A school district in Wisconsin has not learned the lesson yet that parents are full partners in their children’s education. When it comes to rewriting the curriculum, parents should have a seat at the table. In this case, parents are not at all happy that their kindergarteners will soon be taught to “define gender” and “identify the medically accurate names of external body parts including the genitals.” Discussions on sexual orientation and pronouns will happen as early as third grade. The third-grade curriculum includes using language such as “students who do or will menstruate” or “a person with a vulva.”
I’m not saying that parents should write the curriculum. That’s for teachers and school leadership to decide upon. However, when a subject as potentially controversial as sex education is changed, it is reasonable for parents to be allowed to respond with their concerns and/or objections. The first job of a parent is to protect the child. Woke cultural experimentation on school children, especially the youngest ones, is abusive and wrong. Reducing women, in particular, to their reproductive organs, is not the goal of sex education. Kindergarteners are too young to understand sex education. Why is this so hard for some to understand?
The push to talk about transgenderism in classrooms can turn exploitive. The curriculum for fourth graders goes into gender identity. Many students that age are probably able to handle learning terms like “cisgender, transgender, gender non-binary, gender expansive and gender identity.” The problem is, in my opinion, that sex ed has evolved into including everything when it used to be taught as a basic course for general information. When I was in school, back when the dinosaurs roamed, sex ed was a part of health class in middle school. Today’s curriculum is not the curriculum of those days. I am of the belief that sex ed is not the job of teachers, it is the job of parents.
A document provided by the school district to answer frequently asked questions noted that children in early grades are less likely to be sexually abused, or to report sexual abuse when it happens, and have higher self-esteem when they know the correct name for their genitals.
The document also defended use of language such as “most boys/most girls” and “a person with a vulva” included in the curriculum as “inclusive language.”
“When we use inclusive language, students are more likely to feel safe and thrive in their educational environments,” the document read, comparing the language to using the word “caregivers” or “families” rather than “parents.”
It’s a good thing to teach the correct names for genitals. It’s not a good thing to refer to females as “a person with a vulva.” Again, it reduces females to being identified by their body parts. The transgender population in this country is miniscule yet this kind of curriculum assumes it is far more prevalent than it is. There is an option for parents to opt out of some lessons in the course. Parents and guardians will receive emails at least two weeks prior to the beginning of the lessons.
The outcomes for the curriculum are based in the National Sex Education Standards, state statute and data reviewed by the committee, according to the school districts.
“This is a dark day for Wisconsin students, who will be taught a curriculum that reduces them down to their body parts,” Alexandra Schweitzer, the Wisconsin chapter president of No Left Turn in Education told Fox News Digital. “No teacher should refer to their female students as ‘students who will menstruate’ or to their male students as ‘penis owners.’”
“This is a wholly inappropriate use of classroom time that ought to be spent on education fundamentals,” she continued.
The updated curriculum is the first change in ten years that was approved by the school Wauwatosa School District for a new human growth and development curriculum. The district knows it contains controversial issues. If that is the case, it seems to me the district should have been overly cautious to include input from parents. A vote was taken Monday and the school district passed the new curriculum in a 6-1 vote. The vote was taken after four hours of discussion by students, teachers, caregivers, and other community members.
The new curriculum, developed over 10 months, will feature lessons as early as kindergarten. In later grades, it will provide a more comprehensive sex education curriculum and will include information on sexual orientation and gender identity.
The updated curriculum will be implemented in the 2022-23 school year.
The curriculum was created by an internal committee and external committee and involved teachers, health care professionals, caregivers, students and a local clergy member. They used Wisconsin state statutes, Department of Public Instruction standards and National Sex Education standards as a foundation for the new curriculum.
That’s all fine and good but what is missing from the people listed who helped create the curriculum? Parents. Did it really not occur to anyone to include a parent or two? How about a PTO president? It’s no wonder the room was packed Monday night when they received public input and took the vote.
Before the school board meeting, multiple demonstrations took place outside the district office.
One protest, put together by Wauwatosa residents on Facebook, was organized to support the curriculum and LGBTQ+ students in the district.
Nate Robertstad, a member of the external committee that worked closely with the district to form the new curriculum, said the revamping of the curriculum was long overdue. He said he was happy to see students getting the education they need and deserve.
“We want to be a lighthouse district, and inclusivity like this is one of those steps to do that. I feel like our community is taking a big step in doing this,” Robertstad said.
Another protest was organized by a group called Moms for Liberty, a national organization that has chapters throughout the country. Although the group does not have a chapter in Milwaukee or Waukesha counties, it does have chapters in nearby Ozaukee, Racine and Kenosha counties.
A member of the group who identified themselves as a Mequon resident said that she came to Wauwatosa because she wanted to defend the innocence of kids in other districts.
Let kids be kids for as long as possible. When it comes to the youngest students, the kindergarteners, let them keep their innocence as long as possible. It’s not too much to ask.
Discussion about this post