Chapter 5: The Role of Curriculum
After reading about the curriculum in Canada and how it has been shaped into the curriculum we use today, I feel I have a better understanding of the issues that educators face. The section which stuck out to me was the various influences that effect our curriculum. Parental influence on education was not a surprise to me and will be the focus of this blog. This "most often occurs when parents feel that what is being taught in school contrasts sharply with the morals and world views that they wish to have instilled in their children" (131). The text highlights literary influences from parents concerned about the content of books studied by students. There is also mention of controversial topics taught in science such Darwin's evolution, the Big Bang theory, and the potential incorporation of creationism and intelligent design (132). I found it interesting that the discussion of sexual health education was not touched upon in much detail. "Many religious groups oppose the exposure of their children to many topics including sexual health education" (132). I know from my experience in school that there were students in my junior high that were pulled for sexual health education because of the "controversial" topics that were being discussed, these included pregnancy, STIs and drug abuse. There were also strict rules that we were to following, i.e. we could not discuss homosexuality, masturbation, or oral/anal sex, and yet birth control options were heavily touched upon, because "let's be honest no one practices abstinence"what my teacher informed us.
Discussion Question:
In Box 5.2, there was mention of proposed new sex education curriculum that was scrapped because of a strong parental influence. Do you believe that the sexual education program in schools needs to be updated to include controversial topics such as sexual orientation, masturbation and anal/oral sex?
No comments:
Post a Comment