Massachusetts approves first sex and health education changes in schools in 24 years
By Sam Drysdale, State House News Service
STATE HOUSE, BOSTON, SEPTEMBER 19, 2023 (State House News Service) - Massachusetts students will receive sex and health education that is intended to be more inclusive of the LGBTQ+ community and teach about bodily autonomy, mental and emotional health, dating safety, nutrition, sexually transmitted infections and consent, after a board of education vote Tuesday.
The Board of Elementary and Secondary Education unanimously voted during its Tuesday meeting to adopt a new set of curriculum frameworks on health education -- the first time the guidelines have been updated since 1999.
The new standards include different guidelines for four age groups: pre-K through second grade, grades 3-5, grades 6-8, and grades 9-12.
For the youngest students, the standards have to do with learning about healthy eating; managing stress and demonstrating self-control; practicing hygienic habits such as washing hands; learning how to respond in emergency situations; discussing gender-role stereotypes and treating all people with respect; defining bullying; explaining why taking medicine as directed is important, among other goals.
As children get older, the guidelines include education about sex, healthy romantic relationships, gender identity, substance use and misuse, how to identify and stay safe from human and sex trafficking, and more specific, science-based methods for physical education.
The board's vote comes after a summer-long public comment period, during which the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education received nearly 5,400 comments via email, mail and online survey responses.
Hot-Court1046 on October 8th, 2023 at 01:50 UTC »
I’m in Arizona and I’ve never had sex ed
lbunny7 on October 7th, 2023 at 22:37 UTC »
So, 10-15 years ago I was in the MA public school system and had to take multiple health classes that had to do with sex education.
Even though we learnt about consent, relationships, sexual organs, etc; we were still preached, without fail, to rely on abstinence. Yes, condoms and sometimes other birth control methods were mentioned. But not to the extent they should have been. Birth control and STD protection should have been presented as the main aspect of sexual education, but it wasn’t.
I was actually shocked even while I was in school that they were going for the abstinence-only route. While it’s not as bad as more conservative states who don’t talk about anything OTHER than abstinence, I still felt it was unhelpful to promote abstinence only as a healthy or correct way to think about sex as a teenager.
My town was progressive, it had a great public school system, and it should have been taught better. Even with the changes listed in the article, I kind of doubt that they will shy away from the “abstinence only” agenda that they pushed just a decade before.
Holothuroid on October 7th, 2023 at 17:36 UTC »
What is this Board that made the decision? I'm unfamiliar with US law making / regulating.