Sex education in Ten-uh-see

You really can't expect a school in Nashville, Tennessee to buck the system, now can you? Or expect its parents, teachers and elected officials to be anymore enlightened than, say, the DA in Wisconsin, right?

Young people here in middle Tennessee don't have sex. They don't get caught with unwanted pregnancies. They don't even have a clue what an STD is.

Why are these students so blessed? Because they abstain. You bet-cha.

Rodrick Glover, father of a Hillsboro High School senior, said he was aghast when his daughter began describing details of sexual techniques being taught in her leadership class using models of male and female genitals.

"It took me by surprise," he said. "My daughter thought it was pornography."

A Metro Schools spokeswoman agreed the information was inappropriate to share with students and that the content presented was not part of the district's standard Family Life and Sexuality Education curriculum.

"We know some district policies were not followed," spokeswoman Olivia Brown said. "We have taken proper action to correct any mistakes made by Hillsboro staff, and we are updating our policy to ensure that future instruction is only from our approved curriculum."

Teacher Susanne Frensley, who was Tennessee's teacher of the year in 2007, is in charge of the leadership class, but outside instructors gave the sex-ed lessons in question. They were guests from Nashville CARES, a nonprofit group that provides AIDS prevention information, among other services. The leadership class ended in March.

Glover said, "I am OK with the written policy with an emphasis on abstinence. How far can they go with this?"

via Tennessean

Wisconsin county DA says NO to sex education

Last month a district attorney in rural Juneau County (Wisconsin) ordered schools to abandon their sex education courses, saying a new curriculum law could lead to criminal charges against teachers for contributing to the delinquency of minors.

Starting in the fall, the new law requires schools that have sex education programs to tell students how to use condoms and other contraceptives. Juneau County District Attorney Scott Southworth said such education encourages sex among children, which is illegal, and could lead to charges against teachers.

The new law "promotes the sexualization - and sexual assault - of our children," Southworth wrote in a March 24 letter to officials in five school districts. He urged the districts to suspend their sex education programs and transfer their curriculum on anatomy to a science course.

"Forcing our schools to instruct children on how to utilize contraceptives encourages our children to engage in sexual behavior, whether as a victim or an offender," he wrote. "It is akin to teaching children about alcohol use, then instructing them on how to make mixed alcoholic drinks."

Southworth, a Republican, says in his letter that he could charge teachers with contributing to the delinquency of a minor, depending on the specifics of cases he reviews.

"If a teacher instructs any student aged 16 or younger how to utilize contraceptives under circumstances where the teacher knows the child is engaging in sexual activity with another child - or even where the 'natural and probable consequences' of the teacher's instruction is to cause that child to engage in sexual intercourse with a child - that teacher can be charged under this statute" of contributing to the delinquency of a minor, he wrote.

He said the law went too far because it required teachers not to teach students about the effects of birth control, but on how to properly use them, "which turns objective instruction into implicit encouragement and advocacy."

Southworth says he "has an ethical obligation to tell districts his interpretation of the law."
"If I'd wanted to be ideological, I would have said in the letter you shouldn't have sex before marriage because that's the Christian perspective. I'm an evangelical."

I guess if you're an evangelical, you are above the law and can misinterpret it anyway you want.