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Tag: Stranger Than Fiction Total: 22 results found.
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Schools have long provided condoms to students with the dreaded condom-on-banana sex ed class being perhaps the most caricatured instance. However, a school in Massachusetts has taken providing condoms to a new extreme. A policy approved on June 10 of this year by a Massachusetts school district allows any student who requests a condom to receive one from the school nurse. The Provincetown board chairman defended the policy, stating that because there is no set age when sexual activity begins, the committee did not set an age for condom availability. The policy requires that students requesting condoms receive counseling from the school nurse prior to receipt of the condom, and the counseling includes abstinence information. Along with providing condoms to any children that request them, the policy does not require school officials to notify parents of minors that their child has requested and received condoms, even if the child is a kindergartner. Beyond the potential implications of statutory rape, sexual abuse, and psychologically damaging early exposure to erotica, the absurdity is perhaps most clear in that condoms provided to children under the age of 12 will likely not fit or provide any reasonable level of protection to the child. The Swiss have begun manufacturing condoms for boys as young as 12, but these are not available in America and certainly not on a school’s budget. (see article here http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/7361181/Extra-small-condoms-for-12-year-old-boys-go-on-sale-in-Switzerland.html). Upon learning about the policy, Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick has urged school officials to reconsider the policy. Do you agree with the Massachusetts district’s policy? What age or what qualifications would you set for condom availability to students?  Continue Reading...

UPDATE: Thanks to the efforts of David Morales's school superintendent, plastic green soldiers wielding the "tools of a profession or service" (i.e. guns) may be allowed in the school as student expression of patriotism and democracy. The superintendent acknowledged that the school's policy banning the army men had been misrepresented in this case, and the patriotism David displayed by gluing the toys to his hat ought to be protected. Thanks to the Coventry School District for reconsidering the policy and acknowledging the overly restrictive nature of it in this case. Schools are learning environments and function at their pinnacle when students learn from teachers and when administrators and teachers learn from their students, as well.  Continue Reading...

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