Politicians, Parents, Up In Arms Over Proposed NYC Sex Ed Curriculum

After drastic changes were proposed for New York City public high school and middle school sexual education classes, some politicians and parents are enraged over the content those changes would include.

One main cause of concern? The fact that the curriculum asks students to refer to Columbia University's website Go Ask Alice for information on questions surrounding topics ranging from phone sex to vibrators and bestiality, the Washington Post reported.

Assemblywoman Nicole Malliotakis (R-East Shore/Brooklyn) called the changes "explicit and graphic," the Post reported, mostly because of the inclusion of the website.

The New York Daily News reports that Reps. Bob Turner (R-Queens, Brooklyn) and Michael Grim (R-S.I., Brooklyn) have joined the NYC Parents' Choice Coalition in their efforts to lobby instead for an abstinence-based program.

"Parents had no say in this mandate," Turner told the Daily News "The Archdiocese of New York, Orthodox Jewish groups, Muslims, many are saying this is a sensitive and delicate subject, and they want more say in what is taught."

CNN notes that Department Of Education Chancellor Dennis M. Walcott said the new curriculum isn't leaving out abstinence, only including other things as well.

"Abstinence is a very important part of the curriculum," he said in a statement. "But we also have a responsibility to ensure that teenagers who are choosing to have sex understand the potential consequences of their actions."

According to reports, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is in favor of the reforms.

"We have a responsibility, when you have an out of wedlock birthrate and a sexually transmitted disease rate that we have in this city, to try to do something about it," Mayor Michael Bloomberg told CNN. "Shame on us if we don't."

While the NYC Parents' Choice Coalition continues to rally against the changed curriculum, the NYC Department of Education is mandating that all schools have a sex ed curriculum by the spring of 2012.

Comments

[cmac0831]

11:51 AM on 11/05/2011

I'm a 20-year-old (female) college student. I graduated from a Georgia HS with an abstinence curriculum. (At the very least, they acknowledged that condoms and pills existed, but didn't go to any length to explain them.) In middle school, we were sent home with worksheets for our parents to fill out while we talked to them about sex (forced parental education, I suppose). I remember one question was asking my mother what she thought about pre-marital sex. They were probably hoping she'd say that it's evil, but I remember specifically what she told me: "Waiting for marriage is much simpler because sometimes sex makes things complicated, especially if you aren't married. But whatever you decide, make sure that the guy cares about you as a person and is committed to you. You'll know if that's the case. And if you do decide to do anything before marriage, I want you to be so, so safe. You can always ask me questions; don't ever be embarrassed." One of my mom's finest parenting moments, IMO.

FYI, I come from a Christian family. My parents are still married. I asked for a purity ring at age 13, but took it off when I found someone very special at 17. My boyfriend and I plan on marrying and having children someday, but until then knowledge of proper protection is indispensable.

>>>Abstinence-only sex-ed did NOT keep me from having sex. My mother's pragmatism, however, kept me safe.

[Susan Page]

03:57 AM on 11/02/2011

I think such sex education is needed. Or more and more teens have to go to STD dating site like PositiveSingle,org in the near future.

[curlyq1307]

01:50 PM on 10/28/2011

We should all be thanking NYC instead of berating them. EVERY school in this country should have a comprehensive sex ed program. Abstinence-only programs do not work. High school students are having sex, and they need to be taught the safe way to do so. Abstinence should be taught as well, but alongside proper condom use, birth control, and std info, not by itself. America needs to get a grip and stop acting like a bunch of prudes. In Europe this wouldn't even make the news, because its not a big deal.

[Debra Steinman]

04:22 PM on 10/30/2011

For kids in ELEMENTARY SCHOOL? Really? You are a PATHETIC PERSON to support THAT! Tell me JERK, do YOU have kids? If you do, then SHAME ON YOU for supporting this!

[Conuly]

07:34 PM on 11/04/2011

YES, for kids in ELEMENTARY SCHOOL.

When your five year old asks you where babies come from, you TELL HER. That's sex ed.

When your seven year old asks why she has Daddy's hair but your nose, you TELL HER. That's sex ed.

When your eight year old asks how the baby gets out, you TELL HIM. That's sex ed.

And for the love of god, sometime before puberty you TELL THEM what's going to start happening to their bodies. That's just good parenting all around.

[been2there]

02:44 AM on 10/28/2011

If we are worried about out-of-wedlock and teenage pregnancies, does it not make sense to look to those developed countries that have lower rates? And if one does, does it not make sense to follow their lead?
Well, guess what. Those countries teach the real facts, and not just a sanitized "sensitive" version. One can encourage abstinence without withholding important information, and if Europe's experience is anything to go by, one should. The results are much better.

[Conuly]

05:53 PM on 10/28/2011

Please, don't apply logic and facts to this discussion!

[Trish SchaeferMontgomery]

02:34 AM on 10/28/2011

Good. It's called reality, get used to it.

[lcr999]

12:11 AM on 10/28/2011

Education never caused anyone to have sex.
Lack of education never stopped anyone from having sex.

Lack of education does not discourage unhealthy sex practices and pregnancy..
Education does discourage unhealthy sex practices and pregnancy.

Pretending that middle school students don't think about sex more oftern than food, or anything else, is just pure fantasy.

[April Elisabeth Markov]

09:34 PM on 10/27/2011

Parents need to talk with their kids. My kids already know about good touch- bad touch. I'm going to go further with and tell my girls that boys shouldn't touch anything a swimsuit covers unless they share a wedding band and last name. That means he should have a job and lodging not of his parents basement and the girls have their bachelor's if not graduate degrees. Schools think they have to teach because parents are NOT doing it. And I'm not allowing my kids to go on 1-1 dates until they are 16, they will have a curfew, and their stepfather has already stated that he will give every boy a nice lecture while he cleans his gun in front of him.

[angelcakesinc]

02:26 AM on 10/28/2011

So in other words you're one of the problem parents who live in a fantasy world where they think their kids are 'better than everyone else' and will never ever ever ever have sex until the 'right time.' You know what a popular name for parents like that is? Grandma and/or grandpa. You can't stop your kids from having sex short of... well, measures that would land you in jail. Now maybe you'll get lucky and your kids WILL actually behave themselves. But on the not so off chance that they don't, which would you prefer? Their engaging in safe, knowledgeable encounters, or not knowing what the hell they're doing and likely getting an std or a baby? ABSTINENCE ONLY SEX EDUCATION IS A PROVEN FAILURE. So stop trying to push it.

[Conuly]

10:56 AM on 10/28/2011

That's a good place to start, certainly, but it doesn't give them much help in more practical areas.

[Caleb Fielding]

09:57 PM on 10/27/2011

I am 25 and from what I understand it is expected that 10% of my generation will home school their children. Fact is the public school is far more interested in getting children (if you depend on your parents for housing, food, and transportation, and pay no bills and have no job you are a child) to have sex than they are in teaching them how to read write and do basic math. And before someone says how much the abstinence education did not work, I will agree. My question would be how many of the teachers teaching that believed in it. I am sorry but the problem with the curriculum is the ones teaching it (and yes I am aware that there are good teachers out there but the bad 95 percent are making the good 5 percent look awful).
Sex education is not the problem the public school system is. And if you think our school system is giving a quality education you either profit from it or you are crippled to high for crutches

[HawaiiSteve]

11:21 PM on 10/27/2011

So, 95% of teachers are bad? Interesting OPINION, got any facts to BACK up your claim? How about your OPINION that teachers are more interested in children having sex than getting an education? Got any FACTS to back that up?

These are serious claims you make. Unless you can back them up howver, they are just your OPINION. Saying something does not make it a fact. Even on the Internet!

[MissFish]

10:25 AM on 11/05/2011

At age 20, he is probably closer to the school system than most of the posters here. I am shocked at some of the assignments that kids come home with and lessons they learn in school. It's tough keeping your kids on the straight and narrow.

[Canaris]

05:42 PM on 10/27/2011

Conservatives must really love unwed teenage mothers, what with their opposition to birth control, family planning, and abortion. Oh, no, wait, those are just the kind of people that they are cutting out all assistance for so we can give more tax breaks to millionaires. I guess the people to fill up all those privately owned prisons have to come from somewhere, right?

[Marx Twain]

01:56 PM on 10/27/2011

I wonder how many of the "abstinence only" crowd actually stayed celibate through high school. Most long term studies on this have shown that kids who take abstinence pledges have a higher rate of sex than those who didn't.

[baydolphins]

09:47 AM on 10/27/2011

Sorry, I'm probably as liberal as you can get but enough is enough...there really is a concept of "too much information" and frankly, I'm not sure what the merits of all this could possibly be. What's next? Fetish 101? How many college credits can you get for the Bestiality class? We are getting more absurd by the minute.

[Elizabeth Walton]

09:58 AM on 10/27/2011

Read the story and this time pay attention. THEY ARE NOT TEACHING THOSE THINGS. Go to the website that is listed as a place kids can go to get answers. None is teaching kinks.

[Hemmersley Hammersmith]

06:10 PM on 10/27/2011

Read the story and pay attention: Most moderate parents DO NOT think that it's appropriate for middle school students to be directed "for information purposes only" to a website that offers graphic details on vibrators, bestiality and/or phone sex. If you want to direct your kid to that sight - have at it.

[Blaze Burton]

03:44 PM on 10/27/2011

the fact is that teen ages are going to be curious no matter what you tell them. They should be encouraged to find the answers from other people before experimenting themselves

[neocom43]

08:31 AM on 10/27/2011

It's about time parents in this country stand up to the liberals and progressives who are using schools to promote their agendas. I don't care what people do in their private lives, but if they want to be perverse don'r drag down the rest of society, especially impressionable kids.

[Elizabeth Walton]

10:43 AM on 10/27/2011

the evil agenda to prevent pregnancy and disease?

[angelcakesinc]

02:29 AM on 10/28/2011

Conservatives think any movement to promote responsibility, knowledge, and education is an agenda towards evil. Mostly because if people are smart, responsible, and well educated, they tend not to vote Republican!

[HawaiiSteve]

03:49 PM on 10/27/2011

Yeah, cause it's better that teenagers discover sexuality on their own. What's a few STD's or unwanted pregnancies as long as it defeats the liberal agenda! After all, conservatives are so supportive of unwed mothers and their progeny, nothing to worry about here!

[mrfnk]

04:34 AM on 10/27/2011

This is America we teach the truth. That is why we teach math and science as fact and not religion in our public schools.
Our kids are exposed to these kinds of things at early ages and need to be informed so they can make educated decisions about sex. Instead of the hear-say or just wrong information some of us got from our peers when we were young.
Doesn't anybody the fear that society had about Aids? Information and understanding is the way. Not pretending things are not as they are.

[arkady967]

05:52 AM on 10/27/2011

But - education hasn't stopped aids, and the ideology that attributes equal risk to all regarding aids is false....

Aside from that, this is exactly the sort of stuff that kids get exposed to earlier than is necessary (if they need to know some of it at all). And the approach the school system in taking is one that usurps parental authority.

This is why voucher programs and alternatives to public education are becoming more, and more an absolute necessity. The system has become, in many cases, little more than a vehicle for idealogical social engineering. And, if you've had any contact with the average grad, there's little evidence that it teaches math, or science....

[Atwill]

07:06 AM on 10/27/2011

Education has not stopped drug abuse, murder, gangs , stealing and many other things. so we should stop teaching these are wrong and that there are alternitives?

[Elizabeth Walton]

10:01 AM on 10/27/2011

Vouchers are not in any way a necessity, they are a scheme to get tax money filtered into churches.

Why should parents be so threatened when children learn the symptoms of diseases or how to prevent them?

[naluhinahina]

03:05 AM on 10/27/2011

Soon everything which has made sex special will have been stripped away. An image remains in the mind and when those images include bestiality and weird sex toys, they will always be there, impossible to erase.
Everything which has made sex beautiful and nurturing is being ripped away. It has become mere physical sensation. Then we wonder why so many failed marriages. And if we were to be able to see into the hearts of many people, we would find a sad longing for that something special. Women particularly have been conned into accepting acts which if we are honest, aren't pleasurable for many of us. If we are honest. Even a romantic kiss is now an exercise in trying to avoid triggering a gag reflex and not drown. Where is the romance, the magic?

Eeyore put it so well. "The joy has been sucked out of it " he commented lugubriously. And that is exactly what these "education" classes are doing.

[Elizabeth Walton]

08:50 AM on 10/27/2011

What images have been promoted here? The website in question has no images, they are all in your head.

[nikkitytom]

04:56 PM on 10/29/2011

Exactly. That's what I said ... in the head. And tha't exactly why I think children shouldn't be exposed so early to the entire range of sexual practices. Too early. At fifteen there's nothing more to learn or discover .... pretty sad.

As an adult you can discover what works for you. I don't care what turns you on. But how many of us have done things we didn't enjoy to preserve a relationship or "not turn the man off". That youngsters should feel these pressures is appalling. Bad enough for an adult.

[Conuly]

09:10 AM on 10/27/2011

Vibrators aren't exactly "weird". LOL, we've found sex toys dating back to the stone age! They're definitely normal.

[simzillyjp]

02:44 AM on 10/27/2011

Don't tell the kids a thing. They'll leran on the streets. The parents will not mind that.