All About McCain

[Moonliner]

Originally Posted by Tenigma

What's wrong with teaching kindergarteners about age-appropriate information regarding sex, relationships, and reproduction?

The problem is who decides "age appropirate information"


My experince, as a parent with kids this age, is that school administrators almost always take the path of least resistance for them. At our local high school there is a "zero tolerance" for alcohol. It takes away any discretion the staff might use and the responsibility that comes along with it. For example, someone who brings a bottle of NyQuil to school would receive the same punishment as someone that brings a half dozen bottles of Jack Daniels to pass out on the school bus during an extracurricular event. (Note: That is a real example not a hypothetical).

So allowing these same administrators to determine "age appropriateness" is troublesome to me. If they make a decision on what to teach and not to teach based on age they are opening themselves up to criticism for teaching the wrong thing. If they ignore the issue and just teach everyone whatever the bill says no matter how wrong it is for a given age group they feel safer because they can sidestep responsibility by saying "It's in the mandate".

[tracilicious]

Originally Posted by Tenigma

What's wrong with teaching kindergarteners about age-appropriate information regarding sex, relationships, and reproduction?

Dr. Laura started talking to her son, Derek, about sex-related things VERY early on, just as part of his growing up. As a really young kid, when he was learning about body parts and about his normal bodily functions, she didn't mask words related to certain body parts, she just used normal words. And as he grew up she helped explain to him about how babies are created, and what happens during pregnancy, etc. and I believe he was probably only around 7 or 8 when he learned that some women have their pregnancies terminated (she let him come to his own realization that a woman ending a pregnancy meant she was having the "baby inside the mother" killed)... learning about sex and reproduction as part of life and growing up, as part of a whole, and understanding how integral relationships are to sex, was the way she chose to teach her son.

As much as I can't stand Dr. Laura, I completely agree. At five and half, Indi is very well versed in sex because he showed an interest early on. He knows how people have sex, that sometimes men and women have sex, sometimes men and men, sometimes women and women, etc. We've talked about the difference between love and lust, some of what happens during puberty, etc. It's always been very casual and has come up naturally.

I hold no delusions that he'll wait until adulthood to start having sex. But I am pretty confident that when he's a teen we'll still be able to talk openly about sex and all that comes with it.

I'm wondering when the right will start thinking of these things in terms of solutions to problems and not what fits into their moral code that they somehow feel justified in inflicting on our whole society.

[Snowflake]

Palin Ready to Step in as President

Palin says she's ready to step in as president

FORT WAINWRIGHT, Alaska - Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin said Thursday that she didn't blink when Republican John McCain asked her to be his running mate, a surprise selection that shook up the presidential race.

"I didn't hesitate, no," she told ABC's Charlie Gibson in her first televised interview since accepting the Arizona senator's invitation to be on the Republican ticket two weeks ago.

"I answered him 'yes' because I have the confidence in that readiness and knowing that you can't blink, you have to be wired in a way of being so committed to the mission, the mission that we're on, reform of this country and victory in the war, you can't blink. So I didn't blink then even when asked to run as his running mate," said the 44-year-old Palin, a governor who has been in office less than two years.

Asked if she felt ready to step in as vice president or perhaps even president if something happened to the 72-year-old McCain, Palin said: "I do, Charlie, and on January 20, when John McCain and I are sworn in, if we are so privileged to be elected to serve this country, we'll be ready. I'm ready."

[Ghoulish Delight]

I don't get it. What's more to say about it?

"Abstinence is not having sex until you get married. It's the only guaranteed safe choice. 100% guarantee you will not get pregnant and 100% guarantee you will not catch a disease from having sex. The decision to have sex is an important one not to be taken lightly and will have lifelong consequences no matter how safely you do it."

That's what I remember from my sex ed classes. What else is there? Do you need a textbook to illustrate how not to have sex? A scientific analysis of exactly why not having sex prevents pregnancy? Discussion of clinical trials that measure the likelihood of contracting an STD while not having sex?

[sleepyjeff]

Originally Posted by Ghoulish Delight

I don't get it. What's more to say about it?

"Abstinence is not having sex until you get married. It's the only guaranteed safe choice. 100% guarantee you will not get pregnant and 100% guarantee you will not catch a disease from having sex. The decision to have sex is an important one not to be taken lightly and will have lifelong consequences no matter how safely you do it."

That's what I remember from my sex ed classes. What else is there? Do you need a textbook to illustrate how not to have sex? A scientific analysis of exactly why not having sex prevents pregnancy? Discussion of clinical trials that measure the likelihood of contracting an STD while not having sex?

They seemed to not be shy about showing scary movies about what happens if you don't use protection.....why not show some scary movies about what happens to some kids who did use protection but somehow it failed? That could ballance out things a bit......plus, they didn't seem to mind repeating themselves over and over again about safe sex, why not repeat themselves over and over again about abstinence?

My point is....the way it was presented made it pretty clear that the adult world pretty much expected us to be having sex and that the whole "abstinence" speil might as well have been told with a wink wink.

[Ghoulish Delight]

Originally Posted by sleepyjeff

My point is....the way it was presented made it pretty clear that the adult world pretty much expected us to be having sex and that the whole "abstinence" speil might as well have been told with a wink wink.

While the message I got out of sex ed was, "Promiscuous sex is risky. It's really risky. My god it's risky. So risky that we're going to spend hours and hours explaining what you'd need to do to protect yourself. Look, here's some horrific pictures of what happens if you fail to protect yourself. If you have sex, no matter how hard you try to be safe, this will always be a risk."

What better promotion of abstinence can there be?

[scaeagles]

Originally Posted by Ghoulish Delight

While the message I got out of sex ed was, "Promiscuous sex is risky. It's really risky. My god it's risky. So risky that we're going to spend hours and hours explaining what you'd need to do to protect yourself. Look, here's some horrific pictures of what happens if you fail to protect yourself. If you have sex, no matter how hard you try to be safe, this will always be a risk."

What better promotion of abstinence can there be?

Being that this involves high school males, speaking from experience, what they hear is

"blhblha SEX sblahbakhbkl. blaablhbhabba bablb bahlb labhlhblhb ablhlhbah blbhbla blabhblb ablh h SEX sblahbakhbkl. blaablhbhabba bablb bahlb labhlhblhb ablhlhbah blbhbla blabhblb ablh h ."

[Tenigma]

Originally Posted by scaeagles

Being that this involves high school males, speaking from experience, what they hear is

"blhblha SEX sblahbakhbkl. blaablhbhabba bablb bahlb labhlhblhb ablhlhbah blbhbla blabhblb ablh h SEX sblahbakhbkl. blaablhbhabba bablb bahlb labhlhblhb ablhlhbah blbhbla blabhblb ablh h ."

[Snowflake]

Originally Posted by scaeagles

Being that this involves high school males, speaking from experience, what they hear is

"blhblha SEX sblahbakhbkl. blaablhbhabba bablb bahlb labhlhblhb ablhlhbah blbhbla blabhblb ablh h SEX sblahbakhbkl. blaablhbhabba bablb bahlb labhlhblhb ablhlhbah blbhbla blabhblb ablh h ."

I'm actually shocked any adolescent male would hear

blhblhasblahbakhbkl. blaablhbhabba bablb bahlb labhlhblhb ablhlhbah blbhbla blabhblb ablh h sblahbakhbkl. blaablhbhabba bablb bahlb labhlhblhb ablhlhbah blbhbla blabhblb ablh h

[Alex]

Keep reading, it emphasizes age appropriateness:

12 (2) All (1) course material and instruction shall
13 be age and developmentally appropriate.

(a) If any school district provides courses of
8 instruction designed to promote wholesome and comprehensive
9 understanding of the emotional, psychological, physiological,
10 hygienic and social responsibility aspects of family life,
11 then such courses of instruction shall include the teaching
12 of prevention of unintended pregnancy and all options related
13 to unintended pregnancy, as the alternatives to abortion,
14 appropriate to the various grade levels; and whenever such
15 courses of instruction are provided in any of grades K 6
16 through 12, then such courses also shall include age
17 appropriate instruction on the prevention of sexually
18 transmitted infections, including the prevention,
19 transmission and spread of HIV AIDS. However, no pupil shall
20 be required to take or participate in any family life class
21 or course on HIV AIDS instruction if his parent or guardian
22 submits written objection thereto, and refusal to take or
23 participate in such course or program shall not be reason for
24 suspension or expulsion of such pupil.

It also doesn't say that sex ed will be offered in those grades, just requirements if it is.