Gay-Friendly Online Highschool

(Minnesota) A Maplewood, Minnesota-based GLBTQ High School will be launched online in January 2010 reports the Pioneer Press. Started by David Glick, the online high school would be the first of its kind.

“We may not bring people closer physically - but we will in every other way,” Glick said. “We want to make them feel more confident about who they are.”

Glick started working on the website, which will be called the GLBTQ Online High School, in order to reach students who live in rural areas that do not have access to many resources.

While Glick argues that this online school would protect students from bullying and act as a safe-haven, many fear that they will simply be further isolated from their peers.

“The danger of the online high school is that kids will stay isolated and feel uncared for,” said David Johnson, a social psychology teacher at the University of Minnesota. “It would be much better to have these kids in a regular high school.”

Others, such as Glick and Curt Johnson, disagree and believe students gain a closer relationship with their teachers online due to increased interaction.

“The individual transactions of e-mailing and telephoning regularly creates a relationship between students and teachers,” said Johnson, a managing partner at Education Evolving, a joint venture of the Center for Policy Studies and Hamline University that promotes technological progress in schools.

Through the use of videos, chats, graphics and other multimedia, and occasional phone calls, teachers on the online high school will teach a more “GLBT-friendly” curriculum that highlights importance figures in gay rights history.

http://www.glbtqonlinehighschool.com/index.html