Stavros
03-05-2023, 12:14 AM
I want to offer in this thread an opportunity for people to discuss a most divisive subject: teaching sex in schools.
I want to argue that there are two approaches to this, and that they are in conflict: one is the view that sexual education is concerned with sexual health; the other that it is -or has become- a form of indoctrination.
The first is at the root of sex education as it emerged in the 1970s, when the primary concerns were to educate children in the science of sexual reproduction, as general information, but also to warn against the dangers of unprotected sex with regard to unwanted pregnancy, and sexually transmitted diseases. Even at this stage, parents with religious views objected if the lessons included material on contraception, but the overriding fear was simple: if you teach children sex, they will want to do it.
Thus a lobby emerged which went into panic mode as soon as sex came anywhere near the classroom, most famously with The Little Red Schoolbook, deliberately modelled after Mao Zedong's Little Red Book, and banned in many countries.
The Little Red Schoolbook - Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Little_Red_Schoolbook)
A good example of what is happening in the US can be found in Florida, with this article a particular example of the Indoctrination view of the Senate Bill 818 in the Illinois legislature-
"The measure would do this,... by bringing Illinois’ “sexual health education into the 21st century by adding new personal health and safety education standards in kindergarten through 5th grade, and making comprehensive health education more inclusive in grades 6 through 12.”
The result is these new standards, which are being exposed by the popular Libs of Tik Tok Twitter account. The standards claim that children in the third grade should be able to “outline and explain the differences between gender, transgender, gender non binary, gender and gender identity” and to “explain that gender aggression and gender identity exist along a spectrum,” according to a summary released by IPS.
There is also a vulgar representation of a “gingerbread person” in the standards that is filled with reprehensible propaganda meant to groom children into the satanic LGBT agenda." --and at the end of the article
"The LGBT agenda is a moral and cultural plague. If Americans do not rise up and put an end to this predatory movement of child abusers, the country deserves to perish."
Illinois education standards call for 8-year-old children to be taught about masturbation and transgenderism – NaturalNews.com (https://www.naturalnews.com/2022-03-28-children-to-be-taught-about-masturbation-transgenderism.html)
The question must be does sexual education in schools benefit children? I don't know, is my answer, just as I am not sure at what age children should be taught about masturbation, sexual intercourse, or gender identity.
And then what role does or can the State play in this? Thus in Florida
"Public school teachers in Florida are banned from holding classroom instruction about sexual orientation or gender identity after Florida's Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, signed the controversial "Parental Rights in Education" bill."
Ron DeSantis signs the so-called 'Don't Say Gay' bill : NPR (https://www.npr.org/2022/03/28/1089221657/dont-say-gay-florida-desantis)
What happens when a child in the classroom asks the teacher, 'Miss, what is gay?'.
I know of at least one parent in the UK who is outraged at some of the things he says his five year old has heard in class, but I don't know how to deal with this, other than to limit the education of children to certain age groups, presumably from 12 on up.
It is a pity that indoctrination has become the favoured weapon of religious-minded people, even though there is nothing new in this.
But have educators and psychologists designed courses that led themselves to hysterical over-reaction? Can there ever be any agreement on what the content of a sex education course contains? Here are some claims from the UK, which I cannot verify but has upset some people-
Mum furious after daughter, 8, taught about masturbation in school | Metro News (https://metro.co.uk/2022/11/29/mum-furious-after-daughter-8-taught-about-masturbation-in-school-17847078/)
Who is to determine the content of courses: education professionals and psychologists -or politicians and Parental groups, some of which will be based in a religious organization?
I want to argue that there are two approaches to this, and that they are in conflict: one is the view that sexual education is concerned with sexual health; the other that it is -or has become- a form of indoctrination.
The first is at the root of sex education as it emerged in the 1970s, when the primary concerns were to educate children in the science of sexual reproduction, as general information, but also to warn against the dangers of unprotected sex with regard to unwanted pregnancy, and sexually transmitted diseases. Even at this stage, parents with religious views objected if the lessons included material on contraception, but the overriding fear was simple: if you teach children sex, they will want to do it.
Thus a lobby emerged which went into panic mode as soon as sex came anywhere near the classroom, most famously with The Little Red Schoolbook, deliberately modelled after Mao Zedong's Little Red Book, and banned in many countries.
The Little Red Schoolbook - Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Little_Red_Schoolbook)
A good example of what is happening in the US can be found in Florida, with this article a particular example of the Indoctrination view of the Senate Bill 818 in the Illinois legislature-
"The measure would do this,... by bringing Illinois’ “sexual health education into the 21st century by adding new personal health and safety education standards in kindergarten through 5th grade, and making comprehensive health education more inclusive in grades 6 through 12.”
The result is these new standards, which are being exposed by the popular Libs of Tik Tok Twitter account. The standards claim that children in the third grade should be able to “outline and explain the differences between gender, transgender, gender non binary, gender and gender identity” and to “explain that gender aggression and gender identity exist along a spectrum,” according to a summary released by IPS.
There is also a vulgar representation of a “gingerbread person” in the standards that is filled with reprehensible propaganda meant to groom children into the satanic LGBT agenda." --and at the end of the article
"The LGBT agenda is a moral and cultural plague. If Americans do not rise up and put an end to this predatory movement of child abusers, the country deserves to perish."
Illinois education standards call for 8-year-old children to be taught about masturbation and transgenderism – NaturalNews.com (https://www.naturalnews.com/2022-03-28-children-to-be-taught-about-masturbation-transgenderism.html)
The question must be does sexual education in schools benefit children? I don't know, is my answer, just as I am not sure at what age children should be taught about masturbation, sexual intercourse, or gender identity.
And then what role does or can the State play in this? Thus in Florida
"Public school teachers in Florida are banned from holding classroom instruction about sexual orientation or gender identity after Florida's Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, signed the controversial "Parental Rights in Education" bill."
Ron DeSantis signs the so-called 'Don't Say Gay' bill : NPR (https://www.npr.org/2022/03/28/1089221657/dont-say-gay-florida-desantis)
What happens when a child in the classroom asks the teacher, 'Miss, what is gay?'.
I know of at least one parent in the UK who is outraged at some of the things he says his five year old has heard in class, but I don't know how to deal with this, other than to limit the education of children to certain age groups, presumably from 12 on up.
It is a pity that indoctrination has become the favoured weapon of religious-minded people, even though there is nothing new in this.
But have educators and psychologists designed courses that led themselves to hysterical over-reaction? Can there ever be any agreement on what the content of a sex education course contains? Here are some claims from the UK, which I cannot verify but has upset some people-
Mum furious after daughter, 8, taught about masturbation in school | Metro News (https://metro.co.uk/2022/11/29/mum-furious-after-daughter-8-taught-about-masturbation-in-school-17847078/)
Who is to determine the content of courses: education professionals and psychologists -or politicians and Parental groups, some of which will be based in a religious organization?