HELENA, Mont. — A controversy over proposed sex-ed curriculum in Helena, Mont., for students as young as kindergarten should lead parents elsewhere to be more in tune with what their schools are teaching, an expert on the topic says.
The proposal, which has drawn nationwide attention, attracted an overflow crowd at the Helena School Board Meeting on July 14, when more than 300 people attended, although the board had time to hear from only 64. It could take a vote next month on whether to approve the curriculum.
Among the more controversial elements, the proposal says kindergarteners would learn the “basic reproductive body parts (penis, vagina, breast, nipples, testicles, scrotum, uterus)” and first-graders would learn “human beings can love people of the same gender & people of another gender.” Fifth-graders would learn that “sexual intercourse includes but is not limited to vaginal, oral, or anal penetration” and seventh-graders would learn about Supreme Court opinions on abortion and “reproductive health.”
Chad Hills, an analyst for sexual health with CitizenLink, an arm of Focus on the Family, said parents have plenty of reasons to be upset.
“Parents are the primary teachers of sexuality to their children,” Hills told Baptist Press. “This is not an issue that is without morals, without values. This issue is highly specific to families, and it’s not the school’s place to impart values and morals to the children. It’s the parents’ place to do that. The school is there to educate them in English, math. Parents should be outraged.”
Parents would have the opportunity to opt out of the curriculum, but some parents say that’s not sufficient.
“The school teaches one set of values,” Mikal Wilkerson, a parent who attended the board meeting said. “I teach another set of values. And now the kid’s stuck right at the middle. And it undermines the authority of both the parent and the teacher in the school.”
A handful of organizations, Hills said, are promoting similar sex-ed program nationwide. Among them are Planned Parenthood, SIECUS (Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States) and Advocates for Youth. The controversy will be “coming down the pike” in a “lot more states,” he said. (TAB)
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