hb 1069 and the need for sex education in schools

By Novak Chen, Shuhan Jin, Vidyuth Sridhar & Amelie Wu Staff Writers

Whether discussed among parent communites or the legislature, school curriculum has always been a topic of controversy, especially curriculum surrounding health and sex. Sex educaton covers a wide range of topics including sexually transmitted diseases (STD) preventon, menstruaton, and even navigatng healthy relatonships. With the wide range of topics sex educaton covers, legislators have made recent atempts to limit what can be taught in schools. Florida’s House Bill (HB) 1069, writen by Republican State Rep. Stan McClain, has moved on to the State Senate despite overwhelming protest from students and educators. HB 1069 extends the restricton of sex educaton beyond third grade to eighth grade, further restrictng the already limited topics FL educators can teach. The bill also expands on HB 1223, known online as the “Don’t Say Gay” Bill, by banning staf from referring to themselves as any pronouns other than their biological ones and discussing menstrual cycles. These laws that restrict sex educaton do more harm than good, leaving students and youth uninformed on ways to be safe.

The main focus of sex educaton should be to inform students on safe sex, rather than barring them from critcal informaton. Historically, the US has only supported abstnence-only programs as a form of sex educaton, but instead of informing students, these programs ofen induce fear and prevent youth from having sex entrely. In 2004, the US House of Representatves’ Commitee on Government Reform reported that 80% of the most widespread federally funded abstnence-only programs distorted informaton regarding contraceptve efectveness and risks of abortons, as well as disregarded sexuality as something beyond biological. Since the introducton of sex educaton in school curriculums in 1912, the federal government has yet to standardize sex educaton, leaving it up to states to individually determine the comprehensiveness of sex educaton. But, very few schools across the country teach comprehensive sex educaton. As of 2020, according to the Sexuality and Informaton Council of the US, only 38% of highschools and 14% of middle schools teach all 19 topics that the Centers for Disease Control and Preventon views as part of a comprehensive sex educaton. Coupled with the already distorted informaton federally sponsored abstnence-only programs distribute, this ambiguity leaves many students uneducated about the risks and benefts of contraceptves, safe sex, and more. With the implementaton of HB 1069, this ambiguity would remain unaddressed for students, while further exacerbatng the root of the problem.

More importantly, comprehensive sex educaton covers much more than intercourse and extends to topics such as gender identty and sexuality, substance use, and menstruaton. Concerningly, a study by INTIMINA and YouGov revealed that of their random sample of 1,000 US men, only 41% could accurately defne menstruaton. When asked if they would be comfortable discuss ing menstruaton with their daughter, 33% responded they would prefer to have a woman do it instead. The severe lack of misinformaton about the hu man body amongst genders creates a stgma surrounding discussion of au tonomy, and HB 1069 and HB 1223 would worsen the stgma.

Beyond discussion about physical health, sex educaton also emphasizes consent between all par tes. According to the Natonal Sexual Violence Research Center, one-in-four girls and one-in-six boys are sexually abused before the age of 18. By teaching sex educaton in classrooms, teens are introduced to healthy discussions about consent and are empowered to use available resources and reach out for support in situatons of emergencies.

Despite statstcs supportng comprehensive sex educaton, many conservatves stll have reservatons and believe that young students should not be learning about these inappropriate topics out of the fear that they will be encouraged to partcipate in premarital sex. However, according to ACT (Assets Coming Together) for Youth Center for Community Acton, one-third of adolescents report having sex by age 16 regardless of the level of sex educaton received. No mater the amount of knowledge in this topic, teens have and contnue to engage in sex. Therefore, rather than avoiding the topic entrely, adults should be encouraging healthy discussions about safe sex, as more knowledge toward the subject can be more benefcial than harmful. However, students should be able to have their voice heard in this conversaton as well. “We’re really fghtng for representng student perspectves in CA, educaton policy, and menstrual equity and safe sex practces is a critcal pillar of that specifcally around sexual educaton,” GENup Executve Director Alvin Lee said. Moreover, some parents argue that they should be able to control the educatonal material taught to their students. According to the American Federaton for Children, 72 percent of respondents “support the idea that K-12 parents should have the most or some infuence over what schools teach, including 78% of parents.” However, courts have already

Msj Voices

“The government shouldn’t be able to restrict the curriculum set by the states due to their own political agenda. The only time that the government should be able to intervene with the curriculum set by the state is when it is potentially harmful or when the general public has unanimously deemed the subject as unnecessary or not prevalent anymore.” — Brian Liu, 12 predetermined whether parents truly reserve the right to accept or reject school curriculum. “Common law and case law in the United States have long supported the idea that educaton should prepare young people to think for themselves, even if that runs counter to the wishes of parents,” Associate Professor of Educaton at the University of Massachusets Lowell Jack Schneider and writer Jennifer Berkshire wrote in The Washington Post. In other words, legal precedence supports the idea that educaton, including sex educaton, should be taught for the beneft of the students, regardless of what their parents believe.

In additon to informing students, sex educaton is much more costefectve than medical costs if a student partakes in sex. Since 1982, Congress has spent more than $2 billion on abstnenceonly programs across the country that are misinformatve, according to Planned Parenthood. Crucially, a study by the Natonal Library of Medicine reported that for every dollar invested in Safer Choices, a comprehensive sex educaton program that focused on safe sex, $2.65 were saved in costs for STD and pregnancy preventon. Instead of using government funds to misinform youth, legislators should prioritze educatng teens on how to navigate sex safely.

Though CA passed the CA Healthy Youth Act in 2016, making comprehensive sex educaton mandatory in middle and high school, sex educaton is stll a controversial topic locally. In 2018, amidst heavy parental backlash, the FUSD School Board voted 3-2 to end a previous sex educaton curriculum for fourth to sixth graders, which included lessons featuring LGBTQ+ individuals and promoted safe-sex practces rather than abstnence values. This underscored the Board’s history of conservatve-esque animosity towards sex educaton’s subject mater and inclusion, even as students directly relate through their daily lives and relatonships. (The Board went on to approve a new curriculum for use in 2019.) Furthermore, similar antagonism against sex educaton in the Fremont community can be traced back as far as 2014, when more than 2,000 parents signed a petton to remove a sex educaton book from the ninth grade curriculum, believing it to be too provocatve in nature. Indeed, the MSJ community should contnue to be aware of the history and negatve efects of restrictng sex educaton that have permeated to the local level, and contnue to promote bills such as SB 541 and AB 598 that promote safe sex and make sex educaton as a whole more accessible to students. Students can also use their online voice and utlize local youth advocacy organizatons such as SURFBoardE and GENup to contnue to ensure that their voices are being heard — especially when it comes to what they learn in class. ▪

“[Sex education] is also about allyship and building a much more inclusive community in general. If you're a student growing up in your formative years at elementary school, and you're taught about diferent identities and sexualities, you're more likely to grow up in a much more inclusive environment. I think the educational environment plays a really critical role in that. So not only is it about supporting our next generation of students, but it also steps to building a more inclusive society.” — MSJ

Alumnus and GENup Executive Director Alvin Lee

“I think there should be no restrictions on topics taught in school except for things that are bigoted. For things like sex education, up until recently, many people didn’t know how to obtain contraceptives or what types of contraceptives there are. I think a good school should teach these topics, especially to those in high school.” — Archana Satish, 12

“I think that parents shouldn't have a huge say in the educational material taught in school. Teachers and school administrators have years and years of experience in teaching and education, and they know the best material to teach students. Parents should be able to voice their concerns, but anything further than that wouldn't be benefcial to the students and the faculty.” — Anirudhsai Akuthota, 10

“Good sex education in a school environment means that things students learn aren't restricted so that the education is most efective. Students should not be embarrassed to learn about their own body, and teachers should not be embarrassed to teach it.” — Srithan

10

Meeniga,

“[The boundary regarding sexuality and sex-education] should be a conversation to be had between parent and child, and teachers should take no part in this. I do believe there should be a general program going over this, but the curriculum should be monitored and controlled by parents. — Anonymous, 10