What kind of sex ed did I have?
August 12, 2012 4:41 AM   Subscribe

History of public school sex ed, Michigan version.What kind of sex ed were public school students supposed to get in Michigan in the 1980s? What was sex ed like for Michiganders back then?

I work helping schools implement comprehensive sex ed programs in NC. I can't personally remember what my experience with sex ed was in 1980s Michigan, other than a sex-segregated puberty talk in about the 5th grade. I'm hoping that if I know what the law and policies were back then it will jog my memory. I graduated high school in 1989, so you'd think I got something about HIV, but like I said, I have no memories of anything. I'm looking for law, policy, etc. Anecdotes from Michiganders from around that time period interest me, too. Thanks!
posted by Stewriffic to Grab Bag (11 answers total) 2 users marked this as a favorite
 
In the 80s and 90s I had sex segregated 5th grade with videos and questions. 7th grade more graphic birth video. 9th grade home ex we were given a sheet with types of birth control on it and a visit from someone with HIV. Not terribly useful information at the older years.
posted by k8t at 6:46 AM on August 12, 2012 [1 favorite]


Best answer: I am your exact age, but never lived in Michigan. However, I'd like to say that in Texas sex ed was reduced to really only what you say you remember (that talk in 5th grade about puberty), and entirely removed from the health classes in junior high and high school because these were the Reagan years and the age of the Moral Majority and such. It's possible you don't remember anything else because there wasn't anything else.

One federal law that affected sex ed and federal funding was the Adolescent Family Life Act, which in a nutshell was about abstinence only, and administered under Title XX by the Office of Population Affairs. The CDC gave money to states for AIDS education, but that money started in 1987 and possibly you didn't see it in use before you graduated.

You can see some discussion of this on this paper (I linked to the time you reference -- I think this is a current high schooler's paper, and/but it's well done). For this section of the paper, she mostly cites Teaching Sex by Jeffrey P. Moran, so that might be a book worth looking at.
posted by Houstonian at 7:31 AM on August 12, 2012


Might I recommend looking on Ontario's curriculum? It (or did as of a few years ago) went over the different types of birth control, upsides and downsides, proper use of the pill, etc. It did place a heavy focus on abstinence as the only 100% effective way, but did talk about pill + condom being a very good method for safe sex.

I suspect Europe has even better sex ed, but I have no experience with it.
posted by Canageek at 7:37 AM on August 12, 2012


I went to a private religious school in Michigan and had my sex-ed classes at the tailend of the 80s. Our science teacher, godblessher, was tasked with teaching the "curriculum." The girls and boys were split into different classes, and for about a week, we watched videos, looked at pictures in textbooks, and did worksheets. Had an exam at the end of the week. I can't recall any sort of "you should/you shouldn't" as part of the teaching...just the facts, as it were.
posted by st starseed at 6:15 PM on August 12, 2012


I graduated from a metro Detroit high school in 1977, so I'm a bit older than the age range you're looking for; nevertheless, I remember seeing tons of venereal disease movies in 9th, 10th and 11th grades. Very vivid ones sometimes - PBS specials showing actual naked humans with chancres on their genitals, things like that. We learned about birth control but didn't have parenting classes or stuff like that for teen moms (I'd only seen one pregnant girl at our school during that time).
posted by Oriole Adams at 10:01 PM on August 12, 2012


Response by poster: So I went to FB for this question, too. Turns out at least in MY school, we only had the 5th grade lessons and then an elective course in high school called "Marriage and Family."

If anyone is a very good researcher, I am still looking for local and state laws to match the federal ones that Houstonian was kind enough to supply.
posted by Stewriffic at 1:46 PM on August 13, 2012


Response by poster: FB=Facebook
posted by Stewriffic at 1:46 PM on August 13, 2012


Best answer: Here's something breif that might give you some more search terms:
THE REVISED SCHOOL CODE (EXCERPT)
Act 451 of 1976


380.1506 Program of instruction in reproductive health; supervision; request to excuse pupil from attendance; “reproductive health” defined.

...
posted by that's how you get ants at 1:55 PM on August 13, 2012


Response by poster: OK, that's a good piece of the puzzle, thanks!
posted by Stewriffic at 2:03 PM on August 13, 2012


Best answer: And here's a MI DOE survey from 1993:
In 1993, the Comprehensive Programs in Health and Early Childhood unit of the Michigan Department of Education conducted a survey of Michigan public school districts to estimate the extent of sex education programming, barriers to sex education, content and teaching strategies, and scope and sequence of curriculum. This survey was a part of the Michigan Department of Education’s HIV Prevention Education Project that is funded by the Centers for Disease Control. This document reports the key findings of the survey.
So, I found late 70s and early 90s. No 80s, but I hope it helps.

For what it's worth, in the 90s I had sex-segregated videos and talks in 5th grade (mostly puberty stuff, intro to sex) and in high school had Health as a required elective which included a unit on pregnancy and STDs. I can't remember if we got anything in middle school.
posted by that's how you get ants at 2:05 PM on August 13, 2012


Response by poster: That last survey results document has lots of kick-butt info about the 1980s! Thanks!
posted by Stewriffic at 2:18 PM on August 13, 2012


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