Mr. Matthew Ryan:

I thank the Senator for those important comments. We must not speak for anyone but rather with them. In education, there is often a default of speaking for people and saying this is what people need to be educated about on these issues. Even in religion classes, where a White teacher might educate on, say, the Muslim faith, the Muslim students may be sitting there and wondering why they are not included in the conversation, or why they are being spoken for instead of being spoken with. Language and the way we speak with people instead of about them is very important.

Language can be so much more inclusive than it normally is. We have the default of using "he or she", whereas if we change that to "they", it will be much more inclusive of students who might be non-binary and might not identify with the "he or she" pronouns. Little things like that can make the school culture more inclusive. If a student is sitting in class and is not feeling represented, or if someone is speaking about only "he or she" or one particular group people, and if the student does not identify with that, immediately that student will feel ostracised and will not feel part of the conversation. That culture change that needs to happen. It has to happen actively; we cannot just say it needs to happen.