In case you’re wondering what bad sex education looks like in some school districts, look no further than than Texas where eight school districts, including the Leander Independent School District (LISD), outsources its sex ed curriculum to a group called Austin LifeGuard (ALG).
ALG is run by Austin LifeCare — now using the more deceptive name The Source — a “self-described anti-abortion crisis pregnancy center” with Christian connections. Naturally, they’re less interested in educating students about making safe decisions when having sex, choosing instead to scare them away from sex altogether. That option never works. Which means students are left to fend for themselves when they finally choose to do anything physical.
April S. Kelley writes about the problem for the Hill Country News.
In the 7th grade curriculum, an activity involving Skittles is used to demonstrate how easily sexually transmitted infections are spread from person to person.
The Houston Chronicle published an article in September, and quoted a former LISD student. She shared how the Skittles activity gave her “the insinuation of the more people you have sex with, the dirtier you are.”
The course packet said each student would be given one Skittle. Students with yellow Skittles would be told to keep their Skittles, while anyone with any other color would trade with as many classmates as possible. After doing so, the students would be asked if they would eat those Skittles. The yellow Skittles represent abstinence.
The executive director of ALG didn’t deny they promoted this activity. He just said the focus wasn’t about who’s “dirty.” It was meant to teach kids about exposure to sexually transmitted diseases. But the implication in the activity is obvious.
They also mislead students about the effective of condoms. ALG tells students that condoms are only 87% effective, which is a number that includes people who misuse them. Rather than teach kids how to use them properly, though — something that the government says has a 98% success rate — they would rather mislead kids into thinking condoms are less effective than they really are.
A similar trick is done with birth control pills. They’re 98% effective, but the program lowers the number to 94%.
It gets worse.
The 7th grade curriculum also shows a lack of balance between male and female sexuality. The curriculum, which is taught co-ed, shows a diagram of both male and female anatomy to explain human reproduction. In the female anatomy, however, there was one part missing — the clitoris.
… in the female curriculum, there is no mention of arousal, sexual feelings or of those things being a normal part of female puberty.
Then there are the commercials. Like this one promoting a “I Heart Pants” campaign — because if you’re wearing pants, you’ll never have sex. (These people have clearly never met teenagers…)
Another commercial suggests that sexually active teens are not capable of getting good grades or acceptance into top colleges.
Maybe the most disturbing thing about all this is that the LISD has been working with this sex negative group for 13 years; the most recent three-year contract was signed in 2018 at a cost of $35,000 (a year, presumably).
It’s yet another example of a conservative Christian organization sneaking its way into public schools with the goal of making students less informed, more at risk, and more in need of outside help down the road. They’re hurting kids. And that won’t change unless students and parents pressure the school board into making decisions that benefit kids instead of appeasing right-wing Christian groups.
(Thanks to @smileysatanist for the link)
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