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Originally Posted by driveway
It's actually the opposite. There are lots. Millions, globally.
I personally taught three 7th graders over the last 7 years who were in this situation, and another four who were open with their parents with their pronoun/name change requests. Granted, my school was very LGBTQA+ friendly and had a clear policy, well articulated to students, that students could request the school not inform parents.
Giving kids the opportunity to experiment with their gender-identity in whichever way and space feels comfortable to them is so, so, so important. I am certain that many of the parents the kids didn't want to tell would absolutely be accepting of their child's choice, but the kid just didn't want to tell them and I am enormously supportive of giving kids that option.
Laws that require informing parents are going to have exactly the opposite effect that the Christofacists - and I use the word deliberately - intend. MORE teenagers are going to seek medical solutions to perceived gender dysphoria.
Just like so many different phases that kids go through while they're growing up, experiments with gender identity are usually just that: a phase. Granted, there are some people who experience gender dysphoria to the point that medical intervention is what is best for that person. If we make it so that only "genuine" dysphoria is the acceptable way to experiment with gender identity, then you are going to drive people into making medical decisions with life-long consequences who otherwise would not have.
Try to think back to how important your identity was to you as a teenager. How much the music you and your friends listened to mattered. How important it was that people know you disliked something that was popular, a tv show or a genre of music.
Now imagine that the identity you've put on involves your gender and you have people you care about: your parents, teachers, counsellors, asking you if this is really, really who you are. Of course kids are going to say yes, because in that moment it is who they really, really are.
On the other hand, if the school is a space where a kid can show up and be Julie for six months and then Raymond for the rest of the year, and then maybe go back to Julie for a bit because they kinda liked some of the things that came along with it, and they can just do this on their own, without needing to have long conversations with adults about it (which - to a kid - is exactly the same thing as "being in trouble" no matter how you handle the conversation), then we give kids the chance to explore and figure out who they are without involving lasting medical treatments.
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I was trying to decide if I should reply seriously to this thread. I don't want to defend an opinion, but I also don't want to seem like I'm carelessly doing a drive by either.
But IMO, if gender is a social construct, the I believe the child would be able to understand more of who they are in a larger social circle such as a school than a smaller one such as a family.
I don't agree with teaching the details of the other genders beyond the awareness that there exists other ones beyond the two primary ones in elementary school. I think it would confuse and overwhelm kids.
But teaching about the concept that there are others than the primary male/female genders at around the time the kids are going through puberty is a good strategy IMO.
Kinda like math, you just start with the basics at first and let the kids familiarize themselves with it (ie: Addition, subtraction, division and multiplication). Teach sex as hardware (ie: Chromosomes) and basically explain the differences between the two major categories and tell kids to protect their privates. Then in Junior high, you expand upon it (ie: Algebra). You explain the changes one may have during puberty and the different ways you may perceive yourself and/or attraction to others sexually. I think that's a good approach for teaching this topic.
You also mentioned grade 7. I was going to mention that I agreed with that age (Age 12) and that Age 14 seemed oddly late if you put students in a pool of other students (Junior high grades 7 to 9) who are already exploring their gender to a deeper level.
Stripping away the gender detail for a moment, some kids will know who they are to a deeper level than other kids. It's OK that kids aren't at the same level all the time and it's OK some kids are more advanced than other kids for certain topics. The point of school IMO is to give kids the tools they will need to succeed in the future. Not all of what they are taught will be guaranteed to be used, but you want to give them the best skills, tools and knowledge to succeed.
But I also agreed with your last point that the kids should have an opportunity to explore this independently from adult influence as well. The fact there are rules that schools/teachers must reveal the information seems too much. Like it started with best practices and guidelines and devolved into other stuff.
I also disagree somewhat to the comments that as a general rule of thumb bad parents won't know this stuff. Kids will do this with parents even if they have a good relationship with their parents.
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Originally Posted by The Big Chill
Kids messing around has a far smaller consequence then forcing someone to hide their true identity.
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The rule doesn't force anyone to hide anything. What's weird with the rule is the fact it formalizes some of this stuff to a level that I think many of us agree it does not need to be formalized to.