The Class that Dare Not Speak Its Name

Down in Oregon, they're putting on one of those sex ed classes that make parents scream:

MILWAUKIE -- The North Clackamas School Board has approved a sex-education curriculum that coaches students in refusing sexual advances and includes a lesson for eighth-graders on how to use a condom.

The board also approved a list of sensitive topics last week that teachers can address, including homosexuality, abortion, pornography and some sexual acts. Teachers will not teach lessons about those subjects but can answer questions about them if students ask.

Sex ed is also on the minds of the Seattle P-I:

By requiring sex education standards, the Legislature could help young people stay healthy, prevent pregnancy and act responsibly.

Bills from Rep. Shay Schual-Berke and Sen. Mary Margaret Haugen would require medically accurate information be taught in districts that choose to offer sex education. The measures, HB 1297 and SB 5297, also would forbid teaching abstinence as the only way to prevent pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases.

Given the state's view of itself as relatively enlightened, it might be assumed that districts already would be following such sound practices. They all have access to clear guidelines developed by the state Department of Health and the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction.

But a recent survey of school districts by an advocacy group, Healthy Youth Alliance, found that one-fifth teach abstinence without other strategies. And teachers in nearly one-third of the responding districts are forbidden to discuss condoms or contraception in sex education classes, which aren't required by the state. (AIDS education is required.) Roughly a quarter also had rules against discussions of abortion and homosexuality, according to an Associated Press report on the survey.

Pregnancy rates among young people in this country run higher than in most industrialized countries. Better information is part of developing healthier, more responsible behavior.

I know that this is one of those things that parents are supposed to teach their kids, but personally I wanted nothing NOTHING at all to do with hearing this from Mom and Dad. At least I had faith that the teacher was a fairly neutral party, and didn't live in my house.