Pushing for co-ed activities

Sydney Ireland, now sixteen years old, dreamed of becoming an Eagle Scout since she was young.  However, she was denied acceptance into the program due to her gender. This caused quite a bit of controversy — and not just for Sydney. Sydney was extremely disturbed that the Boy Scouts would not allow her admission into the program, and petitioned against the organization, saying that Boy Scouts of America was being biased. Sydney Ireland, now sixteen years old, dreamed of becoming an Eagle Scout since she was young.  However, she was denied acceptance into the program due to her gender. This caused quite a bit of controversy — and not just for Sydney. Sydney was extremely disturbed that the Boy Scouts would not allow her admission into the program, and petitioned against the organization, saying that Boy Scouts of America was being biased. The public, on the other hand, shared a more skewed view. Some questioned why she had made a big deal of it when she could simply join the Girl Scouts. She replied that the Boy Scout program offers different and more engaging activities; she wanted to follow in her brother’s footsteps.  The next big question was, if the Girl Scout program did not offer such interests, why would she not make an effort to change the girls’ program to be equal with the boys? In an interview with NPR radio Sydney stated, “I just want to see a change. Right now they’re discriminating against girls, and I’m just calling it as it is,” but trying to change the girls’ program would result in the same push for equality as trying to join the boy’s program (npr.org).        To avoid issues such as these, and similar issues regarding gender identity, one solution would be to eliminate these separated teams, clubs, or organizations.  An answer would be to go co-ed.   Not only does this allow for people to fit into a group, as there is no strict title on who is able to join, but it also makes a significant step towards equality. This will teach kids from a young age that girls and boys are capable of doing the same things, and people  may no longer be viewed as ‘prissy’ or ‘incapable’.           By having co-ed teams,  most of these problems are solved. Although some sports are co-ed as of today’s date, such as cheerleading and bowling, the majority have separate teams such as volleyball, tennis, lacrosse, soccer, and more. Hopefully, in a few years this could be changed in favor of gender equality.  On a similar note, a notable issue in our own school is the separate titles of our sports teams–Highlanders and Lady Highlanders. Simply by inserting the word “lady” in front of a word meant to unify a team and  the student body, can be seen as derogatory. Instead of having these two distinct titles, the students should be unified under one standard team name, thereby emphasizing and capitalizing on our Highlander PRIDE.