06-30-2023, 07:24 PM
(06-30-2023, 03:06 PM)Sociopathicsteelerfan Wrote: I'd need to see specifics before commenting further.
Seriously? Do you not have internet access?
https://www.foxnews.com/media/wisconsin-parents-outraged-inappropriate-sex-education-curriculum-elementary-schools-really-bad
Any sexual topic with elementary school kids is over the line. Point blank, it is the responsibility of parents to have these discussions with their children. If you want to have a lesson on a "bad touch" that's fine. But teaching children about gender identity, homosexuality and other such topics is introducing a lot that children are likely not ready for. Even if they are ready, it's the responsibility of the parents.
Which begs the question, why are you so pro children being taught sex in elementary school? I'm not being accusatory here, but it seems like a very odd hill on which to plant your flag.
BECAUSE CHILDREN IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL ARE HAVING SEX!!! Ohio had a pregnant 10-year-old...that's 4th grade.
Do I want an overload of sex ed in elementary school...no I do not. But yeah, we have to start it earlier now than in our day if only because, especially in girls, puberty is arriving earlier. Place the lessons in health classes.
Kindergartners are not too young to learn the names of their body parts, even private body parts. The breasts, vagina, penis, or testicles are body parts. It's okay to use their proper names without cute little nicknames or giggling when you same them. Teaching them that some body parts are so dirty they can't even be properly named hurts kids when they can't communicate about those body parts. They should be taught not to be embarrassed about any parts of their body.
Teaching children about different family structures, including same-sex parents, is reflecting today's reality. It is not teaching "sex" it is teaching relationships. Kids today have a mother and father, some have them living together, and some have them living apart. Some kids live with 2 dads or 2 moms. Some kids have step-parents and step-siblings. Some live with grandparents, other relatives, or foster parents. Ignoring some children's realities because adults feel icky about it does the children a disservice by isolating those who don't live in the so-called nuclear family.
If 4th graders are having sex (consensual or non-consensual) they need to learn about it. Sorry, some don't like that but again ignoring that reality doesn't change the facts. They need to learn what it is. They need to learn how to say no. They need to learn the consequences.
Kids discover they are gay about the same age you discovered you weren't..that was what...age 10-12? So again, discussing same-sex attraction at those ages is not inappropriate.
And as much as I would love to leave the entire subject to parents far too many do a lousy job of teaching their kids. Ignorance is how children end up pregnant or with STDs.
It is 2023, and kids of every age have easy access to all sorts of information we didn't when we were kids. They face pressures we didn't and that includes pressure to engage in sexual activity. We can't protect them from the real world or teach them about a world that no longer exists. Education, even sex ed, protect children. Ignorance harms them.
I used to work on a woman's health hotline and later ran a message board. The number of young girls calling and asking basic questions was actually frightening. The number of teenagers who don't understand that sex leads to pregnancy was alarming. The number of callers who didn't understand that oral sex can transmit an STD was overwhelming.
So long story short...providing sexual education to children is a hill I will plant my flag on.
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