VIDEO- Kevin Jennings: Every aspiring teacher should be required to take an LGBT course

From the American Principles Project:

This video comes from NYU's Apr 25, 2008 "Gender, Schooling and New York City" Education Policy Breakfast.

Kevin Jennings answers a question about what sort of policy could be implemented to counteract the "negative impact of stereotypes" against Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered students by their teachers. (transcript below)

Jennings:

"It should be impossible to graduate from NYU or any other school of education without coursework - required coursework - that address issues of [LGBT] bias in the classroom and how it might influence your teaching. [It] should be a graduation requirement.

"... you cannot be an effective teacher if you are not aware of how [LGBT] biases can influence how you interact with your students. Pure and simple."

"There's some really nice - largly guilty, white, liberal straight people who tend to take the one elective on "bias in schools" we offer, but it should be a required course that every single student has to take before they are allowed to be in a classroom as a teacher near children. Because if they aren't aware of their [LGBT] biases and how it effects how they are going to interact with kids they are a threat to children."