I never thought I would see schools in America so clearly ignore reality this badly.
Utah has passed a legislative bill to teach abstinence only sexual education.
Without hardly a whisper this bill was passed.
Another step between reality and Utah.
I am worried for my daughters who might some day come across those who are not educated in reality. They could spreed illness, miss information, and flat out superstition that could greatly harm them. If real information is kept from teenagers, they will find what they can, be it real, or otherwise and many might find things the hard way. I worry for them. Never shall I choose to live in Utah. I love my country and I am so glad to have the right to move where I choose.
While public schooling might not seem like a big deal to a homeschooler I promise you it is. Education is something many of us homeschoolers keep a very close eye on. We too research and learn each day. I wish I could blog better news than this though. It is important for parents to be active in our children’s lives. Don’t count on schools or others to teach the important things. We can not choose how our children will behave when they grow up, we can choose to give them the tools and information needed so that they can face the world of reality. Ignorance is not an option when it comes to sexual education in my opinion. Ignorance however is key in a dictatorship.
I will give my children the information that is factual and real.
I will help them not be one of the sheeple.
Sex Ed in American schools has always kind of worried me. In 2009 I spent a summer teaching dance at camp.
We were given strict instructions not to discuss to much about our private life with the kids, but during one ballet class the conversation turned to sex.
Many of them had little to no idea about the contraceptive pill.. They’d never seen a condom in real life.. They had questions so I turned off the music and sat them down and we talked about the facts of life. Normally I wouldn’t sit down to discuss my sex life with a group of teens but I felt it was irresponsible not to. The US has the highest rate of teen pregnancies in the developed world.. And I began to understand why..
In Australia, at a CHRISTIAN high school our teachers taught us about contraception, we practiced sliding condoms into plastic penises, we learned about the options, were taught about STI’s and although the school encouraged us to wait until marriage, they told us we needed to know all of this ‘just in case’..
It was really eye opening for me to discuss this with these teens and see how different the approach to sex Ed had been at their schools. Preach and encourage abstinence if you wish, but please provide information for those who don’t want to wait. It scares me that a state would pass a law insisting on abstinence only. It truly baffles me.
And in my experience, these uninformed Americans who were taught abstinence only, were having just as much sec as their Aussie counterparts..
Kate I am glad those girls had you looking out for them. We need more honesty not less in this country.
When I went through school, they told us to wait but also told us the facts, this a good thing as I had learned a lot from my peers by then that just was not true and could have even been a danger at some point.
Even if some wait till marriage, will they not need to know the facts as well? I was not taught about really charting my cycle and that can help so much when TTC and TTA.
I feel like Utah has taken yet another step in the wrong direction and children will pay for it sadly.
As a native Utahn, (non-lds and very liberal, thank you very much), it didn’t necessarily pass without so much as a whisper. There was actually a loud uproar, but it passed anyway. Most of my family teach within the Utah public school system, and a lot of us teachers very very much disagree with what was just passed. That being said, yes, we are planning a move out of Utah, mostly due to politics and the social mindset here in state… but I will miss this beautiful state. Someday Utah will come around, but I firmly believe it will not happen anytime soon. Fellow Utahns- you CAN change the system. Vote! If you don’t like what’s going on in our state, speak up! Let’s do something about it!