A kindergarten class in Alert Bay, British Columbia, was asked to go home and masturbate and to report back on where in their home they did it.
In the school’s meager defense, the teacher seems to have acted on their own, and not in accordance with whatever school sex ed policy existed (hint: the policy should be, “Parents, Teach Your Own Children About It”).
The worksheet sent home with children from T’lisalagi’lakw School (part of Namgis First Nation), is adapted from a sex ed book geared toward preschoolers called Body Smart: Right From the Start (and I refuse to link it because no book should promote masturbation among young children). Somehow teaching children to touch themselves is meant, according to the book’s author, to prevent sexual abuse. OK. Sure.
We need to stop believing that every teacher that comes in contact with our children has pure intentions. Even if there is transparency in the curriculum, even if they belong to your church, even if the principal “runs a tight ship,” teachers’ views and opinions trickle down into their work, the same way they would for anyone in any profession. There are plenty of teachers in America and elsewhere that think worksheets like these are perfectly acceptable. Are you absolutely sure they aren’t planning to unleash one in your child’s kindergarten class? Or that they haven’t, already?
Where Your Children Are 