In the central California town of Clovis, near Fresno, a group of parents believes the school district’s seventh-grade sex-ed curriculum “illegally emphasizes abstinence and fails to provide accurate medical information.” They’ve taken their complaint to the California Department of Education. The Department forced school districts in Selma (also in Fresno county) and Dinuba (in adjacent Tulare county), to drop this very curriculum after audits by the state, because “the programs did not meet legal requirements in the state Education Code.”
The curriculum under fire is called “Teen Choices.” It’s written and taught by Mac Shaw, a former school board president from nearby Fowler City who gets paid $37,000 a year by the Clovis Unified School District for teaching the curriculum — for which the State of California later reimburses the District. (Much like the national pro-life “Crisis Pregnancy Center” network.)
California mandates specific information about HIV and STD prevention, among other things, in its sex ed curriculum. According to district parent Aubree Smith (who’s also a labor and delivery nurse) Shaw’s curriculum doesn’t provide it. Says the Fresno Bee:
[Aubree Smith] said that the section on HIV/AIDS begins with the notion that French, or open-mouth, kissing would spread HIV/AIDS. One parent said her daughter was taught that sharing earrings would spread sexually transmitted disease…
…Mica Ghimenti, a Planned Parenthood health educator in Fresno, said Teen Choices uses outdated information about the success and failure rates of condoms, among other misinformation.
Sharla Smith is the HIV and STD Prevention Education Coordinator at the California State Department of Education. The Bee quoted her thusly:
[Sharla] Smith of the Department of Education said a review of the Teen Choices programs in Dinuba and Selma found several problems, including “completely fabricated information in there which is all really based on scare tactics and has no basis in public health.”
…Marriage was taught as the expected outcome of all students…[and] to teach “‘abstinence-only until marriage’ education is simply not permitted in California public schools.”
[Link.]
Shaw’s expertise for authoring a publicly-funded sex ed program and getting paid $37K to teach it? No training in human sexuality, no degree in health or education, and no teaching credential. According to the Bee:
Shaw, a former minister at Fowler Presbyterian Church, has a bachelor’s degree in psychology and a master of divinity degree. He first wrote the curriculum for Fowler Unified when he served as school board president in the early 1990s…
…Shaw said his curriculum also is used in Fowler Unified schools, Washington Union High School and Washington Colony Elementary in Easton, Caruthers Elementary and Riverdale Unified, among others in the central San Joaquin Valley.
“We want to be sensitive to everyone, regardless of those who get married, choose not to get married, whatever the case may be,” [Shaw] said. But he talks about marriage because most will choose to get married, he said. “Saying wait until you’re in a committed relationship, such as marriage, seems to make sense to us.”
[Link.]
Incidentally, the Clovis Independent reprinted the same story, but illustrated it with a picture of a hot girl in a pink dress holding a condom.
I tracked the curriculum overview down, and you can see it yourself right here at ClovisUSDK12.ca.us. It’s pretty awesome. Here are the titles of the five lessons:
Lesson One: The Changes of Adolescence
Lesson Two: Human Reproduction and Abstinence
Lesson Three: HIV and AIDS
Lesson Four: HIV and AIDS: Looking to the Future
Lesson Five: Sexually Transmitted Diseases
Does covering “Human Reproduction and Abstinence,” which kinda sounds like a big(ish) topic, in a single session seem like a tall order? It’s okay, though; it’s an entirely comprehensive second session. You can trust Shaw to tell the kids everything they need to know about how sex will definitely kill you.
For example, the summary of Lesson Two is TWO PARAGRAPHS. Here is the entirety of the second one (which is the longer of the two):
The negative consequences of being sexually active prior to marriage are also discussed in this lesson. The word “abstinence” (choosing to wait until marriage) is carefully defined and promoted as required by law (Ed. Code 51934). Students will see how those who choose abstinence until marriage will not have to worry about unplanned pregnancies, sexually transmitted diseases, HIV/AIDS, and the emotional pain associated with premarital sex.
Then, as you may have noticed above, lessons three and four both cover HIV and AIDS. The summary of the first lesson concludes with the following:
Furthermore, the benefits of choosing to “save sex” for marriage versus practicing “safe sex” are also discussed.
Good to know they’re promoting a “save sex” message; that’s cute, I’d never heard that. If there’s one thing those abstinence-only evangelists are, it’s linguistically clever. But the really good stuff comes on the second day of the HIV/AIDS coverage:
A video entitled “Angels Watch Over Me” is used to help make all the information students have learned about HIV/AIDS relevant, so they will make wise decisions in the future and avoid the deadly consequences of this devastating condition. This compelling documentary shows the consequences of AIDS through photos, home video, and interviews with a family who has been affected by the disease. This powerful story not only follows Jim and Gerri Briggs through their tragic battle with AIDS, but it also shows how others can suffer as a result of the decisions individuals make. On December 7, 1991, their two-year-old son lost his life to AIDS after being infected by his parents. This heartbreaking true story gives students a glimpse of the tragic consequences that can occur when individuals do not choose abstinence.
Furthermore, the belief that there is a positive, attainable future worth planning for is a key element in the postponement of adolescent sexual activity…
Lesson Five is another doozy:
The tremendous rise of STDs among teenagers (e.g., every 10 seconds another U.S. teen become [sic] infected with an STD) is also emphasized as one of the most serious consequences of being sexually active prior to marriage. Finally, students are given an opportunity to share in writing some of the most important things they learned, some of the advantages they have discovered to abstaining from sex until marriage, and how they plan to apply the things they have learned to their own personal lives. [Link.]
In case you missed it, the state of California reimburses Clovis Unified for the $37,000 they pay Shaw for teaching this curriculum to seventh-graders. Just thought I’d mention that again.
UPDATE 16 MAY:
There’s an article about the 52-minute film that’s shown on the second HIV/AIDS day, “Angels Watch Over Me,” here at the site of a nonprofit agency devoted to education on HIV/AIDS and bereavement, in case you were wondering just how terrified Shaw would like the children to be. It may be a worthy film on many levels, but its inclusion here only trumpets Shaw’s agenda.
Image: Still from Durex condoms balloon animals ad by Superfad, via Laughing Squid.
