Hello, everyone. And welcome back to America Under the Microscope. Hi, Lulu.

Hi, James.

This is the advanced episode for sex education.

So we're gonna continue our talk about sex education we were doing in the basic episode, and I'd like to jump into some of the debates that Americans have on this topic, en

...which there are many.

I can imagine. The other day I actually watched a video on social media. I think the teacher was teaching, I don't know like something related to LGBTQ and then there was an angry parent storming into the classroom and tried to rip off the pride flag or something like that.

YEAH. So that is actually one of the big debates right now. So it isn't really like a subject to debate whether sex that should be taught. But the content of the lessons is a debate yeah. because some parents all they want is the basic biology.

It's like ovum, testis, sperm, fertilizers and egg and so on and so forth and really dry science.en. And some are on the opposite end of the spectrum and they want to talk about everything from sexual orientation to gender identity, whatnot. And just like every kind of debate you can't always find, people can't always find the middle ground here.

Yeah, but would you consider this I'm not gonna ask you about your personal opinion on this, but I am just going to ask, would you consider gender identity part of this sex education thing? because to me gender is kind of a different...basically it’s a whole different topic.

I honestly would put it in a separate unit, completely separate part of the curriculum. It's like part of the social emotional learning because it doesn't necessarily need to be in line with sexual education because sex ed is at least in my mind it is the actual act of partake in sexual relationships. It doesn't really matter who was two adults, then you need to know about how to do it in a responsible safe way. And gender identity, that's an identity lesson and I think that should actually be a separate lesson from sex ed.

Yeah. so this point of view, it was like these debates and controversies, they're mostly about what should be included in sex education.

Yeah. It's very much that and people's own personal beliefs, their own of whether they're more conservative in these kind of situations are not really do affect what gets done in the classroom. And since it's part of (you know ) the curriculum, this means it's also subject to the board of education and they get to also decide what is and is not included.

Yeah, and then it's the protests and then it’s the... more debates and then it’s the media coverage, the whole shebang.

AH. American media coverage. It is an interesting watch.

But you know that I think who is going to be really conflicted and also be put in a dilemma. I think are the teachers, the educators because they will have to teach the curriculum. But they have to teach it in a way that is non offensive to every single parent otherwise to get into trouble.

So they do the impossible, got it.

Yeah.

If I could teach a way to make every single parent happy that would make me the best teacher on the planet.

Yeah.

I don't think it's possible.

It's not possible. By the way, I know James, you're now teaching an international school in Beijing. So what about your curriculum, do they actually include sex education in your curriculum?

Yes, we do have it. We haven't started teaching it yet. They've given us the protocol that goes with it in our protocol has been approved by the Chinese government. So it starts in primary and it goes all the way up. And us teachers are receiving training on how it's to be implemented in the school. en I see.

I do know the protocol focus is nothing on gender identity, but it does focus on safe sex, sexually transmitted infections. In primary, it is focused on protecting children and hygiene. Those were the big ones, so those pretty standard stuff.

Yeah, this is also perhaps what I would agree on. I mean I’m very open minded when it comes to gender identity, but when you put that in school curriculum, then there's always the potential problem with (you know) teacher sort of sharing their own opinion, their personal opinion rather than is teaching the actual knowledge or information.

Me personally I hope I don't have to teach it because it's none of my wheelhouse. I'm a history teacher.

Yeah. That shouldn't be your... let the PE teachers do it, deal with... or the biology teachers.

Let's invite some experts and let's...

Let the experts do it actually. James, I'm gonna ask you a personal question. You are also a dad, you're also a parent. I know your kid is still very, very young, but when he gets older, do you hope as a parent like honestly, do you hope that the schools can just teach him rather than you having to have the awkward talk? Or what is it do you think it's parents' responsibility or the school's responsibility to give your kids sex education?

Honestly in this sense, I actually do think appearances it's primarily the parents' responsibility, not the schools.

It's really up to the parents to set a good example and set the expectations because the school can't always teach it in a way that you wanted to be taught. It's really up to the parents. And it also it's just part of being an adult and you gotta pass on talk with your children and tell them how the world is. Just what it is.

En. Yeah, I mean what's that word? Teach the fact of life and teach birds and bees. I know they're old, but I know they're only expressions but still.

So we were talking about all these controversies, but what about the general attitudes from parents in terms of whether they approve of sex education in the first place to be included in school curriculum?

When preparing for our episode today, I did some research and reading about that. Quite a few surveys say like over 90% of parents approve of sex ed. So it's got strong backing from parents. Parents do want it covered. But again, there are the limitations in place. You probably can find many newspaper articles, internet articles and whatnot about this topic in American media about certain states or certain places adding or changing the restrictions on what is and is not taught in this sex ed topic.

Yeah. I would be... I mean I know it's a little bit sensitive, but if you have certain religious belief, if you're super religious, wouldn't some parents want their kids just to abstain from sex, just no sex what so ever, no premarital sex as per their religion.

Usually a lot of these times when they have sex ed at class, people can opt out.

Oh ok.That's a piece of key information, you can choose not to take it.

Yeah. So that happened when I was a kid. So some parents there was like a release letter that went home, parents had to sign it or parents could choose to opt out and if you opt it out, your kid would be like taken to the library during that time for self study and return to class after the class was over.

On I see I see. Ok, I suppose that's rather considerate probably it's also another that is a way to shut the parents up. I know parents anywhere I think can be quite demanding and this is no deffense to parents out there listening to this show and I think you have every right to be. So it's difficult sometimes as a teacher or as school to accommodate the need of every parents really because everyone's very different, every family is different.

Okay, and since you said you've done some research, have you found research or types of research that are backing the necessity of sex education.

YEAH. I did. Recently there's been a trend in America that teen pregnancy has fallen quite a bit. So fewer high school kids are having babies which is a good thing. En. On the other hand, there has been a dramatic growth and STIS for people under the age of 25.

Yeah, for those of you who forgot what STI is, it’s sexually transmitted illnesses,right?

Yeah, or infections.

Yeah, or infections.

Yeah, so basically you're saying that with sex education, kids are smart enough to stay away from getting pregnant, but not smart enough to perform safe sex in order to stay away from STI.

Well, as I would probably say, it is like people are taking the pills, but these fools are not wrapping their tools.

Oh. A bit too graphic for the show probably. But I'm sure you understand. Now James, I'm gonna wrap up this episode with one more question.

Sure.

This is for you personally as an educator but also as a parent. So there's always a debate as in how early should we include sex education into kids general education. In china when there were some really bad criminal cases happened where kids were hurt or sort of violated or molested, there were people saying, yeah, some parents they would think it's too early, their kids are too young to get sex education. But you have to think these predators, these pedophiles, they are not gonna think that your kids are too young to hurt them like to hurt. So what is your idea as in how early do you think it should be .

Kindergarten.

Oh really?

But kindergarten basically it should start off with teaching the kids what that going like people touching them is not right and what they should do when that happens because there's a way you can read that to kids that they would understand it without even going into specific terminology or anything like that. It's like you have private areas. People are not supposed to touch those private areas and so on and so forth, that needs to start at kindergarten.

Yeah, I think I'm with you there. And I know there are actually also in China, I think there are experts who are trying to promote that kind of information or keep kids informed really so that they are protected from an early age.

Yeah. Okay, so on that topic, if you guys have any of your opinions to share, especially if you want to share about your past getting sex education in school or if you are a parent, you want to share your opinion, leave us a comment in the comment section. Thank you, James, for coming to the studio.

Thank you for having me and thank you all for listening.

We'll see you next time.

Bye.