Rainbow flag inappropriate in our public schools

It is inappropriate that the rainbow flag is flying in our public schools, and in the same mast together with our national flag. It violated our traditional and official etiquette about our national flag.

We understand that LGBT groups endure some discrimination and we should address this social problem, however, honoring their pride in being LGBT is the wrong way to address the issue. For what are we educating our students in our public schools? We make our heroes prideful so that students would like to be a hero. We make our teachers proud so that students would like to be a teacher. If we make LGBT pride, we are encouraging our students eager to be LGBT. How does this investment in our human resources help our society and economy?

Students in our public school are not only just learning knowledge; they are growing their brains and nervous systems within their bodies. Their personality is plastic. School can shape their personality, including sexual orientation. They are not mature yet. Their sex awareness is vague and may experience a variety of immature feelings of body change near puberty. Should they focus on studying or seek hormone therapy or plastic surgery so that they can pride in being LGBT?

Discrimination against some minority groups exists in our society. LGBT is not the only group and not the most discriminate one. LGBT is an invisible minority, not like Chinese which is a visible minority. On July 20th, 2006, a Chinese immigrant jumps off the freeway pass in Toronto. The Chinese immigrant had two Ph.D. degrees, one in physics from Purdue University and another in chemistry from Toronto University. Yet he could not find a decent job in our society. He could not even find a surviving job due to overqualification. Our society is systematically discriminating against Chinese immigrants. We had the head tax on Chinese immigrants. We had the Chinese Exclusion Act. We have an LGBT premier in Ontario, but not a Chinese premier so far.   We broadcast Ellen DeGeneres show every day, yet we don’t see any popular show hosted by a Chinese. Chinese Canadians study hard yet few can get government positions. Ontario released the Sun Shine List. Yet few are Chinese Canadians. If we want to eliminate discrimination, we cannot address only one specific group. It is unfair to other minority groups.

Chinese Railroad Workers sacrificed their lives for building Pacific Railway through the most dangerous Rockies Mountains. Pacific Railway was our national dream. Chinese Railroad Workers contribute to our nation-building by uniting our vast geographical area into a confederation, and by building infrastructure for our industrial revolution. If we dedicate a whole month to LGTB, can we dedicate just one day in a year to Chinese Railroad Workers? Do we want our students eager to contribute to our country or eager to change sexual orientation? Do we encourage our students for hard-working or for early and alternative sex experiments?

We have had our Charter of Rights and Freedoms for 41 years already. Any discrimination is violating our Constitution. It is the duty of our education system to nourish our students' commitment to our Constitution. After 41 years, discrimination against minorities still exists in our society. That’s the failure of our education system. Hate against LGBT comes from some extreme groups, not from the public at large. Our school should have a curriculum to introduce cultural anthropology knowledge and psychology at earlier stages so that our students understand human beings and ourselves more, and value humans more rationally. Pushing anthropology and psychology into the curriculum of our public schools may help eliminate the extreme in our society. We should not use one extreme against another extreme. Just because some extremes against LGBT, does not mean we should make LGBT another extreme. We cannot use extreme to eliminate extreme. That simply divides our society. We can only use knowledge about our human being to eliminate extremes.

Flying the rainbow flag in our public schools, and some in the same mast together with our national flag is not an appropriate way to eliminate discrimination based on any of the broad spectra of differences among human beings.