Thanks, Rallycairn.
Has anyone mentioned or seen this site, which deals with state policies on sex education in public schools? It's from the National Conference of State Legislatures, a pretty sober group.
http://www.ncsl.org/issues-research/health/state-policies-on-sex-education-in-schools.aspx
On this page, a chart presents each state's edict about sex education in elementary and high school. Many states make this curriculum optional, with participation dependent on written parental consent. All states require courses to be age-appropriate, and many states stress that they have to be medically accurate. They're taught largely in order to prevent the rising tide of sexual activity among teenagers. Here's part of a quote from the page: "...the United States still has the highest teen birth rate in the industrialized world. Three in 10 girls in will be pregnant at least once before their 20th birthday. Teenage mothers are less likely to finish high school and are more likely than their peers to live in poverty, depend on public assistance, and be in poor health. Their children are more likely to suffer health and cognitive disadvantages, come in contact with the child welfare and correctional systems, live in poverty, drop out of high school and become teen parents themselves. These costs add up, according to The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, which estimates that teen childbearing costs taxpayers at least $10.9 billion annually."
The report goes on to cite the proportionately high rate of STDs among teenagers. There is also a concern about preventing violence in any relationship, whether sexual or not, in young people. I think one out of four girls is the victim of some degree of violence or force from a partner or date.
As far as what you'll find about sexual matters in the rest of the school curriculum, remember that schoolbooks are often approved by state boards of education, and there are parents' groups watching like a hawk for anything that goes against their beliefs. In my experience, and I have written educational materials for the major publishers, it's hard to put anything in a textbook or classroom publication that is anything other than strictly G-rated, though high school textbooks have more leeway. (For example, there's stuff in Shakespeare that definitely ain't G-rated or even PG-13. Read Hamlet's first soliloquy on his stepfather Claudius.)
Keep in mind that just about the most influential school board in terms of determining text content is Texas, because it buys the most textbooks, and Texas is deeply conservative. In one book that was an anthology of fiction stories for an elementary school grade, we were not allowed to use the word "doggone," because it's a euphemism for an expression that takes the name of the Lord in vain. In fact, there was a light-hearted book called The Secret Life of the Underwear Champ that we were not allowed to use solely because its title mentioned underwear.
Has anyone mentioned or seen this site, which deals with state policies on sex education in public schools? It's from the National Conference of State Legislatures, a pretty sober group.
http://www.ncsl.org/issues-research/health/state-policies-on-sex-education-in-schools.aspx
On this page, a chart presents each state's edict about sex education in elementary and high school. Many states make this curriculum optional, with participation dependent on written parental consent. All states require courses to be age-appropriate, and many states stress that they have to be medically accurate. They're taught largely in order to prevent the rising tide of sexual activity among teenagers. Here's part of a quote from the page: "...the United States still has the highest teen birth rate in the industrialized world. Three in 10 girls in will be pregnant at least once before their 20th birthday. Teenage mothers are less likely to finish high school and are more likely than their peers to live in poverty, depend on public assistance, and be in poor health. Their children are more likely to suffer health and cognitive disadvantages, come in contact with the child welfare and correctional systems, live in poverty, drop out of high school and become teen parents themselves. These costs add up, according to The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, which estimates that teen childbearing costs taxpayers at least $10.9 billion annually."
The report goes on to cite the proportionately high rate of STDs among teenagers. There is also a concern about preventing violence in any relationship, whether sexual or not, in young people. I think one out of four girls is the victim of some degree of violence or force from a partner or date.
As far as what you'll find about sexual matters in the rest of the school curriculum, remember that schoolbooks are often approved by state boards of education, and there are parents' groups watching like a hawk for anything that goes against their beliefs. In my experience, and I have written educational materials for the major publishers, it's hard to put anything in a textbook or classroom publication that is anything other than strictly G-rated, though high school textbooks have more leeway. (For example, there's stuff in Shakespeare that definitely ain't G-rated or even PG-13. Read Hamlet's first soliloquy on his stepfather Claudius.)
Keep in mind that just about the most influential school board in terms of determining text content is Texas, because it buys the most textbooks, and Texas is deeply conservative. In one book that was an anthology of fiction stories for an elementary school grade, we were not allowed to use the word "doggone," because it's a euphemism for an expression that takes the name of the Lord in vain. In fact, there was a light-hearted book called The Secret Life of the Underwear Champ that we were not allowed to use solely because its title mentioned underwear.
), nothing in peer reviewed literature in scholarly and professional educational journals (a number of which I subscribe to). Now, publish-or-perish alone would dictate that many scholars in the field of educational psychology or social studies curricula would be all over this issue, if the charges were true. Nothing.
He has a male partner and has been with him for years. What I want to say is that that was the kind of peace and harmony that everyone could accept. No one has stepped on anyone's toe. 
