The Kansas State Board of Education misstepped and overreached when it told school districts this week that parents must sign a permission slip before their children can study sex education. That likely will mean that many of the students who need this education the most — the ones with disengaged parents — won’t get it. Now, board member Kathy Martin wants to require that local school districts teach abstinence-only sex education or lose their accreditation. Not only is this an unwise policy — schools should strongly emphasize abstinence but also teach about contraception — it is more state interference in what should be a local decision.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
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48 Comments
The same people that oppose abortion are against teaching reality sex ed! WHAT COLOR IS THE SKY IN THEIR WORLD…mine is blue!
These people would rather wax nostalgic about the “good old days” when EVERYONE stayed chaste until marriage ALWAYS (snort).
Wha–? Oh, hello, reality.
I think the best form of sex ed is the “scary veneral disease photographs” method. I still have nightmares about it :)
Well ever since I’ve been reading this blog you’ve been telling me about your Kansas neanderthals, so I get it, now can we go ahead and move along to the next level?
Writerdog! What sky? It’s falling!
We really need to make the BOE one of the highest priority election issue in 2006.
I believe we need to have a serious discussion about disbanding the BOE and having a Secretary of Education appointed by the governor.
The current crop of conservative BOE directors are on a big power trip, and it’s scary.
Dog, quit catagorizing people, I don’t believe in abortion and I think sex education should be expanded to teaching it in all 12 yrs of school if possible. If we ever want to reduce the number of abortions, then education is the key.Tara, we missed you at the picnic last night, would have been great to met you! We had a grand total of 10 bloggers show up, it was a little breezy, but we had a good time.
Total lunacy. Trying to stop teenagers from having sex is like trying to stop the tide. Can’t be done, no matter what kind of “sanctions” the idiotic BoE tries to impose.
Do these people live in the world, or are they locked up in some bizzare closet somewhere?
Did I time travel while I was asleep last night? I think I woke up in the 1950’s – these people are truly living in the dark ages and are incapable of putting the puzzled pieces together – the lack of sex ed = unwanted pregnacies, abortion and std’s DUH!!!! I am so glad I don’t have any children going to school in Kansas!
Goodness I’m agreeing with Tara and Damoon on all issues this morning :)I agree that we need to expand the sex-ed into more grades. It would be nice to see it in maybe 4 or 5 grade. These kids are starting puberty and need to know about more than why hair is growing in strange places. My son is in 6th grade. Some kids in his class are starting to become sexually active. Kissing and touching. I don’t know if they’ve gone “all the way” or not. But these kids are curious and want to explore. Show them scary VD pics. Have them carry around the computerized babydoll. Have the baby scream all the time! I’ll go around to schools and scare them with my pregnancy and delivery and bringing home baby stories (trust me I have doozies). Have them babysit for real kids (with adult supervision). But the sex-ed needs to start earlier than high school – by then it’s too late.There’s some kids that will be breeders no matter what is said or done but if we can help just one then it’s worth it (to me).
Tara, if a blog favorite were to be elected, you would have won last night…for your posts, not just your picture!
Damoon also didnt tell anyone here that she not only writes great posts, but she has a hidden baked bean talent! And she never told us she is stunningly beautiful as well. She is just as nice in person as she is on the blog.
And her husband just smiles….
Of course we need sex ed, how else would the kids learn how to do it?:-)
Tara, I agree 100%: the veneral disease would do more to stop teen sex then anything. But, gee, that would require showing forbidden, obscene and dirty body parts to these same ignorant teens, and we can’t have that.
While titilating, teen pregancy isn’t the issue here, the roster of idiots on the SBOE is. If there ever was an issue to get people who can actually think up in arms, this one is. Abrams, Morris and the rest of the…ah, don’t get me started.
Good point, Gitten: If the same BOE is reelected, forget common sense. They will have a mandate to do anydamnthing they want. Should that happen you might as well send your kids to private school. While they might be bombarded with religion, they would get a better well rounded education.
Well, it all makes perfect sense to me. Let’s have the same people that can’t teach little Johny to read; the same people that graduate kids from high school with out the ability to balance a check book; the same ‘educators’ that have gone into education because they are not smart enough to make a living in the real world;….let’s just mandate that they be the ones that teach our children about sex.
Some of my fondest memories are figuring out that ‘boy/girl’ stuff on my own!
Hank
PS I’m looking forward to the next picnic! That boy I hired to play my son seemed to be sucessful in fooling J.R.!
Hank–
Are you a product of public education?
If so, you make a strong case for what you’re saying . . .
Dear ProudLib,
When I graduated HS, we were able to read our diplomas.
Missed you at the picnic!
Hank
Students have to “opt in” with parental consent for sex ed, but the federal government makes sure that students’ name, address, age, telephone number, grades, extra-curricular activities, race etc. are wide-open and available to military recruiters, even the Quaker, Mennonites, and pacifists’ kids.
Sex is taboo. War is just fine . . .
It does make you wonder if the current State BOE people can get re-elected, given that on this thread and others, there seems to be agreement about them being a problem regardless of the left/right persuasion of the various bloggers.
I’ve donated $50 to a PAC that is dedicated to unseating the various conservative members. Those folks tell me that Connie Morris, et al. are very well funded — and they receive a lot of out of state support.
This is a link to the PAC:http://www.ksalliance.org/There is a large amount of out of state support for this pac.
I was surprised to hear that so many last night had not heard of kansasmorons.com . Here is a link to that site – there are good cartoons, etc. at this place.
http://www.liberalconspiracynetwork.com/kansasmorons/
I had a good time last night at the picnic and wish to extend my special thanks to Hank for hosting it. It was great to meet so many fellow bloggers.
Damoon was right! I liked Hank a lot more than I expected to. If my son turns out half as decent as Nathan appears to be, I will feel like I have done a reasonable job – but I do have my and my & ex-wife’s genes to overcome – so we may not be so lucky :-).
KFG, JR, Ben, Mr. C, Walker, XXX, Damoon were as wonderful as I expected them to be.
I, too, hope that the WE Board follows up on a subsequent meeting.
Thanks again all.
P.S. I think JR forgot to mention the other points of consensus from the Bloggers – “Tara is smart and not difficult to look at”
Dear ProudLib,
When you allow the public school systems to take federal funds, you have to take the good with the bad.
What part of “public” is it that you don’t understand?
Hank
Hank, with all due respect, how old is Nathan? 26? (I could be wrong about that) And you are 42?
You must have become a father at a young age. How did all that “figuring out the boy/girl stuff on my own” work out for ya?
:) just gentle teasing here.
BTW, I found nathan to be charming and well mannered in person. He is a chip off the ol’ block. Even if I dont EVER agree with him, you have every right to be proud.
Dear DD,
Damoon did a lot of work for the picnic too. It wouldn’t have been a sucess without all of the participation. Thanks to everyone for coming!
As far as Nathan goes, it’s always a wonderment to me how he could have turned out to be the man he did. I spent most of my time at sea when he was growing up.
I would worry about the BOE if I thought they had any effect at all on the curriculum. I don’t think they have much. It is more important for people to get involved with their children’s school than worry about state politics.
Hank
Now Hank, you seemed fairly reasonable last night. Why do you want to come here now and do a bash like that on teachers? ……”they’re not smart enough to make a living in the real world”? There are a few bad apples sure. But what do you think that kind of an attitude does for the morale of teachers? They are in fact MAKING the FUTURE of real world. They already get paid little enough. They could at least get a little respect for the important work they do. My sister is a teacher.
I gotta make sure I try Damoons beans next time and Hanks burgers. I wasn’t in real good appetite. Also I was too busy meeting all the interesting people.
Awwww heck, I hate this schoolboard too. Some of them seem too concerned with fronting their particular ideology as opposed to facts…..Hmmmm didn’t some folks just get upset about a teacher in Colorado doing something like that? But hopefully the election will change things.
By the way, the alternative of a Education commissioner instead of the board does not appeal to me. We can unelect a dumb board member. Imagine an education commissioner that we might get stuck with under a Governor Shallenburger!
Sex is a part of biology. Teach the facts. Morality and family are important too for our society. Again, teach the facts.
Oh by the way, we want to see ALL of our posters at future meet ups. But in addition to Tara some of the following might have felt their ears burning last night:Ian, Proud lib, Ed, CF, Heckler, Todd, Rage, Mother, and others.
Dear ksfarmgrrl,
God love ya! I’m 62. As far as figuring out the boy/girl stuff on my own, I was about 42 before I finally got it right! I was almost 34 when Nathan was born.
Made a lot of mistakes in my life, learned very little from most of them! Sticking to dogs and horses in my twilight years!
Hank
Sorry for the blog pimping, but my friend’s blog has a great story about BOE conservative board member Ken Willard and his “abstinance only” grandbaby. Scroll down until you find the post. See how well it works for Ken’s family?
http://kansasprairie.net/blog1/archives/archive-01012006-01072006.htm
For those of you who dont know, Frank Smith is the man who researched connie’s travel vouchers for her infamous florida trip and found all the overcharges and double charges, which she billed to the state BOE!
Frank, our intrepid investigator, is still hot on the trail of other problems with the BOE. GO FRANK!!
Sorry for the mistake Hank. You look young enough to be 42 :) and my hearing is bad enough for me to be 62 :)
Too many shotgun shells, too much rock and roll. Now I am like an old farmer who is deaf as a post. I thought you said you were 42.
Wait a minute, I resemble that “old farmer” remark…
As for the BOE members being defeated, good luck. Remember, this happened once before, the cons got voted out…and then the voters put similar wingnuts on again in 04!!
Like I always say, things are the way they are in kansas because at least 70 percent of the voters WANT THEM THAT WAY!!!!!!
Aw, guys, way to brighten up my morning Glad you all had a good time. I’m coming back to Wichita next week, and I’m quite excited.
Hank, I don’t think anyone is pushing for “mandated sex education” (although it wouldn’t be completely horrible–er, never mind). If you’d like to be the one to teach the kids about sex, you have every right to opt your kid out. What the KBOE is pushing for is mandating ignorance for all its students…wow, I can’t believe I just typed mandating ignorance…that sounds really dumb when I say it out loud.Some parents are less than stellar. It sucks that the schools need to pick up the slack, but what’s the alternative, really?
If this passed, would it make a difference? I’m inclined to think that most schools will flip them the bird and continue to do what they’re doing.
I don’t understand what is wrong with the “opt out” program. That keeps the apathetic parents easily passing the buck to the teachers, and the protective parents doing it their way. Plus, when I was in high school, I begged to get out of sex-ed because it was boring. What kids would try very hard to get their parents to opt them into sex ed?I also wonder what Abstinence only really means. You have to pretend like condoms don’t exist and aren’t available at the drug store?
Dear JR,
The truth of the matter is that the students in the education colleges of our universities are the bottom of the academic barrel. They have the lowest SATs and the poorest academic achievements when compared with any other college by every measurement you can use.
Sorry, we are hiring the village idiots to teach our children. I know a lot of teachers. They are basically good, dedicated professionals lboring in a system that is broke. We should pay them twice as much and expect more. The NEA and it’s influence with the liberal democratic machine has ruined public education.
http://www.townhall.com/opinion/columns/walterwilliams/2003/10/29/170269.html
Hank
Tara, this is why we love you so much.
“wow, I can’t believe I just typed mandating ignorance…that sounds really dumb when I say it out loud.”
I am laughing because it sounds really dumb ANYWHERE except in kansas. Here, it just sounds… expected! YIKES!
Hank, I think it is even simpler than parents being involved with their kids’ school.
They need to be involved with their KIDS. PERIOD.
here, here!
Hank
That’s cool you guys had a picnic. I guess I wasn’t invited. I feel so discriminated. :(
Come on Joe! Everyone was invited!
On the count of three everyone:
One
Two
Three. . . .POOR BABY!
Thanks for the link, Hank. But it didn’t support any of the assertions that you made in your post.
Also, you yourself are a product of public schools, so you’re right, they failed.
Uh….. Joe?
It was only public knowledge and talked about for like 3 weeks. (Then again, I got the date wrong thinking it was on the weekend so maybe I ahouldn’t talk)
But I’m on this for ya Joe.
Anybody know how to send an engraved invitation over a blog?
You DID get talked about Joe. So it was kinda like you were there. Guess ya gotta come next time so you can find out what we said!
Joe, we could send you links to the old blogs, but surely you are jesting in saying that you weren’t invited.
I think Hank is correct about the academic performance of education colleges. But, I am wondering about the correlation between academic performance and being a good teacher. I am not kidding, either.
I hope he is quickly recovering, but this is going to sound like a Jed anecdote, but one, which I assume like his, is true.
I know a woman who is a public school teacher and I think she has ADD. Rather than this being a handicap, she is able to use it to her advantage. She has an uncanny knack at being able to see problems, the way a kid would see a problem. Because of her ability to see the problem as a kid would, she is able to explain to kids how to overcome said problem. She gets on my nerves sometimes, but she is a good teacher — but I don’t think she could be legitimately accused of being a raving genius.
My dos centavos on the subject.
That was well said DD. It did sound a little like a “Jedism” Get well soon Jed.
I think you are onto something DD. Thinking about it for a bit, the smartest people probably would not be the best teachers. I think they would grow impatient with “teaching” what to them seems simplistic, particularly to slower students.
Great to meet ya DD.
Religion is the opium of the people. It has no place in civilized society.
It was great to meet you, JR. Take care.
Damoon, how is that categorizing people? That was a specific allegation against the state school board and those I might add that support them. I am glad that you see that sex ed is important in the abortion issue. You are 100% right in that to stop abortion you need to stop the occurrence of unwanted pregnancy.It is education and not hiding our heads in the sand that will do that, but teaching abstinence only is doing just that. In fact I believe the whole sex ed curriculum needs to be gone over and taught more on reality.Simply teaching the mechanic’s of reproduction is not enough, I compare it to teaching auto mechanics to a class on driver’s ed. The student want to know how to drive not how to tear apart a short block Chevy engine. I do realize there could be a problem with such an approach, you have to be careful with kids or they think you are giving permission when all you really are doing is pointing out the danger.
Honestly! I don’t read every one of you guys posts. If you extended the invitation on one the the topic threads, then I missed it, and that’s my fault.
I just assume that everybody was contacted by e-mail. Although, if I knew about it, I would have come. I know I would be the only anti-left guy at the picnic, but at least we could have fun and be civil. You probably couldn’t get me to participate in leftist rituals and pledges or agree to anti-bush protesting, but it would still been fun.
You would have found out that I’m a straight up guy, very cool, and a “help a brotha out” type of person. I can cook a mean hotdog on the Q too. :)
Great post DD.
I dont think the greatest athletes always make the best coaches. I dont think you have to be a world class singer to teach singing. In fact, trainers often say that a good trainer can train any subject with the right materials. I’m not sure I agree with that one :) but you get the point.
The transfer of knowledge and ideas is its own skill set. Subject matter expertise can be learned, but the ability to teach is a rare gift. The ability to create possibility or to help someone see possibility for themselves is even more rare.
I had the opportunity last night to tell my high school english teacher that she was the best teacher I ever had in my life. She is the woman who taught me, a very difficult teenager :) to write.
It was a Hallmark moment for both of us…and then we went back to frying fish and drinking green beer!!
KFG,Thanks. I had an English teacher like that, too. I haven’t had the chance to thank her. I wonder if I can still find her to do that. Because I think I should.
I believe there were several posts that discussed how everybody was invited to the picnic. Wassamatter Joe, you’re not part of “everybody”? I know, you’re a different species.Very cool?hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!
Some folks think teachers aren’t smart enough to teach sex ed, but they’re ok with teaching religion in the classroom (ID)?What’s wrong with this picture?
I think you are missing the subtlety X. The abstinence only thing is just another toe in the door; just like ID, for folks with an agenda.
Good thinking, JR. I guess it’s the camel’s nose under the tent flap. I’ve long thought that the inmates have taken over the asylum. The fundies are getting to be a real pain in the @ss.
JR,
My ears were burning1 I hope that lil’ old me wasn’t the topic of too much conversation. :)
V.L.R.B!!
I see the next picnic is gonna be like a good lutheran potluck. You better show up if you dont wanna be talked about!
I still think it is awesome that DD wanted to spend part of his birthday with us.
I really had a good time, and hope more people show up for the next in-person. We were way toothless that night. Good food, good conversation, good humor, good guns :) all we were missing was good weather!
And mojitos :( But of course, walker and I would never drink and drive for hours…