image and likeness’ of God.”
(No. 2297) “Except when performed for strictly therapeutic medical reasons, directly intended amputations, mutilations, and sterilizations performed on innocent persons are against the moral law.”
General Audience on Man and Woman (April 15, 2015)
“For example, I ask myself, if the so-called gender theory is not, at the same time, an expression of frustration and resignation, which seeks to cancel out sexual difference because it no longer knows how to confront it. Yes, we risk taking a step backwards. The removal of difference in fact creates a problem, not a solution.”
Address in Naples (March 23, 2015)
“The crisis of the family is a societal fact. There are also ideological colonializations of the family, different paths and proposals in Europe and also coming from overseas. Then, there is the mistake of the human mind — gender theory — creating so much confusion.”
Full text
Meeting with Families in Manila (January 16, 2015)
“Let us be on guard against colonization by new ideologies. There are forms of ideological colonization which are out to destroy the family.”
Pope Benedict XVI
Encyclical letter Deus Caritas Est (2005)
(No. 11) “While the biblical narrative does not speak of punishment, the idea is certainly present that man is somehow incomplete, driven by nature to seek in another the part that can make him whole, the idea that only in communion with the opposite sex can he become ‘complete’… Eros is somehow rooted in man’s very nature; Adam is a seeker, who ‘abandons his mother and father’ in order to find woman; only together do the two represent complete humanity and become ‘one flesh’. The second aspect is equally important. From the standpoint of creation, eros directs man towards marriage, to a bond which is unique and definitive; thus, and only thus, does it fulfil its deepest purpose. Corresponding to the image of a monotheistic God is monogamous marriage.” Full text
Address to the Pontifical Council “Cor Unum” (January 19, 2013)
“The Christian vision of man is, in fact, a great ‘yes’ to the dignity of persons called to an intimate filial communion of humility and faithfulness. The human being is not a self-sufficient individual nor an anonymous element in the group. Rather he is a unique and unrepeatable person, intrinsically ordered to relationships and sociability. Thus the Church reaffirms her great ‘yes’ to the dignity and beauty of marriage as an expression of the faithful and generous bond between man and woman, and her no to ‘gender’ philosophies, because the reciprocity between male and female is an expression of the beauty of nature willed by the Creator.”
(No. 5) “Yet the contemporary way of exalting the body is deceptive. Eros, reduced to pure ‘sex’, has become a commodity, a mere ‘thing’ to be bought and sold, or rather, man himself becomes a commodity. This is hardly man’s great ‘yes’ to the body. On the contrary, he now considers his body and his sexuality as the purely material part of himself, to be used and exploited at will.”
Address to the Roman Curia (December 21, 2012)
“These words lay the foundation for what is put forward today under the term ‘gender’ as a new philosophy of sexuality. According to this philosophy, sex is no longer a given element of nature that man has to accept and personally make sense of: it is a social role that we choose for ourselves, while in the past it was chosen for us by society. The profound falsehood of this theory and of the anthropological revolution contained within it is obvious. People dispute the idea that they have a nature, given by their bodily identity, that serves as a defining element of the human being. They deny their nature and decide that it is not something previously given to them, but that they make it for themselves.”
Address to the German Bundestag (September 22, 2011)
“…There is also an ecology of man. Man too has a nature that he must respect and that he cannot manipulate at will. Man is not merely self-creating freedom. Man does not create himself. He is intellect and will, but he is also nature, and his will is rightly ordered if he respects his nature, listens to it and accepts himself for who he is, as one who did not create himself. In this way, and in no other, is true human freedom fulfilled.”
Pope St. John Paul II Letter to Families (1994)
(No. 6) “Man is created ‘from the very beginning’ as male and female: the light of all humanity… is marked by this primordial duality. From it there derive the ‘masculinity’ and the ‘femininity’ of individuals, just as from it every community draws its own unique richness in the mutual fulfillment of persons… Hence one can discover, at the very origins of human society, the qualities of communion and of complementarity.”
(No. 19)“…the human family is facing the challenge of a new Manichaeanism, in which body and spirit are put in radical opposition; the body does not receive life from the spirit, and the spirit does not give life to the body. Man thus ceases to live as a person and a subject. Regardless of all intentions and declarations to the contrary, he becomes merely an object. This neo-Manichaean culture has led, for example, to human sexuality being regarded more as an area for manipulation and exploitation than as the basis of that primordial wonder which led Adam on the morning of creation to exclaim before Eve: ‘This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh’ (Gen 2:23).”
Theology of the Body
Pope John Paul II, Man and Woman He Created Them: A Theology of the Body, trans. Michael Waldstein (Boston: Pauline Books & Media, 2006)
(No. 9:3) “The account of the creation of man in Genesis 1 affirms from the beginning and directly that man was created in the image of God inasmuch as he is male and female… man became the image of God not only through his own humanity, but also through the communion of persons, which man and woman form from the very beginning.”
(No. 9:5) “Masculinity and femininity express the twofold aspect of man’s somatic constitution… and indicate, in addition… the new consciousness of the meaning of one’s body. This meaning, one can say, consists in reciprocal enrichment.”
(No. 10:1) “Femininity in some way finds itself before masculinity, while masculinity confirms itself through femininity. Precisely the function of sex [that is, being male or female], which in some way is ‘constitutive for the person’ (not only ‘an attribute of the person’), shows how deeply man, with all his spiritual solitude, with the uniqueness and unrepeatability proper to the person, is constituted by the body as ‘he’ or ‘she’.”
(No. 14:4) “The body, which expresses femininity ‘for’ masculinity and, vice versa, masculinity ‘for’ femininity, manifests the reciprocity and the communion of persons.”
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith
Letter on the Collaboration of Men and Women in the Church and in the World (2004)
(No. 2) “In this perspective [i.e., that of gender ideology], physical difference, termed sex, is minimized, while the purely cultural element, termed gender, is emphasized to the maximum and held to be primary. The obscuring of the difference or duality of the sexes has enormous consequences on a variety of levels. This theory of the human person, intended to promote prospects for equality of women through liberation from biological determinism, has in reality inspired ideologies which, for example, call into question the family, in its natural two-parent structure of mother and father, and make homosexuality and heterosexuality virtually equivalent, in a new model of polymorphous sexuality.”
(No. 12) “Male and female are thus revealed as belonging ontologically to creation and destined therefore to outlast the present time, evidently in a transfigured form.”
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Persona Humana: Declaration on Certain Questions Concerning Sexual Ethics (1975)
(III) “… There can be no true promotion of man’s dignity unless the essential order of his nature is respected.”
Full text
Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church
(No. 224) “Faced with theories that consider gender identity as merely the cultural and social product of the interaction between the community and the individual, independent of personal sexual identity without any reference to the true meaning of sexuality, the Church does not tire of repeating her teaching: ‘Everyone, man and woman, should acknowledge and accept his sexual identity. Physical, moral and spiritual difference and complementarities are oriented towards the goods of marriage and the flourishing of family life. . . .’ According to this perspective, it is obligatory that positive law be conformed to the natural law, according to which sexual identity is indispensable, because it is the objective condition for forming a couple in marriage” (emphasis in original, internal citation omitted).
Pontifical Council for the Family
Family, Marriage and “De Facto” Unions (2000)
(No. 8) “In the process that could be described as the gradual cultural and human de-structuring of the institution of marriage, the spread of a certain ideology of ‘gender’ should not be underestimated. According to this ideology, being a man or a woman is not determined fundamentally by sex but by culture. Therefore, the very bases of the family and inter-personal relationships are attacked.”
(No. 8) “Starting from the decade between 1960-1970, some theories… hold not only that generic sexual identity (‘gender’) is the product of an interaction between the community and the individual, but that this generic identity is independent from personal sexual identity: i.e., that masculine and feminine genders in society are the exclusive product of social factors, with no relation to any truth about the sexual dimension of the person. In this way, any sexual attitude can be justified, including homosexuality, and it is society that ought to change in order to include other genders, together with male and female, in its way of shaping social life.”
USCCB: Various Documents
Chairmen Letter to U.S. Senators regarding ENDA Legislation (2013)
“ENDA’s definition of ‘gender identity’ lends force of law to a tendency to view ‘gender as nothing more than a social construct or psychosocial reality, which a person may choose at variance from his or her biological sex.”
Full text
ENDA Backgrounder (2013)
“ENDA defines ‘gender identity’ as ‘the gender-related identity, appearance, or mannerisms or other gender-related characteristics of an individual, with or without regard to the individual’s designated sex at birth.’”
“ENDA’s treatment of ‘gender identity would lend the force of law to a tendency to view ‘gender’ as nothing more than a social construct or psychosocial reality that can be chosen at variance from one’s biological sex. Second, ENDA’s treatment of ‘gender identity’ would adversely affect the privacy and associational rights of others. In this respect, ENDA would require workplace rules that violate the legitimate privacy expectations of other employees… Third, ENDA would make it far more difficult for organizations and employees with moral and religious convictions about the importance of sexual difference, and the biological basis of sexual identity, to speak and act on those beliefs.”
Chairmen Statement on ENDA-style Executive Order (2014)
“[The executive order] lends the economic power of the federal government to a deeply flawed understanding of human sexuality, to which faithful Catholics and many other people of faith will not assent…
“The executive order prohibits ‘gender identity’ discrimination, a prohibition that is previously unknown at the federal level, and that is predicated on the false idea that ‘gender’ is nothing more than a social construct or psychological reality that can be chosen at variance from one’s biological sex. This is a problem not only of principle but of practice, as it will jeopardize the privacy and associational rights of both federal contractor employees and federal employees.”
Chairmen Statement on Department of Labor Regulations (2014)
Chairmen Statement on the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act (2013)
“Unfortunately, we cannot support the version of the ‘Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2013’ passed by the House of Representatives and the Senate (S. 47) because of certain language it contains. Among our concerns are those provisions in S. 47 that refer to ‘sexual orientation’ and ‘gender identity.’ All persons must be protected from violence, but codifying the classifications ‘sexual orientation’ and ‘gender identity’ as contained in S. 47 is problematic. These two classifications are unnecessary to establish the just protections due to all persons. They undermine the meaning and importance of sexual difference. They are unjustly exploited for purposes of marriage redefinition, and marriage is the only institution that unites a man and a woman with each other and with any children born from their union.”
Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services (5th Edition)
(No. 53) “Direct sterilization of either men or women, whether permanent or temporary, is not permitted in a Catholic health care institution. Procedures that induce sterility are permitted when their direct effect is the cure or alleviation of a present and serious pathology and a simpler treatment is not available.”
(No. 70) “Catholic health care organizations are not permitted to engage in immediate material cooperation in actions that are intrinsically immoral, such as abortion, euthanasia, assisted suicide, and direct sterilization.”
Full text
For further related USCCB resources, see:
- USCCB, Marriage: Love and Life in the Divine Plan (2009)
- USCCB, Ministry to Persons with a Homosexual Inclination: Guidelines for Pastoral Care
(2006)
- Made for Each Other (video, viewer’s guide, and resource booklet), available at
www.marriageuniqueforareason.org.
“The regulations published on December 3 [2014] by the U.S. Department of Labor implement the objectionable Executive Order that President Obama issued in July to address what the Administration has described as ‘sexual orientation’ and ‘gender identity’ discrimination in employment by federal contractors. . . . [T]he regulations advance the false ideology of ‘gender identity,’ which ignores biological reality and harms the privacy and associational rights of both contractors and their employees.”
Catholic Sexuality Policy Guide for schools
March 31, 2016, at 10:22 AM | By Adam Cassandra |
To help Catholic schools protect their Catholic identity while compassionately addressing issues of human sexuality — including the sometimes thorny issues of same-sex attraction and gender identity — The Cardinal Newman Society has released a new resource with valuable guidance on forming policies in these areas. Fully consistent with Church teaching, the guide can help schools prevent confusion and even litigation while strengthening their important work of evangelization.
“Human Sexuality Policies for Catholic Schools” was developed by Dr. Denise Donohue and Dr. Dan Guernsey, deputy director and director (respectively) of K-12 programs for the Newman Society. Their work draws partly upon the counsel and policy recommendations of the Alliance Defending Freedom, a Christian organization of top legal experts on religious freedom, and the teaching documents of several popes, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and key Vatican congregations.
“Human sexuality policies should, to the degree possible, not single out any particular group or behavior,” the authors write, “but be placed in the larger context of assisting all members of the school community in virtue formation, furthering of the common good, and the Catholic evangelical mission of the school.”
Even so, Catholic educators today have an urgent need for policies that help them teach and uphold truth while avoiding lawsuits by students or employees, as well as violations of religious freedom by local, state and federal agencies. Fueled by social media and an unsympathetic press, Catholic schools face intense pressure to compromise their teaching and mission rather than be charged with discrimination based on “gender identity,” “gender expression” or “sexual orientation.”
But standing firm against the culture can also cause problems for Catholic schools, if their policies aren’t well-crafted. In early March, a Catholic school in Rhode Island made national headlines after refusing to accept or enroll students who claimed an opposite-sex gender because the school’s facilities were designed according to biological sex. Following intense scrutiny and accusations of hate and intolerance from some alumni, the ACLU, other activists and the media, administrators reversed the policy.
Both public and private schools are being asked to accommodate “transgender” students in restrooms, locker rooms and showers by, for example, allowing a biologically male student who identifies as a female to use the girls’ restroom and showers, or designating “gender neutral” facilities. Such options might avoid public criticism, but they are inconsistent with a Catholic view of sex and gender.
Last January, Nebraska’s high school athletic association considered a new gender identity policy, but the state’s bishops expressed concerned about spiritual harm to students. “It would be unjust to allow a harmful and deceptive gender ideology to shape either what is taught or how activities are conducted in our schools,” the bishops stated. “This would certainly have a negative impact on students’ and society’s attitudes towards the fundamental nature of the human person and the family.”
These sorts of conflicts have led to many questions and concerns surrounding the gender identity issue.
Clearly schools and dioceses face serious legal issues when implementing human sexuality policies. But more important are the moral and spiritual issues to consider. Catholic educators must rightly guide students and their parents to a healthy understanding of sexuality, and away from false but popular assumptions that are at odds with Church teaching.
The Newman Society’s guide includes recommendations for mission statements, faith statements and policies related to sexuality generally, and particular policies for special areas like athletics, dances and clothing.
The guide also provides a selection of Church teachings on human sexuality, a sample letter for prospective employees and parents seeking to enroll their children, and a sample handbook agreement for parents and students.
The Newman Society calls on schools to maintain their integrity with regard to their Catholic mission, while remaining as welcoming as possible to individuals who are confused but sincerely trying to live as God has called them to.
“Sincere questioning of the practices of the Catholic faith in order to more deeply understand them are welcome,” proposed policy language on mission integrity reads, “but openly hostile, public defiance and challenge of Catholic truths or morality are signs that a student, parent, staff or faculty member may not be a fit for our school’s primary evangelical mission and, thus, may be denied admission or may be asked to leave the school.”
With regard to gender, the guide recommends that schools be clear: “One’s biological sex and gender expression are not to be disaggregated, but should be seen in harmony, according to God’s plan.”
“Our given biological sex is part of the divine plan,” the guide reminds school leaders. “The Church teaches that sexual identity is ‘a reality deeply inscribed in man and woman,’ it constitutes but is more than one’s biological identity, and a person ‘should acknowledge and accept his sexual identity.’”
If this is taught to all members of a school community, solutions to particular challenges become more obvious to everyone.
“A member of the school community who wishes to express a gender other than his or her biological sex is understood as operating outside of the ‘reality deeply inscribed’ within,” reads one suggested policy. “Assisting the person in his or her disconnect with this reality, however sincerely experienced, by agreeing to participate in any efforts to change natural gender expression is contrary to the pursuit of the truth.”
This is the opposite of discrimination; it requires great concern for the good of the student.
“Authentic love, a gift of the self for the good of the other, requires that we compassionately dwell in the truth and assist those we love to do the same,” the guide explains.
In instances where students are actively dressing, acting or manipulating their bodies in ways “contrary to God’s plan,” the Newman Society suggests that schools implement language stating: “[Y]oung people, working with their parents, [should] bring these types of issues to their pastor as well as to other trained professionals who might best assist them in clarifying and defining issues of self (and sexual) identity in accord with Catholic teaching and God’s natural plan. The school’s pastoral and counseling services are available to all members of the school community.”
There are numerous notes in these sections and throughout the document for further reading on Catholic teaching.
Public pressure on Catholic schools and legal threats related to sexuality are likely to continue and increase. The Newman Society hopes school administrators and dioceses will find “Human Sexuality Policies for Catholic Schools” a helpful resource in further strengthening and protecting the Catholic identity of their schools, for the purpose of leading students to the Truth in Christ.