The Globe and Mail
2.23.15 | ZOSIA BIELSKI
While sex educators laud the revised sexual health education curriculum in Ontario as an important step forward, they stop short of touting it as a gold standard – like other sex-ed teachings around the world, it’s playing catch up with material students have been consuming on their screens for well over a decade.
ritics suggest this modern sex ed primarily highlights fear once again. It’s part of a long tradition with school-based education to emphasize the negative: Where we used to mostly worry about teen pregnancy rates and sexually transmitted infections, we are now concerned about rape culture and cyberbullying.
“There’s a heavy emphasis on preventing problems. That’s good and that’s important,” says Alex McKay, executive director of the Sex Information and Education Council of Canada. “But we hope to see – particularly in the way that teachers present it – that this is within a context that sees human sexuality as a positive, healthy part of life.”
Ontario’s curriculum was last updated in 1998, before the advent of smartphones and social media. The new reforms tackle such issues as online safety and the perils of sexting, as well as affirmative consent. Experts suggest the new guidelines bring Ontario up to speed with many other provinces, if not put it ahead of the game. They commend the current teachings for providing factual, up-to-date and developmentally appropriate information about gender and sexuality that young people can use to make good decisions.
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