Ontario Sex Ed controversy?

[ernie]

It's pretty ridiculous to come to the conclusion that while one guy is certainly a disgusting creep the 70 professionals, experts, and various parental committees all approved a curriculum that is harmful to the children.

[FlamesAddiction]

Originally Posted by ernie

It's pretty ridiculous to come to the conclusion that while one guy is certainly a disgusting creep the 70 professionals, experts, and various parental committees all approved a curriculum that is harmful to the children.

True, but he was still the guy at the top of the pyramid and had a huge influence over what made it in and what didn't. The vast majority of the people involved probably never read everything or had full participation. His fingerprints are all over the curriculum.

It's also worth mentioning that Canada's previous sex-ed curriculum was already pretty effective. We had half the rate of STDs and teenage pregnancies compared to countries like the US and UK.

[EldrickOnIce]

If this has been posted, I apologize.

Sexual education compared across Canada

The grade at which children are expected to know the names of all body parts:
Ontario: Grade 1
B.C.: Kindergarten
Alberta: Kindergarten
Saskatchewan: Grade 5 (possibly earlier)
Manitoba: Kindergarten
Quebec: By 5 years old
New Brunswick: Grade 6
PEI: Grade 6
Nova Scotia: Grade 3
Newfoundland and Labrador: Grade 4

The grade at which children are introduced to the concept of sexual orientation:
Ontario: Grade 3
B.C.: Grade 6
Alberta: Unclear
Saskatchewan: Grade 3
Manitoba: Unclear
Quebec: By 5 years old
New Brunswick: Grade 8
PEI: Grade 8
Nova Scotia: Grade 3
Newfoundland and Labrador: Grade 9 (may be mentioned earlier)

The grade at which children are introduced to the concept of gender identity:
Ontario: Grade 3
B.C.: Grade 6
Alberta: Unclear
Saskatchewan: Grade 1
Manitoba: Grade 5
Quebec: Between 8 and 11 years old
New Brunswick: Grade 6
PEI: Unclear
Nova Scotia: Grade 4
Newfoundland and Labrador: Unclear

The grade at which children are told about STIs and their prevention:
Ontario: Grade 7
B.C.: Grade 6
Alberta: Grade 6
Saskatchewan: Grade 6
Manitoba: Grade 7
Quebec: Between 12-17 years old
New Brunswick: Grade 9 and 10
PEI: Grade 8 (expected to understand abstinence in Grade 7)
Nova Scotia: Between Grades 5 and 7: HIV/AIDS mentioned in Grade 5, consequences of sex in Grade 6, contraceptive methods in Grade 7
Newfoundland and Labrador: Grade 7 (HIV/AIDS mentioned in Grade 5)

The grade at which children are told about Internet safety and/or sexting:
Ontario: Grade 4
B.C.: Grade 4
Alberta: Unclear
Saskatchewan: Grade 4
Manitoba: Unclear
Quebec: Unclear, but strong focus on safety/exploitation starting in kindergarten
New Brunswick: Unclear
PEI: Unclear
Nova Scotia: Grade 8
Newfoundland and Labrador: Unclear

The grade at which children are told about birth control:
Ontario: Grade 7
B.C.: Grade 6 (unclear)
Alberta: Grade 8
Saskatchewan: Grade 9
Manitoba: Grade 7
Quebec: Between 12 and 17 years old
New Brunswick: Grade 9 and 10
PEI: Grade 8 (expected to understand abstinence in Grade 7)
Nova Scotia: Grade 7
Newfoundland and Labrador: Grade 8

The grade at which children are expected to understand consent (healthy relationships in general are discussed earlier, or the two are blurred in many provinces):
Ontario: Grade 7 (some mention in Grade 2)
B.C.: Grade 8
Alberta: Grade 8
Saskatchewan: Grade 9
Manitoba: Grade 5
Quebec: Between 10-11 years old
New Brunswick: Grade 7, emphasized in Grade 9 and 10
PEI: Grade 9
Nova Scotia: Grade 7
Newfoundland and Labrador: Grade 8

The grade at which children are told about sexual abuse:
Ontario: Grade 4
B.C.: Kindergarten
Alberta: Grade 8
Saskatchewan: Grade 3
Manitoba: Unclear
Quebec: By 5 years old
New Brunswick: Grade 8
PEI: Grade 8
Nova Scotia: Grade 5
Newfoundland and Labrador: Grade 2

http://globalnews.ca/news/1847912/se...across-canada/

Exactly the right age to reach these 'milestones' may open to debate, but having no set guidelines isn't. Alberta showing up as unclear on several is ridiculous.

[ernie]

Originally Posted by FlamesAddiction

True, but he was still the guy at the top of the pyramid and had a huge influence over what made it in and what didn't. The vast majority of the people involved probably never read everything or had full participation. His fingerprints are all over the curriculum.

It's also worth mentioning that Canada's previous sex-ed curriculum was already pretty effective. We had half the rate of STDs and teenage pregnancies compared to countries like the US and UK.

That's really not how things work. There is not one guy compiling the teaching manuals and guidelines, the example questions and answers etc. They are compiled by the entire team that developed it.

Those same people who probably never read it apply far more to those protesting it then those who developed it and CONTINUE TO STAND BEHIND IT.

And honestly it's not worth mentioning that what was had before was pretty effective. Great. You have a foundation to build from but that's about all it means. Sex Ed like every part of education needs to continue to evolve and provide the best information available at the proper times. Just because something developed 15 years ago worked doesn't mean it will continue to work nor does it mean it can't be improved upon.

[FlamesAddiction]

Originally Posted by ernie

That's really not how things work. There is not one guy compiling the teaching manuals and guidelines, the example questions and answers etc. They are compiled by the entire team that developed it.

Those same people who probably never read it apply far more to those protesting it then those who developed it and CONTINUE TO STAND BEHIND IT.

And honestly it's not worth mentioning that what was had before was pretty effective. Great. You have a foundation to build from but that's about all it means. Sex Ed like every part of education needs to continue to evolve and provide the best information available at the proper times. Just because something developed 15 years ago worked doesn't mean it will continue to work nor does it mean it can't be improved upon.

I'm not buying that the director of developing the curriculum didn't have influence down the chain. He had the power to appoint people he wanted and to distribute literature and studies that he thought were appropriate.

It's not different than if you appointed a southern Baptist minister to spearhead and implement a new curriculum. Would you not expect conservative Christian influences to run down hill? When I worked in the BC ministry of forests and range and the Canadian ministry of agriculture, everything everyone did was meet the goals of the minister and deputy minister. It was a simple matter of job security. If it was his goal to introduce certain aspects of sex at a younger age, then that is exactly what the people working for him would be working towards.

I'm not saying that because the guy at the top for developing the curriculum was a convicted and confessed pedophile that everything about the curriculum meets his agenda, but it's crazy to think that parts of it wouldn't have been influenced by his biases and perspectives.

[Coach]

That list is interesting. Going through the AB system, I can't say we ever really discussed sexual orientation, gender or internet safety (the latter likely because it was very, very new then).

I think making kids aware of the spectrums of sexual orientation and gender, and their many variances, would do a lot to get rid of bullying and fear surrounding those concepts, along with teaching appropriate/inappropriate language in regards to them.

[ernie]

Originally Posted by FlamesAddiction

I'm not buying that the director of developing the curriculum didn't have influence down the chain. He had the power to appoint people he wanted and to distribute literature and studies that he thought were appropriate.

Then you don't know how the curriculum was likely put together. If you think one guy is going to distribute the literature HE wants distributed and have all these people who are experts in the field say "oh OK I guess I won't read this other stuff and forget about all this other work I know" I don't really know what to say.

This isn't a case of one knowledgeable person passing things to a group of under educated parishioners. This is a group of highly educated experts in the field, concerned parent groups etc. Not just one expert. Not to mention those people involved in this have had a couple of years to check and re-check the information just to make triply sure given the charges that were laid starting in 2013. To even believe that it would include something nefarious at this point is quite honestly extremely insulting to the dozens and dozens of people that put it together.

Your fears hold no water. Especially if you were to compare this curriculum to many other programs around the nation and globe. The last update was 17 years ago. 17. A lot has changed in those 17 years that kids need information on. In the new curriculum there is a focus on consent, comfort in your own body, comfort that what a child who is transgender or gay may be feeling etc. It is not focused on teaching the kids how to do things but rather if you are going to do "things" these are the risks, how you protect against those risks, that it better be consensual, that relationship communication is key etc.

Such horrible things to teach.

This is the reality check way way way back in March on this topic. It's funny how the protesters in the past 6 months still actually haven't managed to read the curriculum.

http://globalnews.ca/news/1863258/re...ed-curriculum/

While there’s no question the crimes for which former Deputy Education Minister Ben Levin’s been convicted are awful, he can hardly be credited as the sole author of this curriculum.

Wilfrid Laurier University’s Oliver was one of many people consulted on Ontario’s new curriculum.

“I went through all of the curriculum documents and looked at what they had written five, almost six years ago, and basically told them the areas that I thought could use some updating,” she said.

There are also extensive evidence-based guidelines regarding what to include and how to structure sex education from the Sex Information and Educational Council of Canada.

“The ministry considered research, inter-jurisdictional benchmarking, and advice from academics and experts in many fields of study including mental health, public health, sexual health, physical education, and kinesiology,” Ontario Education Ministry spokesperson Gary Wheeler said in an email.

“In addition to the input received through further consultation with parents, completed near the end of 2014, the ministry also considered input from consultations with students, teachers, parents, faculties of education, universities and colleges, and other stakeholders. This included feedback we received from over 70 health related organizations that includes the Centre for Addiction and Mental health, the Ontario Public Health Association, and Ontario Healthy School Coalition.

“Current research and our extensive consultations indicated that the focus should be on providing factual and straight-forward information to students and de-stigmatizing concepts associated with sexuality.”

Can sex education be used to groom kids for sexual predation?

We’ve found no evidence of that; on the contrary, experts in pedophilia and sexual predators, as well as young people who’ve been victimized, have found young people who are more educated about sex and sexuality are less vulnerable – not more so.

Surveys of young people regarding their first sexual contact has also suggested that knowing more about consent, as well as the physical and emotional aspects of sex, would have given youth more control over their first sexual encounter.

And of course if a parent wishes to keep their kids ignorant or if they'd like to teach these things themselves (hopefully correctly and accurately like the curriculum does) they can do so by opting their child out of the courses.

[tete]

This satire article made me laugh:

http://www.thebeaverton.com/national...earn-about-sex