A comprehensive book that explores the issues surrounding homosexuality and education and advises a course of action to promote tolerance and provide equal opportunity for homosexual students. Understanding Homosexuality, Changing Schools written by veteran teacher and university instructor Arthur Lipkin, provides a foundation in gay/lesbian studies and offers models for equity, inclusion, and school reform. It is designed to help teachers, administrators, counselors, and policymakers understand the significance of gay and lesbian issues in education; to aid communication between students and their families; and to facilitate the integration of gay and lesbian families into the school community. This book is also designed to promote the psychological health and development of all students by reducing bigotry, self-hatred, and violence. Bringing together eleven topics related to homosexuality and education, Understanding Homosexuality, Changing Schools makes the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender experience part of a democratic multicultural vision. Scholarship on homosexuality, gay and lesbian identities, history, and culture came to universities too late for most elementary and secondary school educators, leaving them unprepared to deal with these subjects. Moreover, some teacher education faculty still neglect these topics out of moral scruple, fear, or inattention to new research and practice. Yet teacher education and training must incorporate these issues, if only because the plight of homosexual adolescents has become increasingly apparent. Understanding Homosexuality, Changing Schools, written by veteran teacher and university instructor Arthur Lipkin, provides a foundation in gay/lesbian studies and offers models for equity, inclusion, and school reform. It is designed to help teachers, administrators, counselors, and policymakers understand the significance of gay and lesbian issues in education; to aid communication between gay and lesbian students and their families and schools; to facilitate the integration of gay and lesbian families into the school community; and to promote the inclusion of gay and lesbian curricula in a range of disciplines. This book is also designed to promote the healthy development of all students through reducing bigotry, self-hatred, and violence. Bringing together thirteen topics related to homosexuality and education, Understanding Homosexuality, Changing Schools makes the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender experience part of a democratic multicultural vision.
"Understanding Homosexuality, Changing Schools provides a wealth of resources and practical insight for educators who seek to foster students' sense of personal meaning and social justice. Engaging in style and substantive in detail, Lipkin has produced a work that deserves to be studied and shared (not simply placed prominently on a bookshelf)." -James T. Sears, University of South Carolina
"Arthur Lipkin has written an important book. He has given teachers, parents, administrators, and anyone who cares about education a comprehensive handbook on homosexuality. It is a tremendous resource." -Arthur Levine, President of The Teacher's College, Columbia University
"This excellent, scholarly and practical book tackles one of the most contested contexts in which debates about sexual orientation are taking place. Lipkin's compassionate and intelligent arguments should enlighten all professionals engaged in teaching and school administration. With lucid writing and a deep understanding of the intersections of race, gender, sexuality and economics, Lipkin makes a brilliant contribution to the movement to make America's schools smarter and stronger." -Urvashi Vaid, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force
"Understanding Homosexuality, Changing Schools is unquestionably an invaluable resource. This is a well-researched and well-written text that is user- friendly to educators, community activists and parents. With an integrated methodology Lipkin cogently explains how the history of this country, its laws, its politics and its culture have prohibited the inclusion of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender children into our school system. Lipkin's format for change provides a sorely needed theoretical framework to eliminate the twin evils of both heterosexism and homophobia and to honestly build a democratic multiculturalism. For those who are interested in changing our schools into a safe and inclusive environment for all children must have this text. Not to have this text will keep them on a journey without a road map." -Irene Monroe, public theologian and author of "Louis Farrakhan's Ministry of Misogyny and Homophobia" in The Farrakhan Factor
"Dr. Arthur Lipkin's book is unique, because it links a deeper understanding of homosexuality with encouraging and concrete suggestions for changes in our schools that will make them better places for all students." -Lutz van Dijk, Educational Department, Anne Frank House, Amsterdam
"Arthur Lipkin has written an invaluable text which provides both the theoretical framework and practical advice schools need to effectively address anti-gay bias. Any school serious about affording equal opportunity to all of its students needs to own a copy of Understanding Homosexuality, Changing Schools. It's the book people have been waiting for." -Kevin Jennings, Executive Director, The Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network
"Understanding Homosexuality makes a necessary new contribution to the study of sexuality and gender in education. Both scholarly and polemical, it demands that the voices of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered people be heard and heeded in our schools. The text is comprehensive, thoroughly documented, accessible, and humane. It will prove a valuable asset in teacher training and school reform." -Carol Gilligan, Harvard University Graduate School of Education
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 5.0 / 5.0
This Book Could Reduce Teen Murder, Suicide and Misery:
This book is a must read for everyone concerned with the issues of gay youths in our families, schools and communities. It is very well researched and documented, with hundreds of footnotes and references, by a person who is three ways qualified: he is gay, he was a public high school teacher for 20 years, and he has been a scholar at Harvard for several years. Despite being scholarly, it is highly readable, with many quotations and examples. I especially appreciate its quiet, thoughtful, judicious tone... more info
