Ottawa Schools Survey Teens on Sexual Orientation and More

I could spend all evening looking for the right image for this post or I could just take the image of diversity cupcakes. :)

The Internet was abuzz today with information on the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board's plans to survey its student body. According to the Ottawa Citizen's article Board to ask students if they are gay by Matthew Pearson, the school board is going to ask a range of questions to students from Grades 7 to Grade 12, as well as the parents of children from junior kindergarten to Grade 6. The surveys ask about a variety of issues, including home life, religious affiliation, gender, sexual orientation, and plans after high school. According to the school board, they plan to use the information collected in order to "make better decisions about programs, services and resource allocation."  There appears to be some concern from parents that some of the questions that will be asked of high school students are too adult, especially for students as young as Grade 7.

The following are some sample questions quoted in the Ottawa Citizen article:

Questions from the JK to Grade 6 Survey

Who are the adult caregivers your child lives with most of the time? (Please check one only)

• Mother and Father


• Mother


• Father


• Half-time with each parent


• Father and step mother


• Mother and step father


• Two fathers


• Two mothers


• Foster parents


• Adult relatives/guardians


• Other:  please specify

Questions from the Grades 7 to 12 survey

What is your gender?

• Female


• Male


• Transgender


• Prefer not to disclose

How do you identify your sexual orientation? (You may choose more than one)

• Bisexual


• Gay (male)


• Heterosexual (straight)


• Lesbian (female)


• Queer


• Questioning


• Transsexual


• Two-spirited


• Prefer not to disclose

I loved the idea of this survey the moment I heard about it. I hoped that the questions were well written and so far I've been impressed with what I have seen.

• It is miles better than the Census of Canada from an inclusiveness perspective. In 2006, the Census only gave two options for gender (male or female) and had an option for "husband or wife of Person 1" on the questionnaire, but yet indicated that people who were a "same-sex married spouse" should use the "other" category instead.

• I also see such an inclusive survey as one way of telling students that there isn't a prescriptive "normal" that you have to conform to and that there are a wide variety of options to choose from. I think when I was in Grade 7 it was made pretty clear that you were either gender binary heterosexual with married (or divorced) heterosexual parents or you were a freak. This survey, to me, says that normal is no longer as prescriptive as it once was and that society is changing for the better.

• I also hope that this survey would prompt discussions in the classroom, and possibly in the home (depending on the home), about the different options that are listed in the survey. I don't think you can shove a survey at students with terms they may never have heard of before without some explanation, so I hope that this opens a door for teachers to walk through the survey with students and to educate them on gender issues and sexual orientations.

The survey is optional and students (or their parents) can opt out of it. But I do hope that most of them will fill it in and I hope that it acts as a catalyst for continuing to make our schools more welcoming of diversity.

How would you feel about your kids answering this survey? How would you have felt about a survey like this in high school?

Image credit: clevercupcakes on flickr

Comments

[Sara]

Is this survey anonymous? Or do they also have to attach their name to it? I was a questioning youth in high school, I was even president of the GSA, but if I had had to put my name on something and then say I was bisexual/questioning, I would have lied.

[phdinparenting]

Sara:

It is confidential, but not completely anonymous. Each survey has a random number on it, which is associated with a student, but no one who sees the actually surveys will have access to the names that are associated with the numbers on the survey. I think the idea is to be able to keep records on who did complete the survey, while still keeping the information in the survey private.

[Tara R.]

I have children who are 17 and 21, and would have been confused by why their school district would need to know some of this info. I applaud the inclusion of multiple guardian choices, but why would any school district need to know my children's sexual orientation, or whether they identify themselves as anything other than male or female? If it is to implement harassment policies or training for teachers and admin, or to open discussions in classrooms about gender/sexuality issues, the district should do that regardless, without having to know it has X number of gay/lesbian students or Y number of transgender students.

[phdinparenting]

Tara R.

I think there are two issues. Anti-harassment policies and training for teachers and admin should exist regardless of the numbers. However, services and programs could be implemented based on need. As an example, perhaps schools want to have a counsellor with specialized training come in to be available to transgender students. If there are no transgender students at a school, it wouldn't make sense to schedule that person to come in once per month to sit in the counseling office and have no one visit them, especially if there is another school with quite a few transgender students who could benefit from having that counselor there more often. Some school districts may find that they have enough non-heterosexual students that it would make sense to have LGBT school dances for all students across the school board to create an environment where they would perhaps feel safer than at the mainstream school dance.

[Tara R.]

That makes sense. But, I'm afraid in many US school districts, or at least in the south where I live, having a dedicated counselor for non-hetero students would be difficult to implement. The community would most likely reject an initiative like that, and students would definitely not want to 'out' themselves by visiting such a counselor, even if gender issues were only a part of his/her training. I'm not saying it wouldn't be beneficial, I think it would. I just can't see any level of acceptance in having programs specifically for LGBT students. And, that to me is very sad.

I even asked my son about this issue (he's 17). He said he thought the students would be accepting of such a survey and a counselor, but the majority of parents would definitely be against it.

[Woodturtle]

I like the proactive approach of the survey to help evaluate the distribution of programs and services. I'm kind of under the impression that sometimes things as crucial as providing new books are based on a school's population and graduation rates, so it's nice to see a board taking this approach (my impression is based on volunteering at an inner city school in Kingston, where students in grade 6 did remedial reading with me because they were at a grade 2 reading level. Teachers confided in me that these students were bumped along each year to keep their numbers and therefore funding up. Wether or not this is the actual case, I can't really say).

I think awareness of sexual diversity is the norm for our generation (at least acknowledging it anyway), so it is nice to see an inclusive survey. I wonder though how many teachers will have to offer special discussions afterward if students are genuinely confused as to the differences between orientations.   Or how many will suspect the motivation behind both the religion and sexual orientation questions and refuse to answer. I wouldn't have a problem with my daughter taking it if the information would in future help strengthen her educational experience.

Epsos Reid held a similar questionnaire at my workplace for "employee engagement." Many people in my office chose two-spirited just to skew numbers and used the comment section to say that it really wasn't anyone's business.

[marci]

At first glance I like this idea.

But I am a 39 yr old never been bullied or questioned my sexuality kinda hetero gal (boring, I know). I am just not sure that having your heart in the right place here is enough. Maybe it's because my boys are only 8 & 10 but I just don't see the majority of (though certainly not all) teens even taking this seriously. It reeks of B'S: bureaucracy, big brother & band-aid solution. And teens will smell that right away, I think.

That said, acknowledging the diversity of home life & sexuality is a great conversation starter, so it'll be interesting to see how this evolves.

For the record, I would absolutely encourage my guys to fill this questionnaire in (as long as I could see their replies?) , but certainly wouldn't force them to if they objected.

[Tema Frank]

I was surprised by marci's comment that she'd want to see her child's replies. That would certainly skew the results. Most kids that age don't want their parents knowing anything about their sexuality.

As to the survey itself, I'm of two minds. I see what they were trying to accomplish, but I would imagine many kids would feel uncomfortable and not trust in the confidentiality. I"m also not convinced it is a good idea to ask kids that young to declare one way or another. "Questioning" was an option, but I'm not sure that gets at all the "I don't know" or even "I don't care" types.

It would have been nice to have a "Who cares?" option. Because if kids are, in fact, becoming more accepting, that might be reflected by the number who chose such a response.

Or maybe something even more relevant would have been to survey their attitudes about kids in each of those categories, rather than how they self-define.

[Aida]

This is a tough one. At first, I was a little shocked by the questions... I like the options for caregivers but the sexual orientation one struck as a little too intrusive. I agree with Marci in that I just don't see teens taking this too seriously. Also, if I was a teen faced with these questions I'd think they'll find a way to identify me and fear being bullied for my responses... so, I assume most would lie too.

[phdinparenting]

Tema:

I also thought that it would be a good idea to say "Questioning/Don't Know" and I love the idea of also having an "I don't care" option for those who actively choose not to define themselves in any way.

[Sara]

I don't know about the intent and what will come of that: with limited resources will appropriate programming really end up being developed and implemented? Only in schools where parent councils are supportive? Where the student body is large and diverse?

What I applaud and appreciate is opening up the questions for discussion. It has people talking and if nothing else it raises awareness and starts conversations. Imagine a survey 20 years ago that even suggested referred to two mothers / two fathers: I would like to think that in five-ten years people won't even bat an eyelid when a survey like this is released.

[coffee with julie]

Hi Annie,

I hadn't heard of this and missed all the buzz, so thanks for this post!

I'm all for "making better decisions." So if I was convinced that the survey could help provide broader or more specific services to my childrens' schools, based on its results, then I'd be fine with it. But since the schools don't even seem to have enough money for textbooks and chalk, I'd rather just focus on those basics first.

As for the specific questions, I'd prefer that the ordering of the first question include a "prefer not to disclose" just as the other questions did, as well as mix up the order of potential responses so it didn't seem to read as if it was a listing of most "normal" to least.

But regardless, it does seem like progress, doesn't it?

Julie

[marci]

Oh, I would only view their results (and those of their fellow students) without their knowledge so no skewing necessary. OK - I was kidding (and still am). I have their msn passwords, I don't need access to these evaluations anyhow!

I do like your suggestion for a "Who Cares" box though, it would reflect an acceptance on the part of the kids in a sense, which would be encouraging...

[Jeanine]

I like that this survey is taking a large step forward in being more inclusive of different parenting, gender association and sexual orientation. But I just can't get past the fact that it's not completely anonymous. I know they say that nobody who reads the survey will be able to match the number with the person who filled it in. But those matches do exist somewhere, and in this day and age I just don't trust that it won't end up being hacked or otherwise exposed.

[pomomama aka ebbandflo]

i find the whole survey too intrusive to be completed by children full stop. the questions for the younger age group are already completed in parent paperwork in our school district, then it's up to the individual teachers to listen to their individual pupils to untangle the emphasis.
and IMO questions about sexual orientation are completely out-of-place - we don't do it in the workplace so why should our children have to answer? i would hate children to have to pigeon-hole themselves in any category at all in grade 7, let alone sexuality. it's a developing topic dependent on the age and maturity of the child, on an individual basis. yes, the survey might stimulate discussion and yes, these are matters which should be talked about.

and then there's the confidentiality issue. results can be tracked back to individual students?
who will be interpreting the stats and how will they be used? will a majority hetero, non-blended family school receive different materials compared with a majority same-sex parent, bi- identified schoolpopulation? how is that going to encourage diversity?

i'm pleased that "alternative" orientations and family situations are being recognised but why not just spend the money ensuring that all experiences are represented equally to promote diversity of life style choice? leave the children to grow up in their own time as individuals rather than stats points in a census

[Rebecca]

How is a child's sexual orientation the business of a school district? Especially in terms of resource allocation? Many teens are still struggling with their sexuality and sorting it out. They shouldn't feel any pressure to commit to any boxes at that age (especially 11 or 12... or even 15 or 16).

And it's definitely not safe for kids to talk about their sexuality in a classroom discussion, emotionally or physically. I think most kids would feel very threatened by this, regardless of orientation.

Allocate resources to promote tolerance and understanding for differences (including providing information). Have great counsellors available for kids to talk to (for more than career or educational reasons). That's all that's needed.

[Sarah]

I have been thinking about this a lot since you originally posted it and I am still undecided. I think it is great for inclusion. Every survey that asks gender (in any context) should have a 'transgender' and 'intersex' option. No one wants to be 'other' or to pick an option that doesn't fit individual identity.

I struggle with the sexual orientation part, though - for the reasons stated in previous comments. I do like that it is inclusive and acknowledges all aspects of sexual orientation. In that, it validates all options and doesn't necessarily position heterosexuality as the standard.

[bob]

hi

[Becca]

I know it's been a year since you posted this but I just wanted to add my concern that having come from a very sheltered home I didn't even know most of the words for sexual orientation when I was in grade 7 and I was certainly much too hesitant to dare asking anyone for fear of being made fun of.