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Posted
Wednesday, September 10, 2008 2:20 PM
| By
Nayeli Rodriguez
I've stated here before that I think sex should be introduced early and often to the elementary school curriculum. Mine's an opinion many people disagree with, and Barack Obama happens to be one of them.
Obama himself has said, "Nobody's suggesting that kindergartners are going to be getting information about sex in the way that we think about it." What he did support (in 2003) was a bill in the Illinois state legislature that would have introduced "instruction on the prevention of sexually transmitted infections, including the prevention, transmission and spread of HIV" to pre-existing programs.
Yes, Mitt Romney, I do think there's a sex ed curriculum that's appropriate for 5-year-olds, and it has more to do with protecting them from other people's misguided actions than from their own. The only sex ed current students even have a chance of seeing before middle school is the kind that limits itself to a discussion of acceptable body language, peer respect, and personal space or "inappropriate touching," as Obama's own campaign once referred to it.
And for the record, child literacy has nothing to do with children's ability to handle sex ed, unless you consider that, as they learn to read, children become more aware and more likely to process conflicting or inaccurate messages about sex. If McCain is truly concerned that kids learn to read before learning about sex, maybe he should stick to the topic at hand (education reform) and refocus his efforts on improving early reading skills.
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