I am not a big fan of sex ed taught in schools but I understand the arguments for it and realise that I am in the minority.
I think that a field trip to a sex shop, a place that sells material which degrades women, is highly inappropriate, but if the school and parents allow it, who am I to argue against it.
What I wont concede on however, is the incompetence involved in arranging for such a trip without consulting the parents of the students beforehand:
A sex education teacher has drawn the ire of parents after taking middle – and high-school students on a field trip to an adult novelty store in Minneapolis.
Gaia Democratic School director Starri Hedges took about a dozen students to the Smitten Kitten last week. Hedges told the Star Tribune that she wanted to provide a safe environment for students to learn about human sexual behavior.
Besides offering adult books, videos, toys and other products, the store also has educational workshops, which the students attended.
“What I saw happening on our trip, I thought it was beautiful because kids could talk to these sex educators without any shame, without any fear,” Hedges said. Some of her students bought condoms, she said.
The small K-12 school has a motto that promises academic freedom, youth empowerment and democratic education. Parents say it has about 25 students. Tax records show the school, housed in a Unitarian church, has an annual budget of about $100,000.
Parent Lynn Floyd’s 11- and 13-year-old daughters were on the field trip. Floyd says the trip was “a major breach of trust” and has withdrawn his children from the school. Floyd said he is most troubled that parents were never notified before the trip.
“I just struggled to think that I wasn’t involved in that,” he said.
Hedges said that she “unfortunately didn’t communicate well enough with parents ahead of time” about the trip. Pornographic items were off limits to the children, Hedges said, but sex toys and other products were visible.
Click on the link to read The Five Day School Trip that Resulted in 7 Students Getting Pregnant
Click on the link to read School Distributes Condoms to 6th Graders
Click on the link to read Should High Schools Install Condom Vending Machines?
Click on the link to read Teaching Union Wants Porn on the National Curriculum
Tags: field trip to a sex shop, school excursion to sex shop, school trip to a sex shop, teacher takes class to sex shop
Topical Teaching 
June 5, 2015 at 12:29 am |
This teacher definitely crossed a line. And she broke the trust and confidence the parents may have had with her before. I don’t have kids, but I can’t imagine I’d ever let them go to a sex shop!