Sexual Education? Pt.1

How it Came to This (3:25-4:28)

I originally had this video (above)  linked in a different post, but it was just way too relevant not to put it here. I like it for what it is: a bunch of parents in an uproar about how their kids don't know anything about sex, and they need to be taught ... by the schools. The entire episode is brilliant. As a budding teacher, I just might have to include it on my top 5 list of South Park episodes (Up to your neck in blog marking? Take a break! Grab a coffee! Watch South Park!), especially now that we've spent a day or two talking about sexual education.

I needed to do a spot of research before I could write this blog; I pulled up Alberta's curriculum to see what I could find by the way of sexual education within it. Disregarding the K-9 curriculum, here is what I found in the 10-12:

For students who are not at the age of majority or living
independently, parents have the right to exempt their children from
school instruction in human sexuality education by submitting a
letter to the school indicating their intention to do so. Schools will
provide alternative learning experiences for those students who
have been exempted from human sexuality instruction at the
request of their parents. Students must complete the remainder of
the course in order to receive credits.

That's it!

This was a highlighted portion of text under the Career and Life Management (CALM) course which offered no particulars whatsoever about the extent of human sexuality taught in the class. Just to sum up this point, the description of CALM focuses on life choices. Below the description is a notice that a parent may exempt their child from the human sexuality unit in CALM if they choose. This is the only evidence of any human sexuality taught in Alberta's high school, at least in the parent's version of the curriculum it is.

So for those of us who wish to say "I might be ok with human sexuality being taught in school; what exactly will be taught?", we will have to dig a little deeper.

This concludes Part 1.