Yesterday I was surprised to see a tidbit in my CNN/Headline News evening newsletter about a middle-school teacher who was supposedly teaching students about masturbation and the Kama Sutra. Then, there wasn't much on the web about it, but this AM, there is plenty.
But, none of what I've seen so far implies that this teacher did anything wrong. True, there are plenty of comments about what was actually said in the classroom in the blogosphere, but the news stories from Utah state that the teacher has been suspended for teaching inappropriate material. One very important statement was from the students. They asked the questions.
In fact, the some students brought signs to school, admitting they had asked the questions. Administrators took them down, claiming that they wanted to prevent divisiveness on the issue. Personally, I'm wondering what will be divisive, given that this was in Utah - sure, there will be a line drawn between the adults and the students, but that's written off at the very least by age gap.
I understand the whole religious and social conservative nature of the region where this happened (honestly am thinking that is a big part of the punchline in this story.) But seriously, do these parents think that because they punish this teacher and just tell the kids that they aren't supposed to know about these things, that the kids are magically going to stop being curious? And more importantly, are these parents going to sit down with their kids and answer their questions (presuming they actually have a clue about the topics the kids were curious about)?
This is one of those moments when I find it very difficult to have even a little respect for people who choose to believe in a god. When this all settles, I have no doubt that this whole situation was the result of religious conservatism interfering with education. Seriously folks, get a life, and stop persecuting teachers who are trying to answer questions your kids have about sex when they aren't getting answers at home. Or would you prefer they looked online for their answers, and end up entering the wonderful world of internet porn? Given your puritanical ways, the teacher's your better bet!