Growth and Development Students will learn the basic characteristics of physical growth and development, including body functions and systems throughout the life cycle, and will acquire skills to promote and maintain positive growth and development.
Physical Activity & Fitness Students will, by repeated practice, acquire and refine a variety of manipulative, locomotor, and non-locomotor movement skills, and will utilize principles of training and conditioning, will learn biomechanics and exercise physiology, and will apply the concept of wellness to their lives.
Nutrition Students will gain the knowledge and skills to select a diet that supports health and reduces the risk of illness and future chronic diseases.
Reproduction/Sexuality Students will acquire the knowledge and skills necessary to make effective personal decisions that promote their emotional, sexual, and reproductive health.
Mental Health Students will acquire knowledge about emotions and physical health, the management of emotions, personality and character development, and social awareness; and will learn skills to promote self-acceptance, make decisions, and cope with stress, including suicide prevention.
Family Life Students will gain knowledge about the significance of the family on individuals and society, and will learn skills to support the family, balance work and family life, be an effective parent, and nurture the development of children.
Interpersonal Relationships Students will learn that relationships with others are an integral part of the human life experience and the factors that contribute to healthy interpersonal relationships, and will acquire skills to enhance and make many of these relationships more fulfilling through commitment and communication.
Disease Prevention & Controls Students will learn the signs, symptoms, and treatment of chronic and communicable diseases, and will gain skills related to health promotion, disease prevention, and health maintenance.
Safety & Injury Prevention Students will gain the knowledge and skills to administer first aid and carry out emergency procedures, including cardiopulmonary resuscitation, will avoid, recognize, and report verbal, physical, and emotional abuse situations, and will assess the factors that contribute to intentional and unintentional injury, including motor vehicle accidents, fire safety, and weapons safety.
Tobacco, Alcohol, & Other Substance Students will acquire the knowledge and skills to be competent in making health-enhancing decisions regarding the use of medications and avoidance of substances, and in communicating about substance use/abuse prevention for healthier homes, schools, and communities.
Violence Prevention Students will learn how their actions affect others, will understand the power that positive character traits can have in violence prevention, will gain skills to report incidents of violence and hurtful behavior to adults in the school and community, will avoid engaging in violence, and identify constructive alternatives to violence, including how to discourage others from engaging in violence.
Consumer Health & Resource Management Students will acquire the knowledge and skills necessary to obtain, manage, and evaluate resources to maintain physical and mental health and well being for themselves, their family, and the community.
Ecological Health Students will gain knowledge of the interdependence between the environment and physical health, and will acquire skills to care for the environment.
Community & Public Health Students will learn the influence of social factors on health and contribution of public health, and will gain skills to promote health and to collaborate with others to facilitate healthy, safe, and supportive communities.
This curriculum is comprehensive and age-appropriate. Please support the chief sponsors of this legislation, Senator Ed Augustus and Representative Alice Wolf, as well as the over 100 organizations who have endorsed this curriculum.
By the way, here is a link to the statistics gleaned from the 2005 Massachusetts Youth Risk Behavior Survey, a survey that would be rendered illegal under Senate Bill 321.
I can find no other subject that is required by the state to be offered in K-12. Why should this one be any different?
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Also, I consider many of the strands are either age-inappropriate, cross the line into child-rearing, or are a simple invasion on privacy. Others are downright silly. A few examples:
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PreK-5
4.2 Identify the physical changes as related to the reproductive system during puberty.
4.3 Define sexual orientation using the correct terminology (such as heterosexual, and gay and lesbian).
4.4 Recognize that diet, exercise, rest, and avoidance of risk behaviors such as smoking, drinking, and other substance use contribute to the health of a mother and fetus.
9.7 Apply appropriate first aid for cuts and bruises, including observing universal precautions. (ed: and just how is this supposed to be done?)
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6-8
5.8 Identify the causes and effects of depression and how to seek help.
7.8 Describe the purpose of dating and acceptable dating attitudes (such as respect) and appropriate conduct.
9.10 Recognize sexual abuse and child abuse and how to get help.
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9-12
6.13 Evaluate various types of discipline parents might use with children of different ages.
6.17 Describe parental practices that encourage literacy in young children.
9.15 Define harassment based on gender, race, national origin, sexual orientation, religion, or handicap. (ed: found in the safety and injury prevention strand?!?)
9.20 Describe symptoms and procedures for sudden illness conditions. (ed: what the heck?!?)
12.13 Describe the various methods for gaining access to health care and health insurance. (ed: and when you’ve figured that out, teach the Connector)
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Maybe some of these would be more palatable if a narrower band of ages were prescribed. Still, I would not require this curriculum, especially given it’s lack of accountability. For example, by what metric will we deem such a requirement as successful and how will it be demonstrated that any change is a result of the curricular requirement?
Washington State just passed a bill insuring that medically accurate sex ed be taught in all schools. The curriculum guidelines can be linked to from here. Prior to this law, each school was on its own in coming up with sex ed curriculum. For too many, this amounted to abstinence-only ed. In King County (home of Seattle), teen pregnancy and STD rates were significantly higher in districts where abstinence-only was taught. Needless to say, it is a great leap forward for WA to finally get this law in place. MA should benefit similarly. Nice to see, also, that it is broader than just sex ed. Looks like a smart plan.
And there is broad-based support from the social service and health care agencies who deal with the fallout from these issues. The legislator support is strong.
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Please talk up CARE for Youth and their goals. I’m hopeful to bring them in to address our school committee this year.
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We had six pregancies in my high school this year–six. Something is dreadfully wrong.
Is this legislation serious, or a put on? After I decided it was for real, I couldn’t stop laughing for 30 minutes.
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This curriculum is educational claptrap, pretentious nonsense. It looks like the education lobby?s attempt at featherbedding since the content is simply rehashed 1950?s elementary school material with a bunch of common sense replaced by progressive lecturing (but that’s the point, isn’t it?)
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lightiris, are you a MTA poo-bah?
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If you can get past the BS jargon, here?s really what they meant to say:
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All this, no doubt, from the potheads and misanthropes who brought us the Summer of Love, and who helped American society become so disfunctional that they think this has to be ?taught? in school. By them.
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Happy Anniversary!