A few items from the HAVE WE GONE NUTS? FILE.

A high school in Pennsylvania reckons teenagers can undress in whatever locker room they wish.  According to a lawsuit filed recently.

A teenage boy was undressing in the boys locker room.  The so-called boys locker room.  In the eyes of the school officials, it is so-called.  He looked up to find a girl changing with him.  She was down to panties and bra.

The boy complained to the Vice Principal. So did other boys. The lawsuit says the VP declared the boy had things wrong. He said students who mentally identify with the opposite sex could use whatever locker room and bathroom they wanted.  He said the physical sex of a student did not matter.  Further, he told the student to “tolerate it”.  And to make it as “natural” as he possibly could.

The school superintendent backed the VP.  He said if the kid didn’t like this he could use the nurse’s office.  Or drop out of school and be home schooled.

A few questions.  Where were schools like this when I was a teenager?  Most of the guys I knew would have declared they felt like girls.  And camped out in the girls locker room.  I would have used it as a study hall.

Question:  Why did this kid complain?  Okay, okay.  I retract that.

Question: Are we crazy? Yes, there are kids who are confused about their sex.  Their hormones and maybe their genes are not standard issue.  I get that. And I have full sympathy for their plight.

But physically, almost all boys are boys.  And almost all girls are girls. Boys, girls, men and women prefer facilities labeled by sex.  Nudists probably don’t care. Perverts would prefer no signs.  But the rest of humanity does care. Which is why we have the labeling we do.

So…anybody can declare he or she is of the opposite sex?  Seems nutty to me. The quarterback belts out “I feel pretty, I feel pretty,” and follows the cheerleaders into their locker room after the game?  I don’t think so.

From the same Nuts File comes the news that the state education people have killed a literacy test.  A literacy test that candidates for teacher positions used to take.  To show they were literate.

A third of the candidates who took the test could not meet standards set for eighth-graders. So the Board of Regents scrubbed the test.  They reckoned the test puts Latino and African-American candidates at an unfair disadvantage.

Well, it would.  If they were not competent with a language we call English.

Teachers unions cheered the move.  Not surprising.

An organized parents group lambasted it. It made an outrageous statement.  “We, Black and Latino parents, do not want teachers who cannot pass a basic literacy test.  We don’t care about the color or race of the teacher.  We want highly effective teachers teaching our children.”

Outrageous, huh?

Just like a court ruling from a few years ago. It said that the test was not unfair to any group.  Just because many more candidates from some groups failed, does not make it so.

Your State Education Commissioner is happy the test is gone.  She issued a lengthy statement. Filled with bureaucratic gobbeldy-gook.  The failed candidates probably could not understand her message.  I could not understand her reasoning.

Which is why the message got dumped in the HAVE WE GONE NUTS? FILE.

As to where to dump the officials who made this decision, that is another matter. To the locker room!

From Tom…as in Morgan.           

Find Tom on Facebook. You can write to Tom at tomasinmorgan@yahoo.com.