Pretty Please Vote This Year?
Midterm elections are coming up... and public education hangs in the balance.
The other week, our district had this school year’s first curriculum committee meeting via Google Meet. I struggled to pay attention through various course proposals as my daughter and two other kids screeched their way around my house, occasionally knocking on my door to beg for help in opening their mini bags of Cheetos. (Question: How many bags of Cheetos can one child eat while they are being neglected by the adult who is supposed to watch over them? Answer: Many.) In the end, mention of the updated health education curriculum was but a quick blip that I mostly missed because of the aforementioned Cheetos. The gist? Our curriculum was now compliant with the updated standards. The End.
You could be forgiven for thinking this might be the end of it. But I’m still uneasy.
Just last week, I learned that a high school librarian in our district had been fired for displaying nontraditional books in the school library.
I’ve also been doing my homework on the candidates running for my district’s Board of Education. The two frontrunners worry me. They don’t strike me as folks who would fight for more inclusive curricula. Unfortunately, the financial backing they’ve received from some shady-ass characters seems to have propelled them to the head of the race, with lawn signs in support of them dotting just about every yard in town.
These two things—conservative candidates and a vilified librarian—make me worry about the quality of education my child and her peers will receive in the near future.
There is only so much a parent can impart on their own. The culture of a community goes a long way in forging the person a child becomes.
I’m going to keep this short: Midterm elections are nearly upon us and, while voting can only do so much, it’s still crucial. As I recently wrote over at the Feminist Book Club blog, we need to fight like hell to boost the candidates who have our best interests at heart. Because there's a lot of bullshit going down out there. And those who seek to yank us deeper into the dystopian hellscape to which we've become accustomed are loud as hell.
Don't let them shout their way to victory.
Scoot that butt over to the polls.
Full Disclosure: Sex Ed in the News
Sex-positive parenting can be a slippery term if you don’t actually work in the field of sex education. Here’s a primer on what it actually is.
A reporter for Ms. magazine interviewed both educators and students on how to make sex ed more welcoming and comprehensive.
My Favorite New Sex Ed Resource
Looking to speak up for sex education in your district? EducateUS has put together a quickstart guide for doing just that. It contains helpful messaging for school board meetings, public hearings, and more.
And a bonus resource!
This one was likely put together for educators, but if you could use more diverse and inclusive sex ed graphics for your at-home instruction, this doc is it. As its curator states right off the bat, everyone deserves to see themselves represented in their educational materials. This doc contains links to reproductive and sexual anatomy charts, graphics, and photos, even including resources for intersex bodies.