National Education Association Issues New Pronoun Guide

Shari Johnson, Publisher

The National Education Association wants to provide resources and tips to make educating our children as inclusive as possible and felt the need to issue a pronoun guide to educate the educators on new titles.

Copied from their own website, I’m not so sure as a layperson of public education what scares me more; the direction we are going nationally or the the fact we’re issuing guides to professionals that read like elementary language arts.

This is a guide for NEA leaders, members and staff to better understand and use pronouns in a respectful way for all NEA meetings and communications. Please be aware that some of this advice may not be appropriate for your school community, depending on current state law; check with your state or local affiliate regarding questions related to state law or school district policies.

PRONOUNS
Pronouns are words that function in the place of a name. Instead of saying, “My brother Steve is coming to pick me up in Steve’s car, and we are going to Steve’s favorite restaurant,” a person could instead say, “his car/his favorite restaurant.”

In English, we have two sets of gendered pronouns: “she/her/hers” and “he/him/his” are pronouns that are attached to a particular gender. Men/males have typically been referred to using he/him/his and women/females by using she/her/hers. We likely all grew up assuming we knew someone’s pronouns just by looking at them, or knowing their gender, but that isn’t the case. In an effort to be more affirming of all, it is important to get out of the habit of assuming pronouns.

Plural pronouns are becoming more widely accepted as gender-neutral singular pronouns. It is grammatically correct to use singular ‘they’ to refer a singular person of unknown gender or to a non-binary person who does not feel gendered pronouns work for them.

Here is a list of the most common pronouns used. Always use the pronouns of the individual once they have told you what pronouns they use. You may see more pronouns outside of this list.

This is just the beginning. Although San Francisco is 2600 miles away from Grantsville, West Virginia, their influence can be as close as your living room, bedroom, kitchen or wherever your child accesses the internet. The following list is to the far, far extreme of the one issued by the National Education Association. The first list still causes concern, because it added “you may see more pronouns outside” of their list. Obviously also acceptable. How extreme can the world get? Take a look at the 97 listens on an application in the city of San Francisco where they will now pay you $1,200.00 a month for 18 months, just because you’re of another” gender.

San Francisco Mayor London Breed has announced that their new program is guaranteeing a salary for low-income non-white “trans” citizens in the City by the Bay. The  GIFT program (Guaranteed Income for Trans People) provides for economically marginalized transgender people with an unrestricted guaranteed income of $1,200 per month for up to 18 months.  The New York Times claims that such socialist programs are spreading across the nation. How long before it gets to West Virginia?