Students aren’t learning enough about the birds and the bees at school, according to some Howe Sound Secondary School seniors.
The students said the sex education they have received so far was not comprehensive or inclusive enough.
Sarah Jennings is an outspoken Grade 12 student and the reigning student council prime minister of Howe Sound Secondary. She said she learned a lot while at Squamish schools, but the sex education she’s received has been simplistic and inconsistent.
“What we do get is, ‘These are the female reproductive organs, these are the male reproductive organs, and here is a little cartoon drawing of a sperm, here is a cartoon drawing of an egg and that is how you get pregnant and make babies,’” she said, adding that what was taught has often depended on the person teaching. A shy teacher would avoid much of the topic altogether, she said, recalling an elementary school teacher who labeled almost all student questions inappropriate.
Jennings also said almost everything she learned was strictly heterosexual, promoted abstinence exclusively, and left her and her friends turning to Google for answers.
She said she spent more class time learning how to buy a car and write a resume than how to protect herself sexually.
Some of her classmates agree.
“I’ve had a few sex ed classes, but most of my information came from my friends or the Internet,” said Callista Ryan, a Grade 11 student.
Ryan said the information she got was exclusive to her gender.
“These are things which need to be discussed with both genders as it is important to know how all systems work,” she said.
Fellow student Trevor Gaukrodger said sex education in school should cover all orientations.
“We need sexual education that includes people of diverse sexualities and people who are transgender. We need sexual education that informs teens of what abuse looks like and how to get out of abusive situations,” he said via email. “We need sexual education that goes beyond anatomy and condoms.”
Jennings said not all parents are able or willing to broach such sensitive subjects, so schools need to teach sex education.
“It is everyone’s right to know how to have safe sex and know what their resources are,” said Jennings. “And also parents with gay children who are straight, how in the world are they going to teach their kid about gay sex?”
There is a Diversity Club at Howe Sound, where many issues around sexuality are discussed, but it is an extracurricular option.
Jennings said she would like to see sex education be a course that is taught as consistently as math and English.
Squamish clinical sexologist Danielle Duplassie, who has taught some sex education in Squamish schools, said the students aren’t wrong in their perception, but she doesn’t blame the teachers or school administrators.
“I think the biggest problem in the school system… is you have the curriculum that is mandated,” she said. “Anyone who is teaching sex education has to fit within the prescribed learning outcomes, so if you go outside the prescribed learning outcomes you can run into trouble.”
There is pressure on teachers, schools, school boards and sex educators who do tackle the subject to not go outside of very basic biology, according to Duplassie.
“We live in a very sex-negative society,” Duplassie said. She said there is messaging in media and within certain religious customs that suggests that sex is a negative, dirty thing.
“So what that does from that macro level is it infiltrates into the society… and into organizations such as schools and into families,” she said.
It isn’t a simple problem to solve, Duplaisee said, but if she could wave a magic wand she would like to see, among other things, advanced sex education for adults.
Sex ed offered here
Marilyn Caldwell, director of instruction for the Sea to Sky school district, said sex education is constantly evolving.
Currently, in kindergarten to Grade 9, the topic is covered under health and career education (Healthy Living and Healthy Relationships).
“The learning outcomes focus on healthy decision making. The outcomes are broad-based,” Caldwell said by email.
In Grade 10, the Planning 10 Curriculum is used with the same learning outcomes.
The school district employs a three-tier approach to sex education, according to Caldwell.
“This whole-class learning, whether taught by the classroom teacher or a public health nurse, would be considered Tier One, meaning what every child receives,” she said.
Tier Two would involve small group sessions with students – “perhaps led by a school counsellor, focusing on the same learning outcomes, but in a smaller setting where students may ask more questions,” Caldwell explained.
Tier Three involves opportunities for students to work one-on-one with a school counsellor, for example, to address particular issues specific to the student, such as gender identity transformation, Caldwell said.
B.C. a ‘leader’ in sex ed,
says minister
Ontario has recently unveiled a new sex education curriculum that includes homosexuality and transgender information.
According to Minister of Education Peter Fassbender, B.C.’s curriculum is already ahead of other provinces in what students learn about sex and sexuality.
“Actually B.C. has been a leader in what we have included in it in terms of physical health and sexuality,” Fassbender told reporters Feb. 23.
Lessons on human sexuality and reproduction are mandatory for all students in this province.
“What we do is teachers bring in other health professionals here. British Columbia has been seen as a leader,” he said.
A spokesperson for BC Ministry of Education told The Squamish Chief that beginning in primary school, students learn about safety and avoiding uncomfortable situations – in person and online.
“As students advance and develop through elementary school, those conversations continue and obviously become more sophisticated,” public affairs officer for the ministry of education, Ben Green said by email.
Green said the ministry is currently redesigning the kindergarten to Grade 9 curriculum, which was last revised in 2005.
The new Physical and Health Education curriculum will continue to cover human sexuality and reproduction, according to Green. “While the ministry sets the curriculum, it is the responsibility of local districts, schools and teachers to decide what materials and approaches are best suited for their students to meet required learning outcomes. We encourage any student who is unsatisfied with the sex education they receive to bring their concerns to local administration,” said Green.
