11.19.04 Sex Ed Erased in Textbooks
Don’t mess with Texas. No, really, they’re doing fine on their own. Only if fine indicates making obviously ignorant decisions. Have you heard about Texas’ newly adopted high school health textbook? According to an article from The Seattle Times by Terrance Stutz, new textbooks downplay and blatantly ignore two of the major hot topics in modern-day health. The Texas State Board of Education members who have adopted this text indicate that their students do not need to know about contraception techniques. Instead, the book focuses on abstinence. Abstinence, though ideal, is not necessarily the reality in Texas. The board members have failed to note one very important statistic: Texas has the highest amount of teenage births in the nation. Sex education was a large part of my high school health class. Sex ed is an awkwardly important issue to teenage students, especially with the presence of AIDS and sexually transmitted diseases that have been devastating so many worldwide. Teenage pregnancy and contraception exist. When Texan teens reach high school, are they expected to learn about contraception on their own? Young people need to learn how to be responsible for themselves and their actions. This should be addressed within the confines of the classroom, as well as at home. A major goal of education is to teach children how to better their lives and the lives of their children. Sure, this is the seemingly impossible crusade of education, but our schools should at least strive to attain this goal. Something as simple as introducing the concept of contraception could be a very important step in making difference.
If you’re not already questioning how beneficial this textbook will be to future high school students, try this on for size. The book’s definition of marriage rules out same-sex marriages by focusing solely on heterosexual marriage. Terminology that indicates alternative unions has been completely removed.
I know that many people in the United States still have an unfair prejudice against same-sex unions, but this definition is a clear reflection of Texas’ retrogressive attitudes.
The Texas State Board of Education is being deliberately impracticable. How do we expect our children to grow and thrive in our society if we are trying to shelter them from the reality of the real world? School systems can seem like a safe, homogenous little bubble, but they are not. Diversity and homosexuality exist. Schools contain children from a wide variety of different backgrounds. Some students do have two mommies or daddies. This new textbook presents students with the insinuation that these families shouldn’t and couldn’t exist. I should not neglect to mention that Stutz said “socially conservative” individuals on the board wished to incorporate suggestions that indicated homosexuals are more likely to be illegal drug abusers and commit suicide.
This tidbit, fortunately, was voted against and left out of the text.
Texas is one of the most influential states in textbook production, and it is the second-largest purchaser of schoolbooks in the nation.
Texas is also the largest state that approves books for all grade levels, and thus, textbooks approved and adopted in Texas are marketed to other states in the nation. Can you imagine having studied this book in your high school experience? I know that a lot of questions would have gone unanswered if it were the text for my health class. Closed-mindedness and ignorance are apparently the precedents that Texas wants to set for the United States. This textbook is a huge step backwards, for the Texas board of education, its schools and schools nationwide. The threat of this book entering any number of classrooms is a huge danger to our society as it stands.
I fear what changes may be next. Perhaps Texas can cut its education budget by recycling the health books our parents used, where women were educated on how be the ideal wife: Clean ceaselessly, smile, and completely neglect their potential outside of their homes. I am hoping against hope that this textbook does not foreshadow larger changes within this nation.