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July 20, 2007

Cucumber Demonstrations for Five-Year Olds

My very conservative in-laws are visiting us this week, so I've spent a good deal of time watching Fox News. And last night I got two of the best laughs ever. One was Bill O'Reilly trying to be "fair and balanced" by giving an example of right-wing hatred, citing Fred Phelps's having called him a demon-possessed messenger of Satan." Funny thing is, Phelps is a Democrat. Goes to show O'Reilly's bias – if someone is religious, he must be a right-winger. To think otherwise wouldn't go very well with his whole "Secular Progressive" meme. The second laugh of the night was the fake news story about Barack Obama's insistence that 5-year-olds should be taught about sex in public schools and that Mitt Romney is the good man who is trying to stop that. It was so ridiculous even my right-wing family saw right through it.

The story according to Faux News is that Obama said pre-schoolers should be taught about the birds and the bees, implying graphic descriptions of how it all works, and maybe even a little "Meaning of Life" classroom demonstration. But what Obama actually endorsed was teaching little kids that their bodies are their own and that sexual touching by an adult is not OK. What makes the whole controversy so funny is that all Obama is advocating is that kids be taught the same sex-ed program that Romney supported in Massachusetts, where he was governor.

Teddy Davis and Lindsey Ellerson put it well in their ABC News article about the incident today:

"I was governor four years," said Romney. "I never had one person coming to me and say, 'You know what, governor, I'm concerned about something.' What's that? 'I'm concerned about sex education. I'm concerned my kids aren't learning enough about sex.' I never heard that."

Romney may have never heard that because Massachusetts -- the state where he served as governor from 2003 to 2007 -- has a decidedly progressive sex education curriculum. Under the state's non-binding framework, school districts can begin working towards the state's sex education goals as early as pre-kindergarten.

David Brody at CBN looks at Obama's stance and offers his opinion, comparing the plan to Oregon's sex-ed program.

They have the following guidelines for sex education for children in grades K-3, which include "understanding the difference between a good touch and a bad touch, understanding the names for body parts, personal hygiene, and "refusal skills."

Obama says this issue is important to him because members of his family have suffered from some form of sexual abuse as children. He wants kids to have the understanding necessary to help them be less vulnerable to sexual abuse. That's why his campaign's explanation of his stance clears up this whole thing:

Barack Obama supports sensible, community-driven education for children because, among other things, he believes it could help protect them from pedophiles. A child's knowledge of the difference between appropriate and inappropriate touching is crucial to keeping them safe from predators."

Brody says:

As for further details, the touching aspect seems to be the main idea here. Obama doesn't want to hand out condoms to five year olds. He doesn't want cucumber demonstrations as part of show and tell. The legitimate reasonable discussion here is whether the federal government and/or local school boards should get involved in providing these five year olds information about inappropriate touching or should it be left up to families only.

Gosh, it's just so reasonable. A simple thing like this, controlled by the local community, with an "opt out" for parents. You just have to wonder why Romney would be jumping on Obama for something like this right now. After all, right now Romney's not even running against Obama. He's running against Giuliani.

No word yet, by the way, on how Giuliani feels about those cucumber lessons in Kindergarden classrooms.

Posted by Becky at July 20, 2007 11:41 AM