Education Commons^™

Correcting The Lack Of Representation And Support For Lgbtq Students In School, Colleen O'Neill

West Chester University Master’s Theses

While some progress has been made toward the inclusion of previously excluded historically marginalized communities from school curricula, there remains a notable absence of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning, intersex, asexual+ (LGBTQIA+) community. Specifically, the LGBTQIA+ community is considered controversial to address in schools because anything outside of the heterosexual, cisgender norm conflicts with some people’s religious and political beliefs. Though school administrators may insist that the inclusion of LGBTQIA+ content in schools is in violation of public schools’ duty to remain neutral, the purposeful omission of such is a political act in itself.

This program will emphasize the …

Fictive Kin Relationships And Advising: The Roles Of Chosen Family As An Advisory Framework For Higher Education, Zachary Burden

West Chester University Master’s Theses

The structure of a chosen family centers love, commitment, empathy, and accountability into relationships outside of a person's biolegal family. This project asks, if student affairs professionals framed their advising and mentoring work with a platonic and familial sense of love and commitment, would it offer their students a new sense of openness, trust, and community? Using theories of love in education and building a teaching community by bell hooks (2003; 2018), Paulo Freire's (1970) banking model of education, and experiential learning by John Dewey (1997), I examine these chosen family relationships and their application into higher education advising. In …