Parent group to put kids on strike to protest Ontario sex-ed

2015/04/24 Leave a comment

The multicultural defence against Ontario’s new sex education curriculum:

Omar Kasmieh, 35, one of the organizers of the strike, said some parents feel some of the subject matter does not reflect their culture or will be taught too early.

“There are a lot of parents coming from different backgrounds that don’t feel this is consistent with their beliefs,” he said. “There’s material that’s considered age inappropriate. … Canada is a multicultural society and they need to honour that.

“The hope is to for the ministry to realize that there are a significant number of parents who are not happy [with the curriculum].”

More than 4,500 people have liked the Facebook group’s page. Pictures of the flyers have accumulated about 1,800 likes and have been shared almost 2,500 times.

Mr. Kasmieh is a physician in Syria and is planning to get his medical license in Canada. This year, he will graduate from the Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine. He said he believes the number of people who are unhappy is higher than the number who have liked the Facebook page because some don’t have access to social media.

He said parents who take their children out of school should instruct them at home so they don’t fall behind.

“We want kids to be educated in the public system, and pulling kids out of school for homeschooling isn’t a good option for parents. We trust our school system and know it’s the best environment for our kids, but parents are also educators and there should be more open dialogue,” Mr. Kasmieh said.

Some parents have said they don’t feel that the government included them in the conversation on how their children should be taught on the sensitive issue and that the program should not be implemented in September.

Mr. Kasmieh said the ministry should have prepared a briefing to the public on the new curriculum and released a draft.

The problem is that most parents behind such opposition likely are uncomfortable with any form of sex education. And of course parents can opt-out their kids out.

Multiculturalism can be used to justify accommodation (which opting out is one form) but cannot be used to impose the views of more traditional communities, or members of communities, on the broader population.

Parent group to put kids on strike to protest Ontario sex-ed – The Globe and Mail.

Filed under Multiculturalism Tagged with ,

Sex-Ed Not Welcome at Any Age for Many Immigrant Parents – New Canadian Media – NCM

2015/03/03 Leave a comment

Some good reporting on the sex-ed debate within different communities. Not surprising, but I think that many are living in denial of reality:

Politicians in the South Asian community also spoke out against the curriculum. The Weekly Voice and South Asia Mail reported former MPP Harinder Takhar (who served under Premier Dalton McGuinty) as saying that he had advised McGuinty against implementing the curriculum in 2010. He maintains this view stating that, “a serious debate is required in the community on this issue.” The same report also states Conservative MP Parm Gill’s apprehensions. Gill said that being the father of three children, the new syllabus is a cause of concern for him. He was of the opinion that the Liberal party had, “destroyed the institution of marriage and now it is (sic) on its way to put our children on the wrong track.”

There are some who support the provincial governments move, though their voices may be barely audible amongst the loud clatter of all the protestors. Two of the five parents interviewed by Can-India News thought it was, “about time.”

“Parents opposing the new sex-ed curriculum are living in denial. Schools should be discussing these issues and giving students the information they need,” said one parent, identified only as Parineet. “They should know about these things because everyone talks about it in schools and it is easy for them to get the wrong idea or information from friends or the Internet. The school would do it scientifically and professionally.”

Irrespective of how parents feel, Premier Kathleen Wynne is determined that the new sex-ed curriculum will be implemented this time. How much of a difference it will make is another matter though, as parents will have the option of pulling their children out of sex-ed classes.

Sex-Ed Not Welcome at Any Age for Many Immigrant Parents – New Canadian Media – NCM.

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Robyn Urback: If you want to learn abstinence, go to church. Get Christian sex-ed out of secular public schools

2014/07/15 Leave a comment

A reminder of other forms of fundamentalism.

It is not just the anecdotes cited by Urback regarding the effectiveness of abstinence approaches; the contrast between California and Texas is striking (Texas Isn’t Keeping Up With National Drop in Teenage Births):

The Pregnancy Care Centre taught courses in about 60 Edmonton-area schools last year, according to executive director Norah Kennedy. She says that their presentations do not explicitly mention Christianity, though the Centre was founded on religious principles. “We are brought in to speak from an abstinence-based perspective; which differs from abstinence-only presentation,” she told the Edmonton Journal. “We present abstinence as the best and safest choice while also giving them a comprehensive overview of all of their options.”

That may be true (though the Dawsons’ complaints, which have yet to be proven, say otherwise). Even still, an abstinence-focused sexual education program will not offer the same wide-ranging, balanced approach to education that a class without an “agenda” can deliver. Indeed, there’s a difference between a lecturer telling students to use a condom if they must, and a lecturer showing students how to properly put on a condom, why they shouldn’t layer condoms (it happens, amazingly enough), why they should use a condom for both vaginal and anal sex (that happens in high school, too) and what to do if the condom breaks.

Students wanting to know about same-sex relationships, the morning after pill and other religious no-nos should also feel free to do so without judgment; that’s hard to do when someone from a faith-based organization is standing at the front of the class. This might be a human rights issue for Emily and her mom, but it’s arguably more an access to education issue for everyone else. Christian sex education should stay out of secular public schools.

The Edmonton School Board dropped the program offered by Pregnancy Care Centre following the complaint and publicity.

Robyn Urback: If you want to learn abstinence, go to church. Get Christian sex-ed out of secular public schools

Filed under Public Policy, Religion Tagged with , , ,

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