‘Queering the Schoolhouse:’ Teacher Training Seeks to Mobilize Student Activists

A teacher training course from the University of Colorado called “Queering the Schoolhouse” explains how to embed leftist gender theory into the education system and turn students into activists.

The six-week online teacher training is designed to teach educators “about the history of LGBTQ+ issues in education and develop strategies for building more inclusive learning environments for students, teachers, and community members.” 

“This course will provide you with insights and equip you with strategies for exploring inclusion for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer or questioning learners in your specific professional context,” the description also says.

It is led by Jacob McWilliams, the Director of the Gender and Sexuality Center at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, as well as Daryl Boyd, a master’s student at the School of Education, and Suraj Uttamchandani, a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Counseling and Educational Psychology. 

The modules do not simply focus on educating teachers or fostering “inclusion.” Portions of the course are specifically designed to encourage students to become leftist activists or talk about their sexuality. One module titled “Working Towards a More Inclusive World” discusses “Taking social action.” 

The clip talks about the importance of “identifying what role or roles we feel comfortable and prepared to play.” it goes on to say, “for some students, that might mean disclosing their gender identity or sexual orientation, or both.”

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It adds, “As a teacher, you may also decide you want to disclose your gender identity or sexual orientation or both.”

In one module, teachers are instructed to encourage students to “build and use their own ally toolbox.” It also provides teachers with resources that “gives you an opportunity to identify some projects … that might encourage social action.”

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Another module from the training, called “Transforming Your Curriculum,” offers one specific way in which classes that have nothing to do with social or political issues can be leveraged in the pursuit of leftist political aims. 

Coursera.org

The module suggests having students statistically analyze the results of a student climate survey, before then considering “what might be an acceptable percentage of LGBTQ+ students who’ve experienced discrimination, harassment, or bullying.”

But the lesson plan goes far beyond statistics, saying that the students “might then develop a proposal for addressing any concerning aspects of the survey results. 

Meanwhile, another section of the teacher training is based on an article titled “LGBTQ+ Visibility in the K-12 Curriculum,” which outlines a “four-tiered approach to integrating multicultural content into curriculum.” 

Notably, the approach is deliberately intended to encourage “social action” among students in order to turn them into activists for leftist causes. In level three of the process, a teacher “Alters the structure of the curriculum to encourage students to view concepts, issues, events, and themes from multiple perspectives.”

Level four is specifically focused on turning students into activists. Level four “Encourages students to make decisions about important social issues and take actions to help address them,” the article reads. 

It goes on to explain the fourth phase of the process, saying:

At this level, practitioners cede control to students, who decide and act on social issues important to them. To help students discern how to act and what to act on, Schlax worked to show students contemporary LGBTQ+ issues in families, education, religion, media, and the law and mapped out paths to civic engagement. As part of this work, she helped students develop an understanding of good ally practices, effective activism strategies, and ways in which identity, particularly that of LGBTQ+ people, is expressed.

This focus on turning students into activists is not at all unique to the Queering the Schoolhouse training but is instead part of a larger campaign to mobilize youth for woke political causes.

Breitbart News reported that in Seattle, Washington, for example, one lesson plan told fourth-grade students “how to be an ally” and instructed them to write a letter giving advice to a child who wants to crossdress at school. 

Meanwhile, a woke organization that works with the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS) hosts “teen councils” to mobilize students in support of the diversity, inclusion, and equity (DIE) agenda, which are rooted in critical race theory.

Some efforts to not only indoctrinate but mobilize students for woke causes have even received support from large, powerful corporations. Breitbart News reported that Boeing gave $20,000 to a student activism conference that encouraged participants to create a “diversity/inclusion/social justice club at your own school.”

Spencer Lindquist is a reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter @SpencerLndqst and reach out at slindquist@breitbart.com.