Sex ed in grade 3

Starting from September 2010 for elementary schools, and September 2011 for high schools, sex ed will be undergoing a revised curriculum for sex ed. This will be the gist of the new curricula:

• Grade 3: "invisible differences" such as sexual orientation and gender identity
• Grade 4: puberty and its physical/social changes (now taught in grade 5)
• Grade 5: the concept of personal desire ("liking someone in a certain way")
• Grade 6: gender stereotypes; homophobia; personal pleasure in masturbation, vaginal lubrication, and wet dreams
• Grade 7: STDs and prevention measures; sexual acts such as oral/anal sex
• Grade 8: sexual identity and dating violence
• Grade 9: gender-based violence, sexual harassment and more detail about previously covered issues.

Supporters like Sarah Flicker, an associate professor from York University, say that it is really thinking outside the box and it's terrific that the ministry of education is taking this step in addressing the lack of preparation students have for facing society. She says that very often, we say sex is a bad no-no thing, but kids do do it all the time for the reason that it feels good. The provincial government wanted to ensure that students get more out of sex ed lessons than just awkwardness, especially about healthy relationships and sexual health. This mainly stemmed from the need to fight against sexual harassment and violence in schools after one incident in a Toronto high school. Of course, most sexual harassment, or any type of harassment, go unnoticed most of the time, or unreported.

These controversial changes have parents and even some teachers angry and infuriated. Vilia Milic, a retired Hamilton teacher, says that childhood innocence is rapidly becoming extinct, and that it's becoming problematic. A Christian father says that it is "completely inappropriate" to teach third graders about same sex relationships and all that when it has no relevance to them at this point in their lives.

However, there is relevance because children are hitting puberty earlier than they were in the last decade, so it only makes sense to teach sex ed a grade earlier, says Flicker. Of course, children psychologically develop at different rates, but it's much more beneficial to supply them with sexual knowledge before the sexual activity starts. As most teenagers know, about 1/3 of them have already engaged in sexual activity before they reach high school, which is a pretty scary number.

It's also been discovered that some teachers avoid sexual education because teaching it makes them uncomfortable, and kids ask the darnedest questions that put them on the spot. The province decided to change the lessons by making them more specific so teachers are more prepared to answer questions. To ease off the adolescent awkwardness (pardon the pun), public health workers will be visiting in and out of schools since they have experience with these subjects.

Personally I think it's great that they're going to change the curriculum to keep up with the times. Girls as young as 5 year old are getting their first period; how are we going to explain to them about the birds and the bees? This case is one of the rarest, but currently, the average age for boys to be hit with testosterone is 9, and when they are 13-15, that is when their hormones peak, and sexual pursuit takes up the majority of their frontal cortex. With more and more food additives in the market, it is no wonder that children are experiencing puberty much earlier.

These changes are extremely controversial, and families will have all kinds of opinions ranging from one end of the spectrum to the other, but we must face facts. Children are becoming engaged in sexual activity earlier than we would like them to be, whether we like it or not. To deprive them of this new sexual knowledge is only going to harm them because they don't know what they are getting themselves into. Teenagers nowadays are still debating over whether oral sex is real sex because of the location of penetration. Also, this new knowledge can help children make decisions concerning their sexual lives and resisting peer pressure. Knowledge is power, and depriving of such power to resist is only contradictory to our beliefs.

It won't be easy, and it probably will not go down as smooth as we'd like it to, but this awkward sex ed will hopefully reduce the amount of kids learning sex ed "the hard way".

Most of this post originated from here and here.