New NJ Curriculum Will Teach Gender Identity to 7- and 8-Year-Olds.
They will also learn "the range of ways people express their gender and how gender role stereotypes may limit behavior.”
Editorial Team
April 08, 2022
Photo by Sharon McCutcheon / Unsplash
What happened: New Jersey public school second graders—seven to eight-year-olds—will be learning about gender identity in the upcoming fall under new state education guidelines. The guidelines were created in 2020 but were not required to be enacted until this fall.
The specifics: New Jersey students, by the end of second grade, are expected to understand that all "individuals should feel welcome and included regardless of their gender, gender expression or sexual orientation.” They will also learn "the range of ways people express their gender and how gender role stereotypes may limit behavior.”
Lesson plans: One New Jersey school distributed lesson plans where first graders were taught that they can have “boy parts” but “feel like” a girl.
"You might feel like you’re a boy even if you have body parts that some people might tell you are ‘girl’ parts. You might feel like you’re a girl even if you have body parts that some people might tell you are ‘boy’ parts.”