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Informed Citizens

are Better Citizens

The spring 2023 edition of Respect, the Foundation’s diversity and inclusion newsletter, is now available. Respect’s spring issue contains articles on the persecution of the Uyghurs, New Jersey’s LGBTQ+ curriculum and New Jersey’s new sex education standards. A PDF of  the spring issue can be downloaded or individual articles can be read and printed from Respect’s blog, The Rundown.

Any questions, contact the editor of Respect, Jodi L. Miller. She can be reached via email at jmiller@njsbf.org.

Here are the headlines from the spring 2023 issue:

Persecution in China Leads to Uyghur Genocide

After the Holocaust, when six million Jews were killed in Adolph Hitler’s attempt to exterminate the Jewish race, the world collectively committed to the idea that genocide would never happen again. That “never again” commitment, however, has not been met. Since the Holocaust, many genocides have been carried out around the world, including in Cambodia, Uganda, Somalia, Bosnia, Rwanda and Darfur—just to name a few. (This article includes a sidebar on “The Stages of Genocide”.) READ MORE

Garden State Highlights Contributions of LGBTQ+ Community with Curriculum Law

NOTE: To provide a historical perspective, this article uses outdated terms that may be offensive.

In 2019, New Jersey became the second state in the nation to enact a law mandating that middle and high schools include curriculum highlighting the social and political achievements of LGBTQ+ people and people with disabilities. New Jersey followed on the heels of California, which passed a similar law in 2011. Four other states—Colorado, Oregon, Illinois, and Nevada—also require LGBTQ+ inclusive curriculum.  READ MORE

Some Are Critical of New Jersey’s Revised Sex Education Standards

Teaching sex education to children is a touchy subject for parents who want control over what their children are learning in this sensitive area. A poll conducted by the Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers University surveyed parents on their opinions about sex education in schools—71% supported teaching sex education in middle school and 88% favored it in high school. Polls about teaching sex education in elementary schools show 46% in favor and 51% opposing it. READ MORE

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