The biggest lesson that I learned in relation to diversity is to not just do it...do it everyday. Celebrating diversity doesn't mean having a special day to acknowledge everyone's differences. We should be doing this every day. Why does every author students learn about in English class have to be white? Why do history classes focus on the history of our ancestors from Europe? Education and curriculum should offer a variety of roles to learn about.
Gender roles can be such a difficult subject to discuss because I know that even I buy into the idea. I loved my barbies and dolls when I was a girl. I also adored my brother's hot wheels and train sets and played video games, which is something I always felt was weird and set me apart from most girls. Still, I enjoy the domestic, nurturing role that I have created for myself (or has been created for me...not sure which it is) and don't see anything wrong with washing my future family's laundry and cooking the meals. That said, there is no way that I will cook, clean, and put the kids to bed while my husband puts his feet up in front of the television. I do believe that gender roles have (almost) no place in schools because I don't think that gender correlates to intelligence, effort, or capability. On a side note, do schools really need to provide separate bathrooms for transgendered individuals? Can't they just choose?
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