I wrote in a previous essay that Isaac Newton’s incredible understanding of physics is like a video in 720p while Albert Einstein’s understanding is like the same video in 4k. Which means that Newton was wrong, we know he was wrong, and we can measure how wrong he was.
So why do we teach Newtonian physics in high school instead of Einsteinian physics?
For the same reason that we stream YouTube videos on our phones in 480p instead of 4k: it uses up less data while delivering an almost indistinguishable viewing experience. It doesn’t make sense to require everyone to know that time passes faster at high elevation than at low elevation because the difference is so tiny that even the most accurate clocks can barely measure it. It doesn’t make sense to require everyone to know that gravity is a curvature of the fabric of space-time because what we experience is an attraction that is proportional to the two masses, just as Newton said.
An intimate knowledge of the intricacies of relativity is not something that all people need to function in society. And likewise, an intimate knowledge of the cutting edge of gender theory is not something that all people need to function in society. The binary gender model is incredibly accurate and perfectly robust.
For my full argument on the relationship between sex and gender, check out How to Break the Rules, but to abbreviate, it is an undeniable biological fact that humans evolved in two modes, the male sex and the female sex. While still members of the same species and therefore more similar than different, males and females are subject to a number of generalized differences that are distinctly noticeable and, therefore, reasonable to notice.
Generally speaking, men are taller, have more upper body strength, and are more interested in how things work. Generally speaking, women are less aggressive, more compassionate, and more interested in babies and cute animals. These differences are statistically measurable and transcend culture and geography. Even chimpanzee males are more curious about machines than females, and females are more likely to treat a doll like they would a real baby than males.
More importantly than that, though, is the fact that we in America believe in individual freedom and autonomy. We already believe and teach that women can be CEOs and men can be stay-at-home dads. Women can wear jeans and shave their heads. Men can grow their hair long and wear dresses. It has been illegal to deny employment or opportunity to anyone based on race or sex since the ‘60s.
None of this is improved by introducing zim/zer pronouns or teaching children what it means to be sapiosexual. Gender theory is a fine thing for a tiny number of adults to study, and even for a large number of adults to dabble in to better understand themselves and their place in the world. But it is exactly like Einsteinian physics: most people are never going to know or care what you’re talking about. And it should be as weird to hear a child say the word “pronoun” as it is to hear them say “space-time”. And you can bet the child uttering each word has an equal grasp of both.
