Education forum addresses touchy subject
The College of Education held a discussion on this controversial issue.
Published March 11, 2008
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Pattonville School District history teacher Don Schulte participates in the Education Week forum on Saturday in Conservation Auditorium. Schulte said he believes great public schools for every child is a basic right. “The most important thing for learning is remembering what you are interested in,” Schulte said. “As a teacher my job is to get them interested in the subject.”
MU’s College of Education held an annual public forum Saturday to discuss sex and religion in public schools.
Catie Monzyk, the president of MU’s Pi Lambda Theta education honor society chapter, introduced the topics being discussed as well as the panelists debating in the program. Rep. Therese Sander, R-Moberly, and Allison Hile, Teen Pregnancy and Prevention Partnership interim director, discussed the role of sexual education in schools.
Sander sponsored a law that was passed last year that requires schools to teach contraceptive methods in a way that promotes abstinence. The bill took effect in August. Sanders said the bill requires schools to provide statistical information on the failure rates of contraceptives instead of teaching about sexual activity and contraceptive methods.
The law also prohibits organizations that provide abortions, like Planned Parenthood, from teaching about contraceptives in schools, but allows religious organizations to enter, such as the Crisis Pregnancy Center.
“I believe that our children should be educated about sexually transmitted diseases,” Sanders said. “They need to know how they acquire them and how to protect themselves.”
Hile, who said she’s worked for 28 years at the Hope Clinic for Women in St. Louis, an abortion provider, stressed the need for comprehensive sexual education in schools. She said abstinence programs, including Sander’s bill, are ineffective and misleading.
“This is not just an issue about ideology,” Hile said. “These are our sons and daughters. We need to give them information about contraceptives.”
Missouri National Education Association Director Don Schulte, who teaches social studies in the Pattonville School District, introduced the segment called “Changing Curriculum,” which focused on who decides what public schools teach.
Schulte said that with the No Child Left Behind Act putting more of an emphasis on testing, 44 percent of school districts have reported cutting time for one or more subjects. He said the bill is under-funded and also de-emphasizes art and other learning experiences that are not pertinent to test material, like field trips and recess.
While school districts used to be the ones deciding what was taught in the schools, Schulte said that responsibility has now been shifted to the state.
Dan Winter, director of American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas & Western Missouri, and Richard Koffarnus, history and philosophy professor at Central Christian College of the Bible, delivered the last segment, which focused on the role of religion in schools.
Winter said the U.S. Constitution has already decided what should not be taught. He said teaching religion in schools is important, but not teaching religion as fact or belief.
Koffarnus said he would like to see a continuous increase in courses that teach religion at schools.
Junior Diane Edwards, a secondary education major, attended the presentation.
“I agree with the basic premise of the No Child Left Behind Act,” she said. “However, I think we should be looking more at the progress students are making.”
For many education majors, religion was also a concern based on teaching sexuality in the classroom.
“I think we should start discussing sexual education even before the teenage years to promote awareness,” sophomore education major Shayla Howell said.
