Gender is not a spectrum

This article seems very sensible to me.  I think I'm a radical feminist.

I continue to play my miniscule political part, tearing down the gender boxes as a stay-at-home-homeschooling-dad.

... or is that my real gender -- SAHHD?!

Gymnastics club champs

On Sunday, Mulan and Miya competed at the North Harbour Gymnastics club champs.

Mulan's only other gym competition was two years ago at the last club champs, while Miya had never been in a gym competition before.

Miya was up first, in the Extension 1 grade alongside 45 other girls.  They all performed their Bars, Beam, Floor and Vault routines, which they had been practicing in class for the past several weeks.  It all went well, and we were delighted when the results came back that Miya had got 8th overall, including 4th in the Vault.

Then Mulan competed in the Extension 2 grade, alongside 13 other girls.  At the prizegiving afterwards Mulan was called up to the podium twice, gaining 3rd in the Bars and 4th overall.

A huge well done to both Miya and Mulan!

Climbing

We videoed a few more climbs today.

Here's a pink that Miya first completed last week:

A new green that was added over the weekend.  Miya worked on it and completed it on Monday:

(We can see Mulan through the cave, on the wall.)

Finally, a newish green we first did last week:

And this is my attempt at it (Miya and I do it quite differently):

(My golfer's elbow is still a bit sore, but it's slowly coming right and I can now do climbs that don't work the arm too hard.)

Book review: Willard Price

One of the first book series I ever read, when I was nine years old, was Willard Price's Adventure series.

For those who don't know, the 14-book series is about two teenage brothers, Hal and Roger, who help their father by travelling around the world catching wild animals, which they then sell to zoos.

I'd suggested the series to Mulan and Miya for a few years, but until now other books had taken priority.

Finally, last week we got four of the books free at a local book exchange, including the first two.  Mulan and I have now read the first, Amazon Adventure, and Mulan is continuing with the second, South Sea Adventure.

Sadly, the stories haven't aged well.

Price was born in 1887, and wrote the books between 1949 and 1980, basing the stories on many of his own personal travels.  At the beginning of our 2012 book edition, the granddaughters of Price add an introduction, which includes:

Of course, we must remember that, back then, searching for animals for zoos was a forward-thinking, conservationist approach to saving rare species, and a way to teach people about endangered animals.  The language used by Roger and Hal to describe people of other countries and customs was appropriate at the time of writing, and reflects a period when very little was known about different cultures.

That's a fair comment.  The books are a product of their times.

Miya loves animal stories, and I had initially thought they would be prefect for her.  But she's decided for herself that she would rather not read them, after hearing from us some of what's in them.

To give my thoughts in advance, I wouldn't put these books on a recommended reading list for primary aged children.  At best, I think they could be read by older children alongside historical and cultural discussions.  If the children want to read them, it would help to explicitly discuss the assumptions and values presented in the books, to understand why we don't do things that way anymore.

I'm not suggesting "cancelling", or boycotting, these sorts of culturally inappropriate books.  I just think they've been superseded, and it's not a great idea for young children to unconsciously absorb wrong ideas uncritically.

The two issues that Price's granddaughters pick out, conservation and culture, are worth commenting on.

Conservation: Chapter 18 of Amazon Adventure shows clearly the overall attitude throughout the book.  The intention is good, but the facts are wrong.  The characters (and presumably Price) mistakenly think that natural resources are nearly limitless, and so consequently have a casual attitude to destructive use.

In the story, the brothers meet up with a pioneer who moved from the city to farm the Amazon.  They discuss together how rich in resources the Amazon is, saying that more people should move there:

The most important thing is peace in the world.  And why don't we have peace?  Because there is too much suffering and hunger.  If the Amazon is brought in to production it can relieve that suffering and hunger.

We now know, 70 years later, that bringing the Amazon in to production has not relieved suffering and hunger.  Rather it has irreversibly destroyed huge parts of the Amazon, with many follow-on effects harming both the environment and people.

This attitude of limitless resource fits in with how the brothers catch their animals throughout the book.  Too often, to catch one animal they kill others around them.  They have little sense of their own destructiveness.

Further, the characters show no deep feeling for the pain and suffering they are causing to the individual animals they either catch or kill.  The casualness makes for a slightly uncomfortable read.

Culture: The characters' attitude to people of other cultures is similar to their attitude to the environment.  Often, they bluster on in, with little awareness of or regard to the damage they're causing.  There's an overall Eurocentric attitude in the characters -- mild amusement, lack of care, and subtle underlying sense of superiority.  There are lots of examples of this, such as:

(a) Casually flying a plane through a village hut, and coming "to a halt in the living-room-dining-room-bedroom among the members of a very startled family."  The only comment was, "luckily none of the Indians was hurt, or four white heads might have been added speedily to the brown ones on the shelves."

(b) Casually buying a shrunken human head.  It was the head of a respected warrior, "a wise and good man".  They didn't catch his name, but as it sounded a bit like Charlie they decided to call him that.  They tied him by his hair to a post on their boat.

I once read an observation that colonial-era travel stories often follow a similar theme, with the travellers finding the going getting progressively harder, with more setbacks, the further they get from London -- smooth train to the coast, boat to Europe, unreliable transport to Africa, etc, etc.  On their return journey things reverse and get progressively easier.

That makes sense.  For a Londoner.

But these old travel stories often apply the same thinking to inhabitants of other regions.  The non-Londoners find it equally hard when they're away from London, and it gets easier for them as they approach London.

There's a hint of this in Price's books.  The brothers' first stop in the Amazon is a local village that is used by Westerners as an airport and trading centre, where they're offered the services of a local guide.  They also acquire the use of a dugout canoe, the standard means of transport in the area.  Oddly, their local guide is nervous and uncomfortable after a few hours of paddling, and within 24 hours he's travelled beyond his comfort zone.  He turns around and heads back home to the village.  He gives the appearance of struggling in the Amazon just as much as the brothers, when surely it would be his familiar backyard.

To sum up, if the girls want to read the rest of the Adventure series, we'll seek the books out.  We've talked about some of the issues and they can see things for themselves.  But I wouldn't recommend the books or go out of my way to keep copies in my bookshelf.  I think Mulan said she'll read the first two books since we've got them, but probably won't bother with the rest.  Most likely we'll return the books to the book exchange.

Decision time for Mulan at school

The other day I wrote about the possibility of Mulan going to school.

We have some choices, as we live in zone for both Takapuna Grammar School and Westlake Girls High School.  We could start at either school at any time, or choose to continue homeschooling.

We've now met with the enrolments Deputy Principals of both schools (Westlake last Friday, and Taka on Tuesday).  Both were very good, and we came away with useful info about both schools.

Taka also showed us around, but we forgot to ask Westlake.  Likely, as a family we'll have a look around Westlake during the weekend.

We've now got to the point where the final decision will be Mulan's.  It will be her call about how she would most like to do her study (and if she chooses to continue homeschooling, she will need to put in the hours of deskwork at home).

The decision is (a) whether to go to school, (b) if so when, and (c) if so which one.

My personal inclination is Westlake starting in Term 3.  (She'd stop rock climbing, and possibly stop gymnastics.  Dance, music, swimming and athletics would likely continue, but we'd need to keep an eye on things.)  But I'm completely happy with whatever Mulan decides.

If Mulan decides in the next several days to go to school, then we'll start preparing for the change and submit the enrolment forms.  If she decides she'd rather not go to school, then we'll start upping Mulan's deskwork time at home in preparation for NCEA studies.

Location:

We live about 5-10 minutes walk from Westlake.  We live at the edge of the Taka school zone, and there are no ideal buses.  Likely, Mulan would spend over an hour each day travelling to and from Taka.

The strong advice from Taka is that it's best to go to one's closest school.  They would be okay if Mulan chose Taka, but thought it made more sense for her to choose Westlake.

Given that Mulan would prefer to continue as many of her after-school activities as possible, it makes sense to spend minimal time travelling.

So, unless there are other overwhelming considerations, Westlake would be first choice.

When to start: Qualifications:

If Mulan goes to school, both schools recommend starting at the beginning of term 3 this year (26th July).  Neither recommend a term 4 start.  Alternatively, Mulan could start in term 1 2022.

Starting in term 3 gives Mulan half a year in Year 10 to get used to school life before starting NCEA 1 qualifications in 2022.  She would get more familiar with the subjects, so then more knowledgeably choose her NCEA subject options.

Or we might think that NCEA 1 is relatively easy and unimportant, and Mulan doesn't need prep time for it.  We might instead treat NCEA 1 as prep and practice for the more important NCEA2/3, and if so starting in 2022 is okay.

When to start: Activity clashes:

As well as qualification considerations, Mulan also needs to think about how time-consuming school will be, and how much it will restrict her other activities and interests.

Schools aren't as efficient as homeschooling, with respect to study, and school will require more of a time commitment than homeschool study.  Almost certainly, if Mulan goes to school she'll have to stop some of her current activities/interests.  Starting later means that she can continue more activities longer.

Homework:

We asked both schools the expectations for homework.  Westlake said under an hour a day.  Taka said 1-2 hours.  Of course, theory may differ from reality.  We've heard from school-goers that 1-2 hours at NCEA level is at the minimum end, and is for those merely aiming for passes (not merit/excellence).

For us, less homework is better, so that Mulan can continue with more of her non-school activities/interests.

There is also the question of whether homework is necessary.  It could be argued that more homework means less efficient use of in-class learning time.

Resources:

Schools have some pretty awesome toys and resources, which is out of the budget of homeschoolers.  Playing with the school's science and sports equipment would be great fun.

Both Taka and Westlake are decently well-funded with good resources.  Both schools achieve very good academic results.

Looking around Taka, it's an older school with some older buildings.  Some areas looked a little more worn, but on the whole it has a classic, warm, wood-finish look.  Taka is next to the beach, and sports lessons are sometimes held there.  There's more open land area, with football fields.

In contrast, Westlake appears more modern and corporate in it's style, and new building construction is continuing.  With less land there are no open fields, and the land use is more tightly planned.

Single-sex vs co-ed:

We'd initially been leaning more towards Taka because it has both boys and girls, just like the real world.  Westlake is single sex, so more artificial.

But there is something to be said for girls-only schools.  As Westlake said, it's cleaner and quieter without the boys!  Also, boys are often inclined to push themselves forward more than girls, so girls can miss out in co-ed schools.  Mulan's personality is often more hang-back-and-wait (like mine), so she may better suit the girls-only environment.

As long as girls don't go boy-silly in a girls-only school, it seems possible that the single-sex learning environment is slightly better for Mulan.

Friends/social:

Mulan knows a few athletics friends go to Taka, but doesn't specifically know of any friends who go to Westlake.  This is another reason we had initially been leaning towards Taka.

On the other hand, Westlake specifically raised the possibility of placing Mulan in a class with people she already knows, and it seems that they would organise a buddy-system with classmates helping her get familiar with things.  Taka did not offer this.  In general, Westlake came across as being more sensitive to psychological/social needs, and appeared to have systems in place to help with this.  Taka did not mention anything like that.

Study style:

I think the deciding factor (homeschool or school), for Mulan, is study style.  Is she prepared to self-motivate for one-to-one or self-study learning at home?  Or will she be more motivated in group learning at school?  Which would be more fun (or less awful)!

At the moment, I think her personality suits the group study, but it's her call about whether she would rather commit to self-study discipline (if, for example, she wanted to be maximally efficient with her study so that she could have more time for her other activities/interests).

Subject choices:

If Mulan chooses to go to school, the next decision is which subjects to choose.  Mulan already does dance, sport and music, and these are all possible school subjects.

We asked both schools their thoughts on students choosing so many non-desk subjects.  Westlake said all subjects are good, and those ones still have 2/3 deskwork.  They said it's best for students to choose subjects they enjoy.  (This is what I had said.)

In contrast, Taka suggested that someone who does dance outside of school doesn't also need to do dance as a school subject.  They suggested, for example, instead doing a social science subject.  (This is what Mama has said.)

With Mulan fluent in Chinese, there's also the question of if/how to include that.

But we don't need to make a decision on this now.  If Mulan decides to go to school we'd enrol first and then get more subject info from the school.

I'll probably write more when Mulan makes her decision.

Our exercise

Here's what we're doing for exercise these days, getting into winter and our athletics off-season.

Me:

Monday: Rock climbing 1-2 hours with Miya

Wednesday: Rock climbing 1-2 hours with Miya and Mulan

Thursday: Weights 1-2 hours

Saturday: Weights 1 hour with Mulan

Sunday: Running 1 hour with Mulan (winter training, uphill/stairs reps)

Mulan:

Monday: Contemporary dance 2 hours class

Tuesday: Ballet 1 1/4 hours class

          Swimming 45min class

Wednesday: Rock climbing 1-2 hours (including 1 hour class)

          Ballet 1 3/4 hours class

Thursday: Swimming 1 1/4 hours class

          Ballet 1 1/4 hours class

Friday: Biking 1 1/2 hours paper delivery

          Gymnastics 2 hours class

Saturday: Ballet 2 1/2 hours class

          Weights 1 hour with me

Sunday: Running 1 hour winter training with me

Miya:

Monday: Rock climbing 1-2 hours with me

Wednesday: Rock climbing 1-2 hours with Mulan and me

Thursday: Contemporary dance 1 hour class

          Rock climbing 2 hours class

Sunday: Gymnastics 2 hours class

Mama:

Tuesday: Zumba 1 hour class

Thursday: Spin 45min class

Once a week: weights 45min

Transgender athletes

News from a couple of weeks ago was that it's likely that New Zealand's Laurel Hubbard will be the first transgender athlete to compete at an Olympic Games.

Good on her, and awesome effort!

This morning, I read a very nicely written article by Chris Surprenant on the subject of including transgender athletes in sports.

The issue, as Surprenant says, is:

On one side are transgender athletes who want to compete in the gender division with which they identify. On the other are political activists and athletes – especially biologically female athletes – who believe that allowing trans athletes to compete in women’s divisions is inherently unfair.

(The news article above mentions one of Hubbard's competitors questioning the fairness, though sadly the objectors quoted fail to express the issue without resorting to transphobia.)

As the title of Surprenant's article puts it, it's about striking a balance between fairness in competition and the rights of transgender athletes.  Meaningful participation is essential for all involved.

There's no easy answer.

But I like the suggested solution that Surprenant offers.  Eliminate men's divisions and replace them with open divisions:

Since there is no typical transgender athlete, broad rules for transgender athletes don’t seem appropriate.

Instead, language similar to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s disability accommodation policy could be used for transgender athletes: “The decision as to the appropriate accommodation must be based on the particular facts of each case.”

“Men’s” divisions could be eliminated and replaced with “open” divisions. Any athlete could be allowed to compete in that division.

Then, transgender athletes could be evaluated on a case-by-case basis. Based on their athletic ability, a tournament organizer could determine which division is most fair for them to compete in, “women’s” or “open.”

For trans women athletes, at issue is their athletic ability, not their womanhood. If a tournament organizer determines that a trans woman athlete is too good to compete against other women because of her biological advantage, requiring her to compete in an “open” division does not undermine her humanity.

Instead, this acknowledges – and takes seriously – that she identifies as a woman, but that respect for the principles of fair competition requires that she not be allowed to compete in the women’s division.

I know almost nothing about Hubbard's situation.  Yes, she absolutely deserves to be competing, as much as she likes and as much as she is able.  Would it make more sense for her to compete in an open division or a women's division?  I have no idea.  Following this solution, that would depend entirely on her weightlifting ability when compared with other weightlifters at each tournament she enters.  Does she have a biological advantage?  I have no idea, and I don't have the expertise to judge either way.  That would be for sports scientists with weightlifting knowledge to decide on.  It's possible that at local/regional competitions it would be better for her to compete in an open division, while at the highest level she might compete in the women's division.