Sex ed – the only time white people will protest
Recently the new school curriculum for Life Orientation (a school subject in South Africa) leaked. Now it contains much more sexual education. To sum it up, people went crazy when they heard about it – hence the title. Sex ed – the only time white people will protest.
I had a different reaction
The first I came to know of this new curriculum was when it was on the front page a popular Sunday paper. Things like HIV and AIDS, teen pregnancy, rape, and other sexual crimes, are epidemics in South Africa. So, I was happy that the Department of Basic Education wanted to do something about it. But did people appreciate the attempt to solve the problem? Oh hell no.
Before I go on, I had a look at the review that the paper gave. Honestly, I think the teaching material is perfectly appropriate. The new curriculum wants to teach kids about consent, safe sex, who to talk to if you were the victim of a sexual crime, and how to respect people with a different sexual orientation. These are things that young people should know, but parents are up in arms.
Get a grip
I understand that you don’t want your child to be exposed to explicit sexual content. However, if you look at the review, everything is age-appropriate. Oh but, God forbid that your child finds out that there is something like sex (which is the whole reason for their existence in the first place)!
I’m sorry, but so far I’ve only seen middle-class white people complain about this curriculum on social media. I even saw people organising some kind of a rally/protest to contest the new curriculum. Oh geez …
Who is going to teach them?
My question is if you’re not going to let schools give your child accurate information about sex, are you going to do it? We live in a relatively conservative society (especially here in Bloemfontein), so I’m assuming that’s a no.
So you don’t want schools teaching your child about sex, and I’m assuming you’re not going to either. If you do ‘educate’ your child it will probably be a quick, awkward chat where you cover the basics. Where do you think they’re going to learn the rest?
Quite frankly, sex is everywhere – tv, movies, music, social media. So, your child will definitely be exposed to it whether you like it or not. As you know, those sources of information don’t always give all the facts or accurate information.
That’s not to say that they won’t find out about the birds and the bees from their friends, who also have very limited and or inaccurate information. So, what exactly do you want to do white, conservative parents?
Suck it up
Teens are going to have sex whether you like it or not, so would you rather have them make responsible choices because they are educated, or have them face the consequences of not knowing better (unwanted pregnancy or STDs).
I understand that parents want to protect their kids, but you have to understand that you can’t control them, and you can’t always be there. It is better to empower them.
As for the teachers who have to teach this material and feel uncomfortable with it – believe me when I say, it’s only weird and uncomfortable if you make it weird and uncomfortable. If you’re super awkward about it, believe me, the kids will pick up on it and give you hell because they have no shame. I also feel that you can approach the work in a way that you feel comfortable with. If you want to give individual assignments instead of the prescribed group assignments, then you should be able to do that.
I’m not a parent, so what do I know? I would like to hear your thoughts.
Michelle
P.S. If you’d like to contact me, feel free to comment below, send an email to thatmichelleperson@gmail.com, or follow me on Twitter @M_ClutterBox.
