Thread by @ParentsUnitedRI

A thread from Aldo describing his analysis of a particular YouTube channel is below.

This idea of agency/consent for children has local ramifications this week in North Kingstown, #RhodeIsland and proposed Sex Ed curricula.

A 🧵:

https://twitter.com/AldoButtazzoni/status/1620505824224481280

2/ NK is the home of the Aaron Thomas "Naked Fat Test" scandal. (A coach allegedly was performing fat tests on athletes while they were nude, without true/informed parental consent.)

Now, enter new Sex Ed curricula revision discussion.

3/ It's important to remember that SIECUS et al. gives insight into "why" Sex Ed should be changed, the National Sex Ed Standards is the "what" to be taught, and curriculum is the "how" schools administer, and whether it starts in grade K or Grade 6 is merely the "when". So....

4/Let's start with the "why": Notice the assumptions around child agency/consent to sexual activity, and the political & ideological assumptions behind it.

As for the "what" is proposed, even that is "theory driven...emerging...and ever-evolving".

Now, on to the "how"...

5/ As NK #parents and school admin consider revising curriculum this week, remember the curriculum and downstream lesson plans are just "how" this these changes to Sex Ed are delivered.

The conversation in NK, in our opinion, needs to focus on child agency/consent, and...

6/ The NK "Naked Fat Test" debacle teaches us that the kids who were abused weren't old enough to consent. School admin weren't equipped to handle it, even after knowing of it for YEARS. Actual LAWS were passed afterwards, protecting kids from abuse @ the hands of adults. Yet...

7/ Activists within the school district, & even on the NK School Committee itself, seek to engage with students and their sexual activity in an even greater way.

Don't argue the minutiae of curricula - focus on the utter failure as a district to handle sex scandals.

And...

8/ TLDR is this: Children don't have full agency, & the law already says they can't always consent.

Government in general, schools in particular, and NK specifically, should not be involved in what is a #Parents decision to direct the Sex Education of their children. /FIN