Skip to main content

Ready Yet?


News that made me feel sick, angry, and sad: the report of a Howard County School employee who worked with students charged with sex offenses. Coming a close second, the online commenter who wrote of the victim, “I bet her parents are so proud.”

Immediate victim blaming. Immediately deciding that whatever happened was consensual, even though the victim was under the age of legal consent. No attempt to see the story in any other way than “she asked for it.”

There are many things to address when a news story like this comes to light. I’m going to pick one you probably won’t see mentioned: the desperate need for comprehensive K-12 sex education. Programs like Our Whole Lives teach age appropriate concepts in developmentally appropriate ways. Bodily autonomy and consent are as relevant to young children as they are to teens, but the context is different.

Students who grow up understanding bodily autonomy, healthy boundaries, and the need for consent are less likely to fall victim to sexual predators. Is it also possible that making this kind of education a requirement might eventually reduce the number of sexual predators? I don’t know, but it would be interesting to find out. I want to learn more.

It is also important that the adults our kids turn to have this kind of knowledge. Graduates of comprehensive K-12 sex education become adults who can support and advocate for victims, instead of blaming them. This is truly a long-term investment. And it is bound to meet opposition from those who think that avoiding and banning the topic from schools is the way to keep kids safe. This is the same mentality that asserts that knowing about sex is an enticement to immoral behavior.

I don’t think that the facts bear that out. I think our students deserve the best possible preparation for a healthy and happy life. We do them and our community at large a disservice by neglecting such a huge and life-changing topic.







Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Teacher Gifts

Today is the last day of school before the Winter Break. It’s a good time to remember the far-reaching nature of our public school system. You may not have children. You may have sent your children to independent schools. It matters not. You will be impacted one way or another. Yesterday I read a long thread on Facebook about several waves of illness in the schools right now. There’s influenza A and norovirus, I believe. And of course there’s COVID. Apparently in some individual schools the rate of illness is high enough for school admin to notify parents.  When I was little the acceptable holiday gift for a teacher was one of those lovely floral handkerchief squares. (I don’t know what it was for male teachers. They were rare in my elementary years.) These days the range of teacher gifts is wider and I have fond memories of Target gift cards which I have written about before. I think it’s safe to say that giving one’s teacher Influenza, norovirus, or COVID is not the ideal holiday...
1 comment
Read more

They Can Wait

This is not a typical Saturday post. That’s because, in my community, it’s not a typical Saturday.  Oakland Mills High School, after years of deferred repair, needs massive renovation. It’s pretty simple: when you don’t fix a problem it gets bigger. The school system itself said the the OMHS school building was  "no longer conducive to learning" back in 2018.  2018 .  But Thursday the Boad of Education voted to push it out of the lineup of important projects which will be given the go-ahead to proceed soonest.  In my opinion it’s a terrible decision and sets a dangerous precedent. To explain, here’s the advocacy letter I sent in support of Oakland Mills High School. I was rather proud of it. I am writing to ask you to proceed with needed renovation at Oakland Mills High School in the most timely and comprehensive manner humanly possible. I have read the letter sent to you by the Oakland Mills Community Association and I am in complete agreement. You are extremel...
1 comment
Read more

Separate and Unequal

  Remember “Separate but equal”? Remember how that really meant that Black schools languished in  broken-down buildings without adequate heat or toilet facilities, with cast-off, ragged learning materials, underfunded and largely ignored? The Supreme Court struck that down in 1954. The evidence was clear that separate was not equal. Plessy v Ferguson had led to - - no, endorsed - - deeply unequal schooling and opportunities. We tend to think of Brown v Board as being purely about racial integration. It was not.  It was about the logical consequences of segregation. And they were not, not, not equal. The ruling in 1954 didn’t transform public education for non-whites into a land of milk and honey by any means. But it articulated some essential truths in a way that made including everyone a legal precedent which could be relied upon and built upon. It was better than what came before it but it rested upon unsteady ground. It did not necessarily change the hearts or minds ...
1 comment
Read more