Is school right to eliminate gender designations like 'him' and 'her?'

A pre-school in Sweden has decided to combat gender stereotypes by getting rid of the designations 'him' and 'her' and using the more generic, 'hen.' The preschool made the decision as part of their country's efforts to seek equality between the sexes from childhood as a way to combat the theory that society gives boys an unfair advantage. The school also plans to tweak the color and placement of toys and the selection of books it stocks to avoid stereotypes. Legos and other blocks are purposely placed next to the kitchen to avoid creating mental barriers between cooking and construction. Almost all the books in the school deal with gay couples, single parents or adopted children, with no room for such traditional fairy tales like Snow White or Cinderella.

The school's director said it places an emphasis on creating a tolerant environment towards gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people and when a conflict arises, the staff suggests that perhaps the children try to play house with two, or three moms instead. A child psychologist from the University of California questioned the school's methods, wondering if barring boys from doing traditional things like playing with swords might emasculate them.

What do you think; is gender-neutral Swedish school on to something?

I think they're crazy. Might as well just be calling the kids Thing 1 and Thing 2. They ARE hims and hers, there is no crime in addressing that. They are STILL going to be hims and hers when they grow up, or do these teachers think you just magically BECOME a him/her 15 years later? I'll say this much, if I were a parent there that would be the LAST place my kids would go to; sounds like they've got a lot of nutcases running the place.

Hen? Hen is generic? This is lame and political correct whining at it's worst. Boys are boys and girls are girls and there's NOTHING offensive about addressing them as such.

That's right, what's next? Are they going to say 'oh there aren't any races here, we'll all the same people here'? There's nothing wrong with addressing and accepting what you and what others are, it's when you treat them differently based on that that it's a problem.

I'm all for gender equality but that's totally ridiculous. There is nothing wrong with acknowledging a he as a 'he' and a she as a 'she.'

Exactly, what the hell do the kids think their parents are then, or the teachers? Are they just hens too?

I support gender equality & don't buy into stereotypical gender roles but this is a bit over the top even for me.

I support gender equality too but not to the extent of fucking around with the language to create neuter personal pronouns.

LOL. Dumb.

oh yeah so much better!