PORTAGE, Michigan (LifeSiteNews) — A Michigan school district is proposing to teach sixth graders about the impacts of pornography, prompting concerns from parents uneasy with public educators discussing the subject with their children at all.
WWMT reports that Portage Public Schools (PPS) currently incorporates messages about differences between pornography and “healthy relationships” as part of its ninth-grade “human growth and development” classes, but some argue that children need warnings sooner because they can be exposed to inappropriate material more easily in the age of smartphones and social media.
“The goal of that lesson is to talk about what is a healthy relationship and give students some information about what they see,” PPS Curriculum Director Tracy Speaker-Gerstheim said. “It’s very easy to see inappropriate content […] We’re trying to be proactive rather than reactive and educate students at a younger age about some of the dangers out there.”
Portage Public Schools’ “human growth and development” curriculum features contraception lessons, including about “correct condom use” and the “pros and cons of current contraceptive methods,” in ninth grade and detailed discussions about “reproductive anatomy” in middle school.
Regarding pornography, some parents objected to the prospect of schools raising the issue at such a young age, but officials stress that the purpose is not to present pornography in a positive light, no actual pornography would be shown, and parents would be able to opt their children out.
According to Kalamazoo Gazette/MLive, some parents opposed using the word “pornography” in the lesson, but school officials opted to keep it. Some lesson slides were reportedly revised based on parental feedback.
“With exposure to platforms like TikTok and YouTube, etc. students encounter a wide range of relationship models – some of which are unhealthy,” argued PPS community relations manager Michelle Karpinski, the Christian Post reports. “Avoiding these topics can create confusion and shame, so we believe it is essential for trained adults to provide clear, factual guidance to help students navigate digital spaces safely […the lesson] focuses on what students should do if they encounter inappropriate content.”
While the statements of district officials suggest an anti-pornography, pro-sexual-responsibility purpose, entrusting the subject to public schools at all is a risky proposition for many Christian and conservative families, given many districts’ notorious bias in favor of promiscuity and other anti-family lessons, and marked hostility to parents’ wishes.
The school board is slated to vote on the change next week.
“Parents are the principal and first educators of their children,” the Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches. “In this sense the fundamental task of marriage and family is to be at the service of life.”
“The right and the duty of parents to educate their children are primordial and inalienable,” the Catechism adds, especially with regard to moral and spiritual matters.
The indoctrination of children with radical sexual ideologies and other left-wing agenda items has long been a major concern in American public schools, from libraries to athletic and restroom policy to drag events to classroom materials to even “transitioning” troubled children without parental knowledge or consent. Many schools have also displayed hostility to the rights and employment of individual teachers who refuse to go along with such agendas. In recent years, such trends have provoked a backlash with the election of Republicans such as Gov. Glenn Youngkin in Virginia and Gov. Ron DeSantis in Florida.