Boys will be boys – and sometimes girls.

According to an April 6 Associated Press report, an uproar occurred recently when an elementary school in Reedsburg held a dress day where students could dress up as either senior citizens or the opposite gender. A local resident called the Voice of Christian Youth America radio network to complain. The network then held a special broadcast condemning Pineview Elementary school for promoting alternative lifestyles, which sparked a flood of calls to the school complaining about the dress up day.

The Voice of Christian Youth America clearly overreacted to this situation, assuming the school was promoting transgender or homosexual lifestyles to children. The school was just trying to have a fun day for students, which it informed the children’s parents of beforehand and had no objections. The radio network just made something out of nothing in this case, turning something fairly innocent into what it viewed to be as sinister.

But there are still some issues the school needs to address in this situation. Are they doing the opposite of what the radio network was accusing them of, that being promoting the mockery of transgendered people? If boys dressing as girls and girls dressing as boys is supposed to be “wacky,” what is that saying to the children about alternative lifestyles?

Most importantly and certainly most overlooked, though, is the fact that the school decided to spend a whole week doing activities such as dressing up. What does dressing as senior citizens or the opposite gender have to do with learning? The school can still have fun activities for students while also still being able to teach, such as a “bringing your parent to school” day. To spend a whole week on days such as this only serves to distract students, wasting what could be valuable learning time.