This is your body. Let's talk.
July 17, 2011 9:15 PM Subscribe
I want to become a sex educator someday, and I'd really like to help develop a long-lasting comprehensive sex education curriculum that builds foundational emotional/interpersonal/respectful knowledge in the younger grades, and more concrete, biological/functional/logistical knowledge towards the end of high school. What's in store for me?
I am in the process of getting my masters in education, and something that I am really passionate about is the importance of sex ed and well-being for people of all ages. Like many folks on MeFi, I am very frustrated by the woefully inept ways that sex ed is handled in elementary, middle, and high school (in America), and ever since I ran a really successful lecture series about healthy, happy sex in college, I've wanted to become a bonafide, certified sex educator.
My questions are these:
1) What's the process for becoming a sex educator?
2) What was your sex education experience like and what did you or didn't you like about it?
3) If you had the chance to go through all 12 years of school again and be in a comprehensive sex ed curriculum, what would you most want to learn about, now that you know what you know about sex?
4) Given the recent progress towards teaching gay history in California, has anyone here become privy to any resulting changes in California curricula?
5) How much resistance will there likely be to even implement some of the most basic ideas outlined below in public schools today?
Basically here's what I keep thinking *I* personally would have benefited from, concept wise, through the years:
Elementary: "this is your body, here's what each thing is and what it all does" knowledge; lessons about self respect and self care; understanding, making, and respecting boundaries; interpersonal communication skills ("I statement" centric); education about different kinds of families; how to identify if someone is making you uncomfortable physically and what to do about it
Middle: "this is your body, and this is sex" from a biological perspective; discussions about what it means to be in relationships of any kind, romantic, sexual or otherwise; body image talks; more respect and self-care; basic sex ed (protection, STDs)
High School: "this is sex" and the history of sex ed; abstinence, protection, birth control; respecting the choices other people make with their bodies; gender expression/gender identity talks; sexuality talks; mythbusters about sex; responsible relationships and communication skills
Are there any major flaws in my idealistic plan? How can I be a part of this kind of thing without screwing up? Let me know. Be gentle. I recognize that this is a tricky, inflammatory, controversial subject. I promise this is coming from a good place.
I am in the process of getting my masters in education, and something that I am really passionate about is the importance of sex ed and well-being for people of all ages. Like many folks on MeFi, I am very frustrated by the woefully inept ways that sex ed is handled in elementary, middle, and high school (in America), and ever since I ran a really successful lecture series about healthy, happy sex in college, I've wanted to become a bonafide, certified sex educator.
My questions are these:
1) What's the process for becoming a sex educator?
2) What was your sex education experience like and what did you or didn't you like about it?
3) If you had the chance to go through all 12 years of school again and be in a comprehensive sex ed curriculum, what would you most want to learn about, now that you know what you know about sex?
4) Given the recent progress towards teaching gay history in California, has anyone here become privy to any resulting changes in California curricula?
5) How much resistance will there likely be to even implement some of the most basic ideas outlined below in public schools today?
Basically here's what I keep thinking *I* personally would have benefited from, concept wise, through the years:
Elementary: "this is your body, here's what each thing is and what it all does" knowledge; lessons about self respect and self care; understanding, making, and respecting boundaries; interpersonal communication skills ("I statement" centric); education about different kinds of families; how to identify if someone is making you uncomfortable physically and what to do about it
Middle: "this is your body, and this is sex" from a biological perspective; discussions about what it means to be in relationships of any kind, romantic, sexual or otherwise; body image talks; more respect and self-care; basic sex ed (protection, STDs)
High School: "this is sex" and the history of sex ed; abstinence, protection, birth control; respecting the choices other people make with their bodies; gender expression/gender identity talks; sexuality talks; mythbusters about sex; responsible relationships and communication skills
Are there any major flaws in my idealistic plan? How can I be a part of this kind of thing without screwing up? Let me know. Be gentle. I recognize that this is a tricky, inflammatory, controversial subject. I promise this is coming from a good place.
I teach high school English in California. I've taught at a variety of schools (all public). Because of reduced state budgets, many districts are cutting the health requirement (previously one semester that deals with drugs, alcohol, sex ed, etc.). Some are having sex ed fall into "advisory" - a class every teacher can/does teach with short modules on whatever they want.
There are groups like a drama troupe (Choices I think?) run by kaiser/planned parenthood to fill those gaps. They are awesome and if your goal is full time sex education, that's the route I would consider.
If you really want to be a full-time teacher, get a secondary credential (for 7-12) in health. Unfortunately, those jobs are few and far between. You probably would have to teach another subject like PE, science, etc.
I wish we had someone like you in my school. My colleague and I (both English teachers) got our classes together and let them write anonymous questions. The sex ones were scary. Amoung the topics with which we dealt:
-why you need a condom/birth control
-when you can/can't get pregnant
-what precum is and why withdrawal method is a bad plan
-why you shouldn't use two condoms
-what an STI is and how you know you have one
-role of feelings in sex
-oral sex
-if it's ok for teachers to sleep with students (AAAARRRRRGGGGG!!!!!!)
-what to do if your friend is in an abusive relationship
And that's just the sex ones.
Anyway, good luck to you. Memail me if you want to talk further about any of this.
posted by guster4lovers at 9:37 PM on July 17, 2011
There are groups like a drama troupe (Choices I think?) run by kaiser/planned parenthood to fill those gaps. They are awesome and if your goal is full time sex education, that's the route I would consider.
If you really want to be a full-time teacher, get a secondary credential (for 7-12) in health. Unfortunately, those jobs are few and far between. You probably would have to teach another subject like PE, science, etc.
I wish we had someone like you in my school. My colleague and I (both English teachers) got our classes together and let them write anonymous questions. The sex ones were scary. Amoung the topics with which we dealt:
-why you need a condom/birth control
-when you can/can't get pregnant
-what precum is and why withdrawal method is a bad plan
-why you shouldn't use two condoms
-what an STI is and how you know you have one
-role of feelings in sex
-oral sex
-if it's ok for teachers to sleep with students (AAAARRRRRGGGGG!!!!!!)
-what to do if your friend is in an abusive relationship
And that's just the sex ones.
Anyway, good luck to you. Memail me if you want to talk further about any of this.
posted by guster4lovers at 9:37 PM on July 17, 2011
You seem like a sweet kid, but you might be getting just a little ahead of yourself here, albeit, with a good heart. Take the word Sex, and swap it for English. I dont want to be a killjoy, but consider this.
You are going to come out of a Masters and run straight into a brick wall. One that is built out of unions, and seniority, and people who might not be open to new ideas. I dont mean to generalize, but a curriculum to some of them is something that was started ten years ago and has been in committee ever since.
I think what you have in mind is right on, but might be similar to something in the pipeline, possibly so close someone will accuse you of ripping it off, so watch out for that.
just a few thoughts in no specific heirarchy.
-- as far as including any gay references, beware of two things: 1. There are still parents who are going to wig about it from religious or just tightass POVs. 2. Kids are a lot more tolerant today than you might think. I dont think being gay is all that weird to most teens, right up until their parents realized they are cool with it. This will probably be VERY important depending how far south in the US you plan on teaching.
Ive got two daughters in their 20s. Both are born-again, and as far as it comes to being gay, they are of the "hate the sin, love the sinner" trope. I have a 14 y/o son who yelled in joy "Hey Dad they passed gay marriage in NY!!!" I asked him, "Son, don't you see how that completely screws up America and OUR LIVES!!" He said "How? I mean, it doesnt effect us at all?" I said..."Exactly pal." High Five for freedom for us all.
I got a call from the 13 year old daughter's school, because I forgot to sign some form, asking if she could go to "Family Life" class. Teacher was all hemmy and hawwy about it, and I finally just said "Look, lemme guess, this has someting to do with sex right? Fine."
She got home that afternoon, and when I asked her how it went, there was only one topic. It wasn;t about HIV, or being gay, or condoms, or pressure from boyfriends, or her body image. It was about how totally grossed out she was by the pics they showed her class of, diseased genitals. You know, while at this point I cant bear to think about it, I would hope the first penis my daughter sees is not covered in festering sores.
If you want a historical take, for me in sixth grade...girls all got escorted to another classroom, where they got told they would be having there period. (Most of them already had), They boys said they would start growing hair, you know, down there. Teacher was our basketball coach. He called one guy out by name and said "You got em all beat there Fritters!" And then, called out the one fat kid, who to put it politely was not quite measuring up to the rest of the team, and humiliated him. That was about 5 minutes, then we went outside and shot free throws.
7th grade health class, the girls leave, and the gym teacher (I swear I do not lie, Mr. Earl Boner) tried to get into the point where the girl parts and boy parts meet, but he kept saying "vageena" and everyone laughed, so we ran laps for the rest of the hour.
I think the kids you end up teaching are going to be miles beyond what you think, but you are going to find some hard roads ahead changing minds. Whatever you do, PLEASE, get where you are going, and spend at least six months trying to get a read on the terrain, teacher, parent and community wise before you bring Harvey Feirstein in as a guest lecturer.
You are going to do good and necessary things for a lot of kids. Just dont let unbridled enthusiasm let you run in reckless, and alienate some folks before they get a chance to know you.
Half of what you do from here on out is going to teaching delicate things to impressionable children. The other half is kissing the asses of ingrained concreted up to their necks administrators, teachers, union reps, parents, preachers, and newspaper editors. Find a balance, play their game, and beat them at it.
2nding the memail me if you want. I like you immediately.
posted by timsteil at 10:06 PM on July 17, 2011 [6 favorites]
You are going to come out of a Masters and run straight into a brick wall. One that is built out of unions, and seniority, and people who might not be open to new ideas. I dont mean to generalize, but a curriculum to some of them is something that was started ten years ago and has been in committee ever since.
I think what you have in mind is right on, but might be similar to something in the pipeline, possibly so close someone will accuse you of ripping it off, so watch out for that.
just a few thoughts in no specific heirarchy.
-- as far as including any gay references, beware of two things: 1. There are still parents who are going to wig about it from religious or just tightass POVs. 2. Kids are a lot more tolerant today than you might think. I dont think being gay is all that weird to most teens, right up until their parents realized they are cool with it. This will probably be VERY important depending how far south in the US you plan on teaching.
Ive got two daughters in their 20s. Both are born-again, and as far as it comes to being gay, they are of the "hate the sin, love the sinner" trope. I have a 14 y/o son who yelled in joy "Hey Dad they passed gay marriage in NY!!!" I asked him, "Son, don't you see how that completely screws up America and OUR LIVES!!" He said "How? I mean, it doesnt effect us at all?" I said..."Exactly pal." High Five for freedom for us all.
I got a call from the 13 year old daughter's school, because I forgot to sign some form, asking if she could go to "Family Life" class. Teacher was all hemmy and hawwy about it, and I finally just said "Look, lemme guess, this has someting to do with sex right? Fine."
She got home that afternoon, and when I asked her how it went, there was only one topic. It wasn;t about HIV, or being gay, or condoms, or pressure from boyfriends, or her body image. It was about how totally grossed out she was by the pics they showed her class of, diseased genitals. You know, while at this point I cant bear to think about it, I would hope the first penis my daughter sees is not covered in festering sores.
If you want a historical take, for me in sixth grade...girls all got escorted to another classroom, where they got told they would be having there period. (Most of them already had), They boys said they would start growing hair, you know, down there. Teacher was our basketball coach. He called one guy out by name and said "You got em all beat there Fritters!" And then, called out the one fat kid, who to put it politely was not quite measuring up to the rest of the team, and humiliated him. That was about 5 minutes, then we went outside and shot free throws.
7th grade health class, the girls leave, and the gym teacher (I swear I do not lie, Mr. Earl Boner) tried to get into the point where the girl parts and boy parts meet, but he kept saying "vageena" and everyone laughed, so we ran laps for the rest of the hour.
I think the kids you end up teaching are going to be miles beyond what you think, but you are going to find some hard roads ahead changing minds. Whatever you do, PLEASE, get where you are going, and spend at least six months trying to get a read on the terrain, teacher, parent and community wise before you bring Harvey Feirstein in as a guest lecturer.
You are going to do good and necessary things for a lot of kids. Just dont let unbridled enthusiasm let you run in reckless, and alienate some folks before they get a chance to know you.
Half of what you do from here on out is going to teaching delicate things to impressionable children. The other half is kissing the asses of ingrained concreted up to their necks administrators, teachers, union reps, parents, preachers, and newspaper editors. Find a balance, play their game, and beat them at it.
2nding the memail me if you want. I like you immediately.
posted by timsteil at 10:06 PM on July 17, 2011 [6 favorites]
the most comprehensive sex ed curriculum that I know of, and that sounds a lot like what you want to do, is the Our Whole Lives curriculum developed by the UUA. I went through its predecessor when I was growing up. it answered questions I hadn't even known to ask and I am very grateful for the experience.
posted by spindle at 10:16 PM on July 17, 2011 [5 favorites]
posted by spindle at 10:16 PM on July 17, 2011 [5 favorites]
These days, sex ed is generally taught by a health teacher. Or new English teachers like Guster4lovers says (I taught a few sections of health back in the day) because they need someone to cover the class and none of the older teachers want to teach something outside of their subject matter competency (crazy, right?). We actually ended up writing our own curriculum for the reasons you cited above, although sex ed was only like 3-4 weeks of the semester.
We were really lucky and had a fabulous, forward-thinking health clinic on campus. Those folks, being much wiser in the ways of teen physical, psychosocial, and sexual health, were incredibly helpful. I suggest interning at a teen youth clinic AND in the kind of schools you want to teach in. If you can learn how to effectively manage a large group of kids, you will be heads and shoulders above most new teachers. (It took me a year. It was a hard year. A very hard year.) Also consider seeing if your city has a good Peer Resources program. The peer resources teacher will have a ton of good methodologies, approaches, and smart classroom management strategies.
Teaching health WAS really fun. It's immediately relevant to their lives and it gave me a chance to get to know some of my kids in ways that I wouldn't have as just their English teacher, and boy howdy, do I have some STORIES. I swear not having to grade a crapton of essays has nothing to do with my fond memories of teaching health class.
posted by smirkette at 10:31 PM on July 17, 2011
We were really lucky and had a fabulous, forward-thinking health clinic on campus. Those folks, being much wiser in the ways of teen physical, psychosocial, and sexual health, were incredibly helpful. I suggest interning at a teen youth clinic AND in the kind of schools you want to teach in. If you can learn how to effectively manage a large group of kids, you will be heads and shoulders above most new teachers. (It took me a year. It was a hard year. A very hard year.) Also consider seeing if your city has a good Peer Resources program. The peer resources teacher will have a ton of good methodologies, approaches, and smart classroom management strategies.
Teaching health WAS really fun. It's immediately relevant to their lives and it gave me a chance to get to know some of my kids in ways that I wouldn't have as just their English teacher, and boy howdy, do I have some STORIES. I swear not having to grade a crapton of essays has nothing to do with my fond memories of teaching health class.
posted by smirkette at 10:31 PM on July 17, 2011
Are there any major flaws in my idealistic plan?
School funding, American politics, and NCLB/testing are huge obstacles to good sex ed in schools, I think. Also, keep in mind there are plenty of bright, energetic folks who may have already developed great curriculums. It'd be good to learn about the current state of things.
How can I be a part of this kind of thing without screwing up?
I'd start by going to your library's ERIC database (you could go to the US Government version here but your library version will more easily link you into locally available articles) and searching for "Sex Education." You'll find at least a few thousand articles. Refine your search by adding in the word "curriculum" and see some really interesting stuff.
At the very least you might want to browse the tables of contents of these journals:
Sex Education: Sexuality, Society and Learning
American Journal of Sexuality Education
(I also wonder if another way to approach this is to consider working with NGOs who work in health education for kids.)
Good luck!
posted by bluedaisy at 11:42 PM on July 17, 2011
School funding, American politics, and NCLB/testing are huge obstacles to good sex ed in schools, I think. Also, keep in mind there are plenty of bright, energetic folks who may have already developed great curriculums. It'd be good to learn about the current state of things.
How can I be a part of this kind of thing without screwing up?
I'd start by going to your library's ERIC database (you could go to the US Government version here but your library version will more easily link you into locally available articles) and searching for "Sex Education." You'll find at least a few thousand articles. Refine your search by adding in the word "curriculum" and see some really interesting stuff.
At the very least you might want to browse the tables of contents of these journals:
Sex Education: Sexuality, Society and Learning
American Journal of Sexuality Education
(I also wonder if another way to approach this is to consider working with NGOs who work in health education for kids.)
Good luck!
posted by bluedaisy at 11:42 PM on July 17, 2011
Oh, sorry, one more thought: it would probably be that colleges are MUCH more open to this than K-12 schools. Do you have any interest in focusing on college student sex ed issues?
posted by bluedaisy at 11:43 PM on July 17, 2011
posted by bluedaisy at 11:43 PM on July 17, 2011
Response by poster: Well, I'm specifically getting a masters in elementary education, and my big hypothesis is that if we start with the emotional/interpersonal stuff early on, children will be more equipped to deal with the heavy aspects of having sex and being sexual later. Sex ed always seems to happen after a lot of damage has been done. When I did my sex ed programs at the college level, I discovered that not only was there a major disconnect between biological and functional understanding, but also the emotional side of things. Respect for bodies (both our own and others') was never fostered. It broke my heart. I know from personal experience how devastating misinformation about sex is. This is going to sound maudlin, but I desperately want to see whether or not comprehensive sex ed can lead to a decline in rape and sexual assault as well as teen pregnancy and STDs. Obviously there are many others who are working on comprehensive sex ed programs too; I would like to be a part of that development, not necessarily going at it alone. Does that make sense?
posted by These Birds of a Feather at 11:48 PM on July 17, 2011
posted by These Birds of a Feather at 11:48 PM on July 17, 2011
It definitely makes sense. I think you need to ground yourself in exactly what is going on right now. Searching research literature on this very issue is a great place to start. It seems like a lot of the current research is looking at Europe, which does have something more like sex ed, at least in some countries. So the very questions you are asking are likely already addressed in the literature.
Advocates for Youth seems to be doing really good advocacy, programming, and research in this area (though, notably, they seem to focus on adolescents).
And, again, ERIC is your friend.
posted by bluedaisy at 12:07 AM on July 18, 2011 [1 favorite]
Advocates for Youth seems to be doing really good advocacy, programming, and research in this area (though, notably, they seem to focus on adolescents).
And, again, ERIC is your friend.
posted by bluedaisy at 12:07 AM on July 18, 2011 [1 favorite]
As I am a European, I can only really address your second question about my own experience with sex ed. I hope that a comparison is useful to you nonetheless.
I live in Austria and my kids were four when they started being taught about sex at kindergarten. They were taught about the mechanics of sex, sperm, eggs, etc. and they were also told about different relationship constellations (hetero/homosexuality). We were not even told that they would be getting sex education, my first inkling was when my kids started asking me questions about it. I asked my wife why we hadn't been told that the kids would be getting sex education and she replied by asking me why they should tell us, as they don't tell us every tiny intricacy of the rest of their curriculum. Why would anyone not want good sex education for their kids?
I was initially sceptical about how much a four-year-old can understand, but am now amazed. The kids don't bat an eyelid when we watch nature documentaries and there is a clip of elephants or whatever humping (something I found excruciatingly embarrassing when I was a kid watching these documentaries with my parents). The kids don't care that their godfather lives together with their other godfather, although they do understand that their godfathers are more than just friends with each other.
Personally I think this is great. It shows me what is possible and it makes me sad that my native Britain (and I suspect swathes of the USA) are not so relaxed. I really don't understand what the big deal is and why some people are opposed to it.
Anyway, perhaps you might find it useful when developing your lessons to look at what other countries are doing.
posted by MighstAllCruckingFighty at 1:20 AM on July 18, 2011 [1 favorite]
I live in Austria and my kids were four when they started being taught about sex at kindergarten. They were taught about the mechanics of sex, sperm, eggs, etc. and they were also told about different relationship constellations (hetero/homosexuality). We were not even told that they would be getting sex education, my first inkling was when my kids started asking me questions about it. I asked my wife why we hadn't been told that the kids would be getting sex education and she replied by asking me why they should tell us, as they don't tell us every tiny intricacy of the rest of their curriculum. Why would anyone not want good sex education for their kids?
I was initially sceptical about how much a four-year-old can understand, but am now amazed. The kids don't bat an eyelid when we watch nature documentaries and there is a clip of elephants or whatever humping (something I found excruciatingly embarrassing when I was a kid watching these documentaries with my parents). The kids don't care that their godfather lives together with their other godfather, although they do understand that their godfathers are more than just friends with each other.
Personally I think this is great. It shows me what is possible and it makes me sad that my native Britain (and I suspect swathes of the USA) are not so relaxed. I really don't understand what the big deal is and why some people are opposed to it.
Anyway, perhaps you might find it useful when developing your lessons to look at what other countries are doing.
posted by MighstAllCruckingFighty at 1:20 AM on July 18, 2011 [1 favorite]
You might be interested in talking to the people who put the Our Whole Lives program together. It's not in the public school system, and the people who put it together took a somewhat different route than your taking (masters in relevant topics, but working through a religious body, external to the school system), but might be good sources of advice. You might even want to usesome or all of their materials, as the religious (UCC / UUA) content in OWL is detachable, and the main program is completely secular, covering all of the issues you mention above.
posted by Wylla at 2:00 AM on July 18, 2011
posted by Wylla at 2:00 AM on July 18, 2011
Argh - despite a careful read of the thread, I didn't see that OWL had already come up. Sorry for the duplicate content!
OWL is actually UUA/UCC - not just UUA. That might be important to know because those detachable religious modules are more explicitly Christian than it just being UUA would suggest. Here's one account of its use in a UCC youthgroup. It doesn't seem to be online, but there was a long interview with one of the main movers and shakers in a recent UCC Stillspeaking magazine - you might be able to get a hold of the issue by calling the UCC and explaing your project.
posted by Wylla at 2:20 AM on July 18, 2011
OWL is actually UUA/UCC - not just UUA. That might be important to know because those detachable religious modules are more explicitly Christian than it just being UUA would suggest. Here's one account of its use in a UCC youthgroup. It doesn't seem to be online, but there was a long interview with one of the main movers and shakers in a recent UCC Stillspeaking magazine - you might be able to get a hold of the issue by calling the UCC and explaing your project.
posted by Wylla at 2:20 AM on July 18, 2011
I went to poor public schools in the 90s (MeMail me for locations if you want). There was absolutely zero sex ed whatsoever.
The state required a 12th grade, one-semester "health" class which I think was supposed to include sex ed, but it was taught by a PE teacher who brought a big bag of McDonalds in every day and ate it in front of us while lecturing about whatever was on his mind (mostly basketball).
(Even though 12th grade is kind of late for going over the fundamentals of sex, there were some serious issues that could have been discussed...at least 3 teachers were fired that year for "dating" students.)
This was in a very liberal city. But the teachers were too poorly trained, and too overworked, to spend the extra energy to discuss anything even remotely controversial. I suspect your biggest problem will be finding someone to fund you with the kind of time and intellectual freedom you seem to want.
Given that, have you thought about doing this as a volunteer campaign? You could probably start your own low-budget organization, distribute materials online, and use your contacts in the education community to get into classrooms as a guest rather than trying to do this as a paid career.
posted by miyabo at 7:26 AM on July 18, 2011
The state required a 12th grade, one-semester "health" class which I think was supposed to include sex ed, but it was taught by a PE teacher who brought a big bag of McDonalds in every day and ate it in front of us while lecturing about whatever was on his mind (mostly basketball).
(Even though 12th grade is kind of late for going over the fundamentals of sex, there were some serious issues that could have been discussed...at least 3 teachers were fired that year for "dating" students.)
This was in a very liberal city. But the teachers were too poorly trained, and too overworked, to spend the extra energy to discuss anything even remotely controversial. I suspect your biggest problem will be finding someone to fund you with the kind of time and intellectual freedom you seem to want.
Given that, have you thought about doing this as a volunteer campaign? You could probably start your own low-budget organization, distribute materials online, and use your contacts in the education community to get into classrooms as a guest rather than trying to do this as a paid career.
posted by miyabo at 7:26 AM on July 18, 2011
If you do this in the form of guest lectures / seminars, here's one thing that worked down here in the bible belt.
A girl scout troop attended the lecture on a Saturday and they required each girl's mother to pick them up individually afterward, so each girl could have some private time to ask questions and get her family's perspective.
posted by CathyG at 10:07 AM on July 18, 2011
A girl scout troop attended the lecture on a Saturday and they required each girl's mother to pick them up individually afterward, so each girl could have some private time to ask questions and get her family's perspective.
posted by CathyG at 10:07 AM on July 18, 2011
My daughter's private, Catholic, all female high school in Los Angeles had a great sex ed program, taught for all 4 years in her Religion classes. (It's not a parish school, and no nuns on campus, so please--no knee-jerk freakouts, please.) The program covered self-esteem, owning your own sexuality, how media treats sex and young women, and a ton of other stuff. Role-playing, date rape drugs, self-defense, coming out as gay--the whole 9 yards. No public school program could touch it, as far as I can tell. But the teachers who ran the program taught other classes as well. Just a thought.
posted by Ideefixe at 11:18 AM on July 18, 2011
posted by Ideefixe at 11:18 AM on July 18, 2011
Another resource to look at is the website Scarleteen. It's not an in-school outfit, but it might give you some ideas about curriculum, and I know they like to encourage people who are interested in going into sex ed, so they might have some good suggestions for where you could start.
posted by colfax at 2:39 PM on July 18, 2011
posted by colfax at 2:39 PM on July 18, 2011
Some good info here.
I'm a sex educator. I have worked only in the non-profit sector, in the areas of teen pregnancy and HIV/STI prevention. I have worked with schools, coming in as a guest to supplement their internal sex ed programs (such as they were, anyway). I have worked in communities, implementing evidence-based curricula that have been exhaustively and scientifically evaluated and shown to be effective at changing behavior, skills, attitudes and knowledge about and pertaining to avoiding too-early pregnancy as well as STIs including HIV. I have trained other adults to do the same.
Crossing fingers that a grant comes through, I'm about to start a job working with school districts to increase their willingness and ability to implement comprehensive sex ed.
Here's the real deal. Schools are ideal in some ways for implementing sex ed, in that you have a lot of young people in the same time, ideally getting the same skills and knowledge from their teachers. The reality, though, is that teachers are super uncomfortable (and untrained to be) teaching sex ed (where I live it's mostly PE teachers who also teach health), the school districts have to deal with the vocal minority parents who don't want their kids to get sex ed, and even if nobody's making a fuss, the concept of dealing with sexual health in the schools flusters people.
If you want to get into sex ed, you need to go the public health route rather than the education route. Sex educators work in public health departments, local or national nonprofits (such as 4-H, Planned Parenthood, Advocates for Youth), statewide adolescent pregnancy prevention campaigns, and etc. Here's a good article about teen pregnancy prevention in California for you.
I've been speaking about teenagers a lot. You're going to be hard pressed to find much sex ed in elementary schools (sadly!), unless it's a progressive private school or church. Most sex ed is done in 7th, 8th and 9th grades (too late, imo).
People have mentioned the OWL curriculum. It's a good, comprehensive program, but as far as I can recall, it hasn't been rigorously evaluated.
Here's a list of the programs that have been shown to work, from the CDC, from the Office of Adolescent Health, from Advocates for Youth, and from the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy.
Let me know if you have any other questions. Hope that helped.
posted by Stewriffic at 10:59 AM on July 19, 2011
I'm a sex educator. I have worked only in the non-profit sector, in the areas of teen pregnancy and HIV/STI prevention. I have worked with schools, coming in as a guest to supplement their internal sex ed programs (such as they were, anyway). I have worked in communities, implementing evidence-based curricula that have been exhaustively and scientifically evaluated and shown to be effective at changing behavior, skills, attitudes and knowledge about and pertaining to avoiding too-early pregnancy as well as STIs including HIV. I have trained other adults to do the same.
Crossing fingers that a grant comes through, I'm about to start a job working with school districts to increase their willingness and ability to implement comprehensive sex ed.
Here's the real deal. Schools are ideal in some ways for implementing sex ed, in that you have a lot of young people in the same time, ideally getting the same skills and knowledge from their teachers. The reality, though, is that teachers are super uncomfortable (and untrained to be) teaching sex ed (where I live it's mostly PE teachers who also teach health), the school districts have to deal with the vocal minority parents who don't want their kids to get sex ed, and even if nobody's making a fuss, the concept of dealing with sexual health in the schools flusters people.
If you want to get into sex ed, you need to go the public health route rather than the education route. Sex educators work in public health departments, local or national nonprofits (such as 4-H, Planned Parenthood, Advocates for Youth), statewide adolescent pregnancy prevention campaigns, and etc. Here's a good article about teen pregnancy prevention in California for you.
I've been speaking about teenagers a lot. You're going to be hard pressed to find much sex ed in elementary schools (sadly!), unless it's a progressive private school or church. Most sex ed is done in 7th, 8th and 9th grades (too late, imo).
People have mentioned the OWL curriculum. It's a good, comprehensive program, but as far as I can recall, it hasn't been rigorously evaluated.
Here's a list of the programs that have been shown to work, from the CDC, from the Office of Adolescent Health, from Advocates for Youth, and from the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy.
Let me know if you have any other questions. Hope that helped.
posted by Stewriffic at 10:59 AM on July 19, 2011
Oh, and a lot of work in helping prevent too-early pregnancy as well as STIs is on the policy level, whether that's local, state or national.
posted by Stewriffic at 11:02 AM on July 19, 2011
posted by Stewriffic at 11:02 AM on July 19, 2011
I pointed a friend from my UU congregation at your question. She got her doctorate in human sexuality and does all sorts of related work, including helping to revise the OWL curriculum. You can take a peek at her website to get an idea of what can be done: http://honestexchange.com.
posted by booksherpa at 11:29 AM on July 20, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by booksherpa at 11:29 AM on July 20, 2011 [1 favorite]
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by gnutron at 9:23 PM on July 17, 2011