I know from first-hand experience that separating transgender students from their peers can cause many to leave school, hide who they are, or even do the unthinkable.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the negative impact of discrimination against transgender students in schools.
Nicole Maines highlights the urgent need for inclusivity and acceptance in educational environments, pointing out that discrimination can lead to severe emotional distress for transgender students. She stresses that the consequences of separation or bullying may push these individuals to feel isolated or resort to harmful actions, making it essential for schools to foster a supportive atmosphere for all students.
In practice
During a school board meeting discussing anti-bullying policies.
We didn't have anyone to tell us that what was going on with me was alright. There was no information about transgender people when we started our journey, but we managed to make it through because of the tremendous amount of love that our family had.
I think accurately presenting a trans character means not presenting them as perfect - I think there's been a pressure to do this with trans characters. They can have no flaws because they must represent the entire trans community.
I knew that I was trans when I was three years old. Well, I didn't know 'trans' because I didn't know there was a word for it, but I just knew that in my head and my heart that I was supposed to be a girl.
When we have a trans woman playing a trans woman, then you see, 'Oh wait, this is what trans really is. This is what it looks like: a person.' That sends a message to trans kids that they are valid in their identities that they are allowed to exist.
It seems only fitting that we have a trans superhero for trans kids to look up to. I wish there was a trans superhero when I was little.
What is much harder to handle is the sense that you have to live up to the mark someone else has set for you. The grades become too important, the competition too frantic, the fear of disappointing those who believe in you turns into an overwhelming nightmare.
That's what I tell my students at California Institute of the Arts where I taught for 27 years. I taught them if you strive to be a good person, maybe you might become a great jazz musician.
Learning to read, for the brain, is a lot like an amateur ringmaster first learning how to organise a three-ring circus. He wants to begin individually and then synchronise all the performances. It only happens after all the separate acts are learned and practised long and well.
Only when the child is able to identify its own center with the center of the universe does education really begin.
People should be free to find or make for themselves the kinds of educational experience they want their children to have.
When I read a book I seem to read it with my eyes only, but now and then I come across a passage, perhaps only a phrase, which has a meaning for me, and it becomes part of me.
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