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Educators at the University of Tennessee are very concerned that students might be offended by the usage of personal pronouns like she, he, him and hers---so they are offering an alternative vocabulary to the old misconceptions of male and female.
A University spokesperson says, "It's about education. We are a higher education institution and exposing our students to a lot of different things."
"We are exposing our students to an increasingly diverse and global world," she says.
Insanity.
Global education rankings show her "global world" has moved on, leaving the US far down the list.
America was once rated #1 in education, now depending on the survey organization, we are as high as #14 and as low as #28.
Remember the little song, "School days, school days; Dear old Golden Rule days; Reading and...
Once Todd Starnes got hold of this insane program at the University of Tennessee and wrote about it, they began repeatedly denying that the new vocabulary was mandatory.
It is "not mandatory." Really, it's not.
But highly recommended by those pushing it.
The instructional letter from the Office for Diversity and Inclusion says, "With the new semester beginning and an influx of new students on campus, it is important to participate in making our campus welcoming and inclusive for all. One way to do that is to use a student's chosen name and their correct pronoun."
The "correct" pronouns are ze, hir, zir, xe, xem and xyr. And it's all based on how a kid is self identifying their gender at any given time.
A spokesperson for the program told Starnes, "These may sound a little funny at first, but it's only because they're new. The 'she' and 'he' pronouns would sound strange too if we had been taught 'ze' when growing up."
Speaking of "growing up."
In 1907, Will Cobb and Gus Edwards wrote a little song titled, "School Days." Over the years it has been recorded by a number of singers including Chuck Berry and others. Some of the words have been changed a little bit by the artist who was recording it, but these are the original lyrics for the chorus:
"School days, school days; Dear old Golden Rule days; Reading and riting and rithmetic; Taught to the tune of the hick'ry stick. You were my queen in calico; I was your bashful, barefoot beau; And you wrote on my slate, 'I love you, Joe;' When we were a couple of kids."
It was written about an older couple who had gone to school together, fell in love, married and were now looking back.
Things change. We move on. But must we embrace insanity in our pretense of educating?
While the "Office for Diversity and Inclusion" at the University of Tennessee claim "It's about education," it's not. It's about indoctrination.
And does this really make the university a more "welcoming" and "inclusive" environment?
Do normal kids who actually know whether they are a boy or a girl feel more or less included as this program is instituted in classrooms and general conversation?
Are they bullied emotionally if they refuse to call a boy a "ze". Or whatever?
Are they bigots if they fail to comply with all these guttural sounds?
And does this make learning more conducive to the 99.9% who know their gender?
The results of this and related insanity in American education are staggering.
Surveys differ on how the US is ranked worldwide. But one thing is certain, America is not even close to being #1.
Some surveys rank the US as high as #14, some as low as #28.
All show the US falling behind the rest of the other developed countries.
The insanity on display at University of Tennessee is not isolated, it's typical, and it is at least partially, if not substantially what's wrong with American education.
In fact' CBS was reporting our decline 10 years ago, saying that the US is "slipping in ratings" and quoting experts on public education who were calling our system "clearly inefficient."
Not only is this insanity destroying the institutions, but the culture as well. The product of this nonsense is now in the work force---even in the White House.
In his recent trip to Africa, President Obama was asked by African leaders to please not bring his agenda of homosexuality, same-sex "marriage" and abortion to their countries. Even the country of Kenya, birth place of Obama's father and name sake, asked him to please leave his cultural agenda at home in the US.
Some African leaders said they would ask him to "go home" if he started trying to indoctrinate their country.
In the end, the president did put his message out there. And the African leaders were too polite to tell him to go home.
What's happening at the University of Tennessee---in the middle of what has been known as the "Bible Belt" is the result of years of indoctrination under the guise of education in our public education institutions.
The 60s were hardly a pinnacle of morality, but even the Beach Boys had a better grasp on education than present day educators.
Their version of "School Days" went, in part, like this:
"School days, school days
Dear old Golden Rule days Up in the mornin' and out to school
The teacher is teachin' the Golden Rule
American History and Practical Math
Studyin' hard and hopin' to pass
And workin' your fingers right down to the bone
The guy behind you won't leave you alone."
The reformer Martin Luther once said, "I am afraid that the schools will prove the very gates of hell, unless they diligently labor in explaining the Holy Scriptures and engraving them in the heart of the youth."
They are quickly becoming what Luther feared.
Martin Luther also reminded us: "Prayer is not overcoming God's reluctance. It is laying hold of His willingness."
Pray for the restoration of our country.
Be Informed. Be Vigilant. Be Prayerful.