Dr. Seuss writes:
"It's a pretty good zoo"
Said young Gerald McGrew
"And the fellow who runs it
Seems proud of it too.
But if I ran the zoo"
Said young Gerald McGrew,
"I'd make a few changes.
That's just what I'd do."
If one replaced the word "zoo" with "school," they would have the gist of many assignments and discussions that I have as an education major. It can be fun to muse on what we as individuals would do given the chance to be in charge, whether it's a singular school or group of schools in the context of the individual conversation or assignment.
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Seuss' lyric gets more relevant as McGrew's monologue goes on:
"The lions and tigers and that kind of stuff
They have up here now are not quite good enough.
You see things like these in any old zoo.
They're awfully old fashioned. I want something new!"
A large part of studying education is looking at what metaphorical "awfully old-fashioned" "lions and tigers" are. One major "lion and tiger" I have is the term "coed." Because, like the big cats Gerald McGrew speaks of, it's "awfully old fashion" and should be changed to "gender-inclusive."
For starters, the term "coed" has a double meaning. While one definition is an abbreviation for the opposite of a single gender school, the other is a demeaning term for a female student. While some might say that it is not offensive to use the term in the first context, there are many multi-definition words that have left the vernacular due to one offensive meaning. Furthermore, there are many words that have left the mainstream vernacular due to sounding similar to these offending words. So why do we make an exception when we are describing a school in a way that puts the male students above the female?
The prefix "co-" usually connotes a pair in the modern vernacular. By describing a school or camp or what have you as "coed(ucational)," one perpetuates the false ideology of the gender binary. Schools want to make every student feel welcome and represented; however, this term is not representative or welcoming to students who identify as non-binary.
It's 2016, and it's time for a new term. My grandmother has ranted for years about how "human resources" was called "personnel" in her day. Phrases, terms, and adjectives evolve, so in the name of representation and being inclusive, let's evolve the way we describe schools!
So in the spirit of Dr. Seuss:
"while it's a pretty good school"
Said young Gerald McGrew
"And the fellow who runs it
Seems proud of it too.
But if I ran the school."
Said young Gerald McGrew.
"I'd make a few changes,
That's just what I'd do."
Seuss. "If I Ran The Zoo." New York: Random House, 1950. Print.
