Unteach the Overreach
Out of school day on September 14
Schools are not listening to parents. It’s time that they did.
In an international collaboration on Thursday 14 September, parents from the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand will participate in Unteach the Overreach, a protest against the teaching of gender identity ideology in schools. Parents will withdraw their children from school for the day and “unteach” the false sex and gender ideas that are being taught.
Schools are overstepping their bounds and teaching a contested and minority belief as if it is fact. Gender identity ideology confuses and undermines children by encouraging body dissociation and reinforcing sexist stereotypes. On September 14, parents will send a message to principals and school authorities, asking them to respect parental rights in the care of their children, and to base sex education on scientific facts.
Here is a template letter explaining the absence to send to your school principal and Board of Trustees.
Before the day
Gather together a group of like-minded parents and arrange to help each other with child minding on September 14, for those who can’t take a full day off work.
Plan some activities your group can do together (see suggestions below) and also plan for a wet day.
What to do on the day
The purpose of the day is to have fun together and take the opportunity to “unteach” the false ideas your children have heard, whether in formal lessons or from playground misinformation. Refer to the RGE lesson plans for some ideas about suitable activities for children at each curriculum level.
Here are some other things you might like to do:
Get back to nature
Take your children to the zoo, the farm, the museum, or the library and learn about animal behaviour. Talk about the roles of males and females in reproduction for most animals and plants and for all mammalian species. Emphasise that sex is a reproductive category and cannot ever change, even when gendered behaviour changes.
Recommended short videos
For 5-7 year olds: Animal parents
For 8-9 year olds: Simple sexual reproduction
For 10-11 year olds: Male and female reproductive system
For 12-13 year olds: Sexual Reproduction in Humans
For teenagers to hear the plain truth about sex and sexual orientation, watch RGE’s short video Sex is Real.
Investigate costume
Younger students will be interested in the different ways people dress in different countries and should enjoy playing this guessing game:
Older students could investigate how male and female styles of clothing have changed over the centuries.
Students will learn that acceptable clothing for males and females varies considerably over place and time, but it has never changed a person’s sex.
Non-conformists in history
Most have heard of Joan of Arc, but throughout history and across cultures, there have been a great number of women who have dressed in male attire in order to fulfill the roles that had traditionally been reserved for men.
https://blogs.loc.gov/headlinesandheroes/2021/03/women-who-dressed-as-men-and-made-history/
Can your children find examples of men in history who have dressed as women for a particular advantage?
Here are some films about women breaking out of the restrictions placed on them (available for rent on Youtube):
On the Basis of Sex (2018) about Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who in 1993 became the first female US Supreme Court Judge.
Hidden Figures (2016) about the women of colour working for NASA in the 50s/60s.
Battle of the Sexes (2017) about the highly publicised 70s tennis match between women's champ Billie Jean King and former men's champ Bobby Riggs.
Suffragette (2015) about the women's suffrage movement in the UK (might be a tough watch for sensitive viewers).
You might like to end your day with a shared meal of some kind.
Zoom meeting at 7.30pm
Organise a group of parents to meet either at a local hall or in someone’s home to join the Resist Gender Education Unteach the Overreach Zoom Meeting.
There will be a short presentation that outlines the gender ideology beliefs that are being taught in New Zealand schools, followed by a Q & A session.
Places are limited, so please register by emailing info@resistgendereducation.nz with your name and town or city suburb and whether you want to be linked up with some other parents in your area.
Please register by midday Wednesday 13 September.
If you have any other ideas for activities, please share them via our email address for inclusion in our next newsletter.