When searching for true freedom, you should welcome those who want to help you find it.
The minds behind Harvey Milk High School understand that.
A collaborative effort between the New York City Department of Education and the Hetrick Martin Institute, the high school is the first accredited secondary education institution to serve members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.
It is a great solution for a touchy subject.
At the root of their cause is the search for education without prejudice, hate or violence – no one can deny the importance of that.
The numbers stand behind them – according to the National Mental Health Association, queer high school students do not feel comfortable in the regular school system.
In fact, 40 percent of the heterosexual students polled by the Sexual Information and Education Council of the United States admitted they harbored prejudice against their LGBT peers.
Harvey Milk now stands on these facts as the reason they exist – to make their students feel like they are not invisible, unsupported and isolated.
The school provides a new school for those who have been previously discriminated against in the regular public school system.
They even welcome heterosexuals’ applications.
“HMS and The Hetrick-Martin Institute care about the needs of children in crisis and focuses on their educational needs. Admission to HMS is voluntary and open to all, regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, religion or physical abilities,” the school’s Web site states.
The school specializes in the needs of discriminated members of the queer community, but does not discourage anyone who has been discriminated against from applying.
This includes students of other ethnicities, religions and physical appearance.
The application on the Web site is quite average. It reads very similar to any high school or college application. It remains devoid of any area where you have to specify your sexual orientation or the fact that you are currently questioning your sexuality.
It does, however, necessitate at least two interviews before you can enter the “highly selective” high school as well as New York City residence.
I applaud the New York City Department of Education for striving for excellence in learning and for trying to perfect the environment in which to do so.
When other school systems are turning a blind eye to hate and discrimination under the mantra that “kids will be kids,” the Harvey Milk School is paving the way for innovative thought to empower students whose talents may have been lost or hindered because of an unhealthy learning situation.
This high school should serve as an example for other school systems. This model should be used in every school system nationwide.
This idea has the potential to make Columbine-like reactions obsolete.
Many opponents to the school are asking questions like, “How are the students going to survive in the real world?” and “What about taxpayers who don’t agree with the program?”
To the disgruntled taxpayers: Grow up.
To those who think it is going to shelter the students from the real world: Some of the students would never make it to the real world had it not been for this high school – according to NMHA and SEICUS, 40 percent of LGBT youth attempted suicide compared to their heterosexual peers and they are three times more likely to attempt suicide in general.
Open your mind and see the good a school like this can do. We should demand our state be the next to employ it.
Cheers to the New York State Department of Education.