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bdschuler t1_j9c7uaw wrote

I wouldn't be at all surprised to find out decades from now that Pedophiles were the ones trying to ban sex education and using Fox News' stupid viewers as pawns. I mean, you can't play your secret special game with a kid who knows that it isn't a game and that you ought to be in jail and that one word of this to anyone is all it takes to make it stop.

I myself would rather be a parent of an educated kid than an easy target kid. Strange times we live in.

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7itemsorFEWER t1_j9fjr4s wrote

I mean, you're not going to find a cabal of pedophiles that get together to ban sex education so it's easier to take advantage of kids. It's easy enough to hide amongst conservatives and evangelicals that are honestly convinced teaching kids about sex is bad (which is just another symptom of the horrible US education system).

There's plenty of evidence out there that there are far more instances of pedophilia amongst the people who are constantly screaming about pedophilia resulting from sex education and the LGBT than there are in the groups of people that they are screaming about. Just look at all of the scandals in Christian churches and youth groups.

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Yankiwi17273 t1_j9crp7p wrote

In reading the article I found out that:

  1. It happened at a private school

  2. It happened in an Optional Class

  3. The kids had to get waivers to participate

  4. The kids themselves had the option to opt out

Honestly, I see this as the best possible scenario. If you don’t want your kids exposed to this, don’t send them to this specific private school, don’t let them take this class, and/or don’t sign the waiver. And even if you did want your kid to be in the class and they didn’t want to, they wouldn’t be forced to participate.

Given that many kids start finding pornography around 4th grade or earlier, it seems reasonable to provide explanations for what they see so that they don’t think that what they watch in porn is realistic.

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devilspeaksintongues t1_j9gcyab wrote

That's how my school did it in the UK in the 90s. I cant comprehend the idiocy of this whole sex/books/religion war in schools. Have the option, dont want your kids learning it? Opt them out, and let the educated carry on getting educated.

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ILikeMyGrassBlue t1_j9c8zxu wrote

A few things for context:

  1. This is a private school.

  2. The curriculum sounds relatively similar to stuff that’s taught in health classes (other than the masturbation videos).

  3. It was only shown to 11th and 12th graders, who let’s be real, have likely already seen porn.

  4. The whole thing is optional, requiring a parental waiver.

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brashendeavors t1_j9c0009 wrote

This is a private Quaker school.

Are they going to start banning subject matter in private schools as well as public?

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Yen-sama t1_j9dtpto wrote

They don't actually care, they just want to spin outrage against the public school system and get more people on their side for privatization.

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ClemDooresHair t1_j9f6q88 wrote

Which, ironically, this is a private school

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Yen-sama t1_j9f6vmq wrote

Yeah, that fact wasn't lost on me. I'm just saying the GOP will grasp at anything to make people demonize public school. The headline shows nothing about it being a private school. The fact it's a private school is said as an aside in the second paragraph, and incredibly missable. The fact it's for 11th and 12th grade students (near-adults that have 99% certainly seem genitalia before) with permission from the parents and 100% voluntary for the student is down near the bottom. The facts in this article that could change the outlook of the reader are obfuscated on purpose. The average fox news consumer looks at this, immediately thinks public school and immediately thinks elementary school.

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ClemDooresHair t1_j9f8vvr wrote

Can’t let pesky little facts get in the way of a narrative!

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IamSauerKraut t1_j9fb54y wrote

Rich parents send their kids to private school for 1) to get the kids out of their hair and/or 2) to show everyone else how rich and better than everyone else they are.

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Mysterious487 t1_j9c69u0 wrote

Fox News has a daily story to cause their audience to have fear, pearl-clutching, and rage. If it’s not a story critical of the LGBTQ+ community, it’s stories on book banning, CRT, and abortion. They seem to be more christofascist than ever before at that network. Those who cry school choice the loudest are the very same ones who are having a shit fit about this story. Quakers are more progressive than the Fox crowd, so I am certain that not many students or their parents are concerned about the class being taught.

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motobudtender t1_j9c8qqh wrote

If you had children, you would understand why parents don’t want their children hearing this creepy shit. I wish you were as educated on the issue as you are passionate.

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Pirrelig t1_j9c9l4d wrote

Body parts and functions aren't creepy. Dispelling shame around stuff that isn't shameful is appropriate.

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vodkaismywater t1_j9cblmu wrote

I, nor my fellow LGBT community members, are 'creepy shit' to learn about.

On another note, if you think by 12th grade your teenager hasn't seen more sexual nudity than a human being would ever see in their entire lifetime 100 years ago, I've a got a bridge to sell you. Proper sex education is extremely important for dozens of reasons. If you don't want your kid learning about their body, opt out. Don't take away education from other parents who do want informed children capable of safely entering the adult world.

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Pink_Slyvie t1_j9dxyd0 wrote

>If you don't want your kid learning about their body, opt out.

I really struggle with this. Should parents be allowed to opt out of basic education, so much abuse and trauma could be avoided if they weren't. I really don't know or have an answer, but as cliche as it is, it keeps me up at night.

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Zenith2017 t1_j9ftysa wrote

Honestly I lean towards no. And there's slippery slope and liberty implications which I appreciate. But if we're asking, does a parent have the right to deprive their child of basic knowledge necessary to function in society, I gotta say no on the same grounds as beating your kid isn't ok. Being a parent isn't free reign to abuse your child and I very much think zero real education is abuse

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Mysterious487 t1_j9czkl8 wrote

I respectfully disagree with you. I would have appreciated these classes as opposed to the purity culture I was exposed to in my fundamentalist baptist upbringing.

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Pink_Slyvie t1_j9dy0o3 wrote

Did you watch the lady with the duct tape, or the one with the chewing gum?

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BeardedHobbit t1_j9cdin7 wrote

Then homeschool and keep your religious shit out of public schools. I wish you were as educated on the issue as you are afraid of things you don't understand.

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justasque t1_j9cg2ga wrote

Just to be clear, the school mentioned in the article is a private religious school.

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Pink_Slyvie t1_j9dy6zq wrote

>Just to be clear, the school mentioned in the article is a private religious school.

Quakers right? I know the majority still believe in a mostly Christian way, but I was under the impression that it was almost more culture than religion, but I'm not well versed on the topic.

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justasque t1_j9cfeyo wrote

Chances are that Friends Central's curriculum is way, way less creepy than the article implies. And if your kids are little, obviously much of what the article described is of course not age-appropriate for them. I understand why you would have that gut reaction.

But by the time your kids are teenagers, it really is best for them to get an accurate understanding of how their body works, and how the bodies of the opposite sex work - not necessairily in the detail the article implies, but the basic topics should be covered.

Even if your kids opt not to be sexually active until marriage, perhaps some years after high school, they still need to know the basics as teens. And learning the basics in high school will prepare them for later in life when they do become sexually active.

The parents at Friends Central are paying $43,900 a year for their high schoolers to attend. If they don't like the sex ed curriculum, they can opt their kids out. Or they can withdraw their kids and have them attend any one of the many private schools in the Main Line area where Friends Central is located, or they can choose to home educate their kids, or hire a private tutor to educate them, or enroll them in one of the many public cyber-charter schools in Pennsylvania, or they can enroll them in the local public school (and save $43,900 a year!)

Private schools can only survive when they are very responsive to the concerns of parents. At $43,900 a year, they know the parents can take their money elsewhere. If the curriculum is out of line, or actually creepy, you can bet that the parents will let the admin know and the admin will take appropriate steps to keep the parents happy.

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Yen-sama t1_j9du6jf wrote

I'm sorry you feel that body-positive sex education is creepy but you as a parent could opt out. Don't take that choice from everyone else.

The class was for 11th and 12th grade though. Those students are 1-2 years shy of not needing mommy and daddy's permission for things, if they aren't 18 already.

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Pink_Slyvie t1_j9dxtzf wrote

>If you had children, you would understand why parents don’t want their children hearing this creepy shit. I wish you were as educated on the issue as you are passionate.

Hi, Have children. I want them to be educated on all of this. Goddess knows I wouldn't have made the mistakes I had if I had better sex education.

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madmanz123 t1_j9dlvpk wrote

Hi, parent here.

This happened at a private school, was opt in and a waiver was required. You being poorly opinion is the issue here. You should probably be better educated and less passionate.

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Zenith2017 t1_j9fbe31 wrote

Oh no! Not checks notes anatomically accurate sex education!

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Diarygirl t1_j9f50qw wrote

I have children, and you strangers claiming to want to protect them are the creepy ones.

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Throwawaytown33333 t1_j9csanq wrote

Lmao fox news. Worse than citing the Onion

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Pink_Slyvie t1_j9dxjfe wrote

>Worse than citing the Onion

I mean, I've seen the onion reporting actual news lately.

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justasque t1_j9c7b06 wrote

Assuming that things are as the article describes (which I feel is unlikely, as the article is written rather poorly and seems designed to incite outrage rather than objectively report the facts), this is an issue best addressed by the school admin and the parents of children at the school. The parents pay a lot of money (a LOT of money - $25K a year for nursery, going up to $43,900 for the last two years of high school) for their kids to attend this school, and you can be sure that if the actual instruction is out of line with the parents' values, it will be shut down ASAP.

If, on the other hand, the article is distorting the facts, and the parents are happy with the content of the instruction, it really isn't somethat that you or I have any say in. For better or for worse, PA allows private schools, private tutors, and home educators a lot of leeway in curriculum content, so long as certain basic subjects are taught. And that's the way it should be.

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Ok-Library247 t1_j9c0jib wrote

Is there a legitimate source on this?

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brashendeavors t1_j9canc0 wrote

Most of the recent sources are clickbait right wing sources jumping on the Fox bandwagon.

Not sure if this applies, but New York Times included this teacher in an article on nationally recognized sex education a year ago:

>Al Vernacchio has worked as the sexuality education coordinator at Friends’ Central School in Wynnewood, Pa., for 24 years. Messaging about sexuality comes from television, from Instagram and TikTok, from OnlyFans, from YouTube, from advertisements, he said. “Young people need to have the ability to critically examine those messages and to think about their own values and to make decisions about which of those messages they feel are really beneficial and which they want to question,” he said.

https://archive.md/EyDEh#selection-661.0-675.237

This is at a nationally recognized PRIVATE Quaker school that costs about $50k a year to attend, not some local public kindergarten.

This is what the guy was hired to teach. Are they going to start telling private schools what they can teach now too?

"Graphic penis and vulva pictures" are just high octane words for basic human anatomy illustrations -- they are allowed to teach sex ed as long as they never show what a (gasp) penis actually looks like?

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Froggy1789 t1_j9cszwo wrote

This is a legitimate source and includes his own comments. As someone who went to a similar school this content sounds remarkably similar to my health class bc that is what this is. He is an English teacher and a health teacher as the article says. Fox is just being as inflammatory as possible.

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Pink_Slyvie t1_j9dxor9 wrote

Fox News is not a legitimate source. Maybe when they stop promoting genocide.

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Froggy1789 t1_j9jsi5b wrote

Just because you don’t like their content or skew doesn’t mean the individual fox stories aren’t accurate. Fox News news desk is a perfectly respectable outlet. They made that call on Arizona and regularly put out well sourced news. It’s true that it has a conservative bent and as an outlet make the editorial decision not to do news that doesn’t help conservatives. However, that doesn’t mean you can write off the accuracy of a very well sourced story just because you don’t like it.

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Pink_Slyvie t1_j9jtus4 wrote

You misunderstand me. It's not legitimate because they are fascist, and are promoting genocide currently. It's not because I don't like them. I don't though, I don't like people who promote genocide.

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Froggy1789 t1_j9mp00w wrote

But how does that alter the veracity of the article?

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markwusinich t1_j9dlzkh wrote

The keep you government out of my kids education now want to control what my kids learn.

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IamSauerKraut t1_j9fb0lk wrote

Gubbament response: we'll just put a few books in the library.

Mums for Freedumb: that is unacceptable!

Kid: (no response cuz they went onto the internet while parent was yelling and screaming and carrying on about the gubbament in public education. found the really rancid stuff there. answered all the questions about own sexuality. and the sexuality of lots of other people.)

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Alternative-Flan2869 t1_j9e62nt wrote

Knowledge is power - ignorance promotes fear, anger, hate and more ignorance. This topic seems to be approached thoughtfully and respectfully and is something every adult should know.

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Ericrobertson1978 t1_j9f41bq wrote

It's totally appropriate for 11th and 12th graders.

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IamSauerKraut t1_j9fbeyk wrote

I was seeing worse things when I would sneak behind the counter to peak at the latest edition of Hustler...

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Ericrobertson1978 t1_j9je122 wrote

Back in the 80s, I had plenty of friends with older brothers who kept our crew flush with porno mags. (yes, before the internet)

Nothing in these books is inappropriate for high school kids.

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IamSauerKraut t1_j9jtkyv wrote

If Moms for Freedumb and their ilk continue their attacks on other people's kids and the public schools, the result is that the curious (99% of the teenage population) will get their curiosity satisfied in the dark corner of the web or in a closet instead of learning about these things in the somewhat controlled environment of the school library.

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drunkmonkey176 t1_j9fghkq wrote

But it's ok when domestic terrorist trash use their dark age fairy tales to justify teaching their daughters to be obedient stay at home baby factories and not worry about their rapist being worshiped as a hero while taking their rights away.

Trash can only be trash. Take it out.

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jkooc137 t1_j9fbqjw wrote

Fox news is just anti education, it threatens their viewer base

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4d3d t1_j9fmbm0 wrote

That dude is a loon. I wouldn’t want my child in his class.

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Spre3ad t1_j9gschw wrote

As others have pointed out-

  1. ⁠It happened at a private school

  2. ⁠It happened in an Optional Class

  3. ⁠The kids had to get waivers from their parents to participate

  4. ⁠The kids themselves had the option to opt out

So, if you don’t like it, just don’t sign the waver. Nobody was or is forcing these kids to see stuff without both their, and their parents consent first.

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