Last week, the Ontario government was taken to task for proposed changes to the sex education curriculum Ontario students would receive in school — in all publicly funded schools.
Some of proposed changes in a nutshell:
— Kids would learn about masturbation in Grade 6 (age 11)
— Oral and anal sex would be discussed in Grade 7 (age 12), especially to discuss the risk of sexually transmitted diseases from both
— Homosexuality and gender identity would be discussed in Grade 3 (age 8 )
— The parts of reproductive system of both sexes would be discussed in Grade 5 (age 10), and puberty changes would also be explained here.
Religious and conservative groups were so outraged by the proposed modifications, Liberal Premier Dalton McGuinty quickly changed his tune less than three days after defending the changes and rescinded the plan. McGuinty did not say it was one group or thing that caused him to backpedal, telling the Toronto Star:
“I’m not sure there’s one thing in particular. I think it came out of nowhere. Tthe net that was cast in terms of consulting was too narrow. We’ve got to take some responsibility in government for that. If we’re going to put forward that kind of a proposal we need to make sure that people are aware that it’s coming … I don’t think much of that happened, frankly, in this case.”
A quick admission, I am not a parent. That being said, I do believe this curriculum has a place in our public schools. Parents were concerned that some sexual issues were being taught to kids too young under the new guidelines. Others argued it is the job of the parents to teach their kids about sex — whenever and however they want.
And sure, that’s a valid argument. Parents should be talking to their kids about this stuff. But oftentimes they’re not — or at least not soon enough.
My mother sat me down at 10. She glossed over a lot, but I knew at that point what intercourse was (I didn’t understand it, but I knew what it was). At 11, I got sex ed in school — which for my Catholic school really just consisted of separating the boys and the girls, they talked about boy parts while we talked about periods and labelled diagrams of our reproductive organs. Oh, yeah, and we were told not to do it until we got married.
I’m not even 30 yet, but things have changed since I was a kid. Not only are teens today starting sexual activity (especially oral sex) at a younger age, but they have somewhere to “learn” about it that didn’t exist when we were young — the Internet.
It’s bad enough to have kids learn about sex from their friends, which tend to put expectations and pressure on kids that wouldn’t exist if they had sexual knowledge from a parent or teacher beforehand, but the Internet makes sex so accessible, that it’s no wonder 12-year-olds nowadays dress more like porn stars than kids — it’s what they see on TV and online. I mean, your first time having sex is hard enough — imagine being 15 and thinking you have to live up to what you’ve seen in online porn videos.
This sex ed curriculum would teach kids about their bodies and how normal it is to be a sexual being, but how important it is to never lose yourself because of it.
And what really irked me about this sex ed plan was all the homophobia surrounding teaching kids about sexuality, gender identity and same sex marriage at the age of eight.
How many kids have two mommies or two daddies nowadays? I would wager more than when I was a kid. And as far as these children are concerned, there is nothing wrong with their parents — it’s other kids that come from a “normal” family who don’t understand.
As for a gender identity? Many people I know who are gay, or transgendered, or bisexual, or whatever — knew at a very young age. Teaching eight-year-olds about all this stuff would not make them change what they are or question what they are, but no doubt it would make kids who are already questioning what they are feel more normal, instead of wondering what is wrong with them.
By teaching kids about other lifestyles and tolerance young, we might be able to weed out the hate that breeds from ignorance. That could be a beautiful thing.
I can only imagine how hard it must be as a parent to sit down and talk about sex with your kids — especially some of the stuff that can be uncomfortable to talk about, but it must be done. At least with this sex ed curriculum, kids would have learned about it from someone they could trust for answers — instead of listening to their friends and doing it because everyone else is.
Hopefully, this sex ed plan will be revisited. Perhaps one modification is parents who really don’t want their kids part of it can remove them from the classroom (which would really just alienate them more, but I digress).
By removing this sex ed plan, I feel like we’re teaching our kids to be ashamed by our bodies and not empowered by them. And that’s truly something to be ashamed of.
In defence of Dalton McGuinty’s sex ed plan
Last week, the Ontario government was taken to task for proposed changes to the sex education curriculum Ontario students would receive in school — in all publicly funded schools.
Some of proposed changes in a nutshell:
— Kids would learn about masturbation in Grade 6 (age 11)
— Oral and anal sex would be discussed in Grade 7 (age 12), especially to discuss the risk of sexually transmitted diseases from both
— Homosexuality and gender identity would be discussed in Grade 3 (age 8 )
— The parts of reproductive system of both sexes would be discussed in Grade 5 (age 10), and puberty changes would also be explained here.
Religious and conservative groups were so outraged by the proposed modifications, Liberal Premier Dalton McGuinty quickly changed his tune less than three days after defending the changes and rescinded the plan. McGuinty did not say it was one group or thing that caused him to backpedal, telling the Toronto Star:
A quick admission, I am not a parent. That being said, I do believe this curriculum has a place in our public schools. Parents were concerned that some sexual issues were being taught to kids too young under the new guidelines. Others argued it is the job of the parents to teach their kids about sex — whenever and however they want.
And sure, that’s a valid argument. Parents should be talking to their kids about this stuff. But oftentimes they’re not — or at least not soon enough.
My mother sat me down at 10. She glossed over a lot, but I knew at that point what intercourse was (I didn’t understand it, but I knew what it was). At 11, I got sex ed in school — which for my Catholic school really just consisted of separating the boys and the girls, they talked about boy parts while we talked about periods and labelled diagrams of our reproductive organs. Oh, yeah, and we were told not to do it until we got married.
I’m not even 30 yet, but things have changed since I was a kid. Not only are teens today starting sexual activity (especially oral sex) at a younger age, but they have somewhere to “learn” about it that didn’t exist when we were young — the Internet.
It’s bad enough to have kids learn about sex from their friends, which tend to put expectations and pressure on kids that wouldn’t exist if they had sexual knowledge from a parent or teacher beforehand, but the Internet makes sex so accessible, that it’s no wonder 12-year-olds nowadays dress more like porn stars than kids — it’s what they see on TV and online. I mean, your first time having sex is hard enough — imagine being 15 and thinking you have to live up to what you’ve seen in online porn videos.
This sex ed curriculum would teach kids about their bodies and how normal it is to be a sexual being, but how important it is to never lose yourself because of it.
And what really irked me about this sex ed plan was all the homophobia surrounding teaching kids about sexuality, gender identity and same sex marriage at the age of eight.
How many kids have two mommies or two daddies nowadays? I would wager more than when I was a kid. And as far as these children are concerned, there is nothing wrong with their parents — it’s other kids that come from a “normal” family who don’t understand.
As for a gender identity? Many people I know who are gay, or transgendered, or bisexual, or whatever — knew at a very young age. Teaching eight-year-olds about all this stuff would not make them change what they are or question what they are, but no doubt it would make kids who are already questioning what they are feel more normal, instead of wondering what is wrong with them.
By teaching kids about other lifestyles and tolerance young, we might be able to weed out the hate that breeds from ignorance. That could be a beautiful thing.
I can only imagine how hard it must be as a parent to sit down and talk about sex with your kids — especially some of the stuff that can be uncomfortable to talk about, but it must be done. At least with this sex ed curriculum, kids would have learned about it from someone they could trust for answers — instead of listening to their friends and doing it because everyone else is.
Hopefully, this sex ed plan will be revisited. Perhaps one modification is parents who really don’t want their kids part of it can remove them from the classroom (which would really just alienate them more, but I digress).
By removing this sex ed plan, I feel like we’re teaching our kids to be ashamed by our bodies and not empowered by them. And that’s truly something to be ashamed of.