Sunday, September 21, 2008

Homosexuality in Modern American High Schools

I believe that Homosexuality is one of the more prominent and intriguing issues being looked at in American high schools today. Although there is certainly still opposition to this alternative style of living, Homosexuality is becoming more and more accepted within the pinnacles of today's youth.

I chose this topic because of an observation that I had made in May while I was doing three weeks of student teaching at my old high school. While I was working with Juniors and Seniors in the high school, I was somewhat surprised to learn that no less than four of the students in the classes I was teaching were openly gay.

Now, when I was in high school, just four short years ago, we had the occasional person who would come "out of the closet" and quite a few people who claimed to be gay and/or bisexual just to get attention and rebel. It was becoming more accepted, but most people that were homosexual still kept it under wraps.

While student teaching, I had two young women in one class that were dating. They were actually a very cute couple and quite popular among their class-mates. They were nominated for cutest couple, and I'm sad to say I did not get a chance to find out if they won. This is another example, to me, of how much more accepted homosexuality is becoming in US high schools.

I want to delve deeper into this subject. I'd like to see just how these issues are looked at in US high schools, and how and why opinions are changing about gay students. I'd also like to see if this progression I've observed also holds true in other cities, counties, and states.