Can You Say ‘Good Morning Boys and Girls’? Only If You’re a Bigot     11/21/2005
By Ben Frichtl

Prominent ‘civil rights’ group attacks ‘gender stereotypes.’

If the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) has its way, teachers won’t be able to acknowledge that there are boys and girls in their classrooms. Or that boys are any different from girls.

Rebecca S. Bigler, Ph.D., reveals the plan in her article “Good Morning, Boys and Girls,” in SPLC’s publication Teaching Tolerance: Fall 2005:

It happens every day across the nation: Teachers welcome their students to class by saying, “Good morning, boys and girls.”… Imagine if a teacher used race labels in similar fashion: “Good morning, whites and blacks.” Or used ethnicity as a way to organize classroom activities: “Latinos, get your backpacks now.”

Bigler, an associate professor of psychology at the University of Texas at Austin, has a profound yet simple solution to this social crisis of gender differentiation: “As a first step, classroom teachers should avoid making statements such as, ‘The girls are doing a good job,’ or ‘The boys need to be a bit quieter,’” she writes, and explains:

This will help all children concentrate on their identity as students rather than as members of a gender group. … Of course, gender cannot and should not be ignored in all situations. … It is appropriate, for example, to discuss gender barriers that have been broken—the first female astronaut, the first female U.S. senator and so on.

According to Bigler, teachers should emphasize similarities between boys and girls, not differences:

Ask, for example, “How are these people similar? Why do you think only men have done this job?” Teachers and students can then discuss gender discrimination, gender stereotyping, sexism and other issues.

The SPLC, founded by author/activist Morris Dees, once was known primarily for civil rights advocacy, but has, in fact, pursued virtually the entire left-wing political and social agenda. According to the official SPLC Web site, “The Southern Poverty Law Center was founded in 1971 as a small civil-rights law firm. Today, the Center is internationally known for its tolerance-education programs, its legal victories against white supremacists and its tracking of hate groups.”

Some of these so-called “hate groups” include conservative Christian think tanks and public policy research foundations, such as American Vision, Family Research Institute and the Chalcedon Foundation. While not designated as a “hate group,” Concerned Women for America (CWA) is listed as one of the 12 “most influential anti-gay groups,” along with Focus on the Family, Summit Ministries, the Traditional Values Coalition and Coral Ridge Ministries.

“We’re in good company,” said Robert Knight, director of CWA’s Culture & Family Institute. “You’re known by the company you keep, but also by the enemies you make. We’re very comfortable being on a ‘hit list’ of the Southern Poverty Law Center, which is getting increasingly strident as Americans reject its politically correct, radical agenda and are fighting to reclaim their heritage as a free people.”

Benjamin Frichtl, a student at Patrick Henry College, is an intern in the Culture & Family Institute, an affiliate of Concerned Women for America.

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