State
As standards come under review, community members express opinions on curriculum
September 20, 2018
The standards that the state provides act similarly to those from USD232, largely acting as recommendations for educators. In effect, the state has decided that “local school control determines content and extent of human sexuality education,” according to the Kansas Department of Education’s website. So, what is taught in a classroom can vary all across the state.
However, the standards do request that students “demonstrate an in-depth, extensive knowledge of the importance and benefits of abstinent behavior and risk-reducing strategies in the areas of substance use and sexuality.” These standards have not been updated since 2007 and are currently being revised to include more updated focuses for curriculum content by the Kansas Health Standards Revision Committee, for which McClure is the chairperson.
The committee focused on updating said standards to add newer areas of focus, such as prescription drug usage. McClure presented before the state Board of Education on Tuesday, Sept. 11 on the behalf of the committee. However, the sexuality unit may end up fairly unchanged.
“We just wanted to outline recommendations for quality Health education,” McClure said. “It’s not what we necessarily felt needed to be taught, but it was more ‘here are the standards and the things we feel are important, and here are some things to make sure you think about covering in your health class. The changes that were made were pretty minimal. We really just wanted them to be updated with the highest quality information available.”
The proposed revisions pull from state and national standards and Social, Emotional, and Character Development (SECD) standards, according to McClure, to provide a more well-rounded focus for sexuality education.
A change that senior Liz Fraka would like to see made to the content of sexuality education classes is more focus on consent and sexual orientation than what is currently provided.
“Consent is the most important thing and it should be from a young age, even before kids start talking about sex,” Fraka said. “What I want from a better sex ed program is knowledge of contraceptives, increased emphasis on consent and an emphasis on science. [Also,] you should include sexual orientation and gender identity in sexuality education.”
In addition, Wootton believes the job of informing students doesn’t solely fall on public educators. She says it is important for parents to have conversations with their kids regardless of how awkward such topics may feel and to keep an open dialogue.
“The way I view it as a mom is that I’d rather have my kids get the information they need from me than hear it from their friends or online where all the things you hear or learn can be so wrong,” Wootton said. “Maybe you don’t want your kids to know that, but they’re going to learn it anyway and there’s no better place to find it than in an education setting where you know they’re going to get accurate information that they can use lifelong.”
On the other hand, Wootton believes students need to take initiative by asking their parents questions or inquiring about any birth control they’re interested in.
“Have the conversation regardless of how uncomfortable you are. Even though you may receive a little backlash or a little disappointment, eventually, most parents will feel like they’re glad that you came and talked to them,” Wootton said. “In the long run, I think everybody will do much better if you have those discussions.”
Like Wootton recommends, senior Caroline Rutledge keeps an open dialogue with her family and turns to other adults whenever she needs to.
“I talk to my mom openly if I need to and obviously I can go to my teachers too,” Rutledge said. “They all have, especially the family studies teachers, a lot of information.”
The benefits of keeping an open dialogue with students can be measured in the rate of teenage pregnancies, according to nurse practitioner Karla Robinson, who formerly ran a women’s health clinic.
“The age group with more unplanned pregnancies is not teenagers anymore,” Robinson said. “We’re actually doing a better job because we encourage younger ladies to use contraception.”
However, if students are absolutely unable to talk to their parents, Wootton hopes they turn to another adult.
“If you cannot talk to your parents for whatever reason it is, talk to another adult that you trust,” Wootton said. “I would rather you talk to somebody and get assistance that way than just not do anything.”
Likewise, Gray hopes that for those students, she is a trustworthy and comfortable source of information.
“It’s always best to ask a trusted adult that will be honest with you about your questions,” Gray said. “I try to do that in my classes.”
Regardless of what is accessible to students in the classroom, McClure believes that sexuality education is a necessary component to students’ health and personal lives.
“[Safe sex] is very practical information that I feel like everyone needs to know, but a lot of teachers and parents are scared to teach,” McClure said. “I want kids to understand that there are certain things in your life that may or may not affect you, but you at least need to be aware of them and you need to learn how to make good decisions or avoid certain behaviors in order to reach those goals pertaining to your health.”
Correction: This story was updated on Thursday, Sept. 20 to change “sexual education” to “sexuality education.” The second term is used by the state Board of Education in the standards for health and sexuality curriculum.
This story was also updated to correct Dr. Joe Kelly’s title. He is the Director of Curriculum and Instruction.