U.K to.Lead the Way in Teaching Sex-Ed to Scouts
Stuart Nachbar
October 21, 2008
This week I´ve read that The Scout Association, the U.K. equivalent to the Boy Scouts in the U.S, has announced that sex education will part of scouting programs.
The Association plans for Scout leaders to hand out condoms to prevent unprotected sex and advising where to get pregnancy tests (around 15% of scouts are girls). Although the new policy will apply to all scouts age six and above, only explorer scouts, age 14-18, will visit sexual health clinics and do "how to say no" role-playing. Scout leaders will be able to give confidential contraceptive advice to scouts under-16s and even hand out emergency condoms on trips. The Association insists the information will help Scouts resist peer pressure to have sex before they are ready.
"We must be realistic and accept that around a third of young people are sexually active before 16 and many more start relationships at 16 and 17," the chief scout, Peter Duncan told the British press. Duncan added that "with over 450,000 members, scouting touches members of every community, religious and social group in the country … adults in scouting have a duty to promote safe and responsible relationships, and we have the responsibility to provide sound advice about how to do that". Reactions have been positive and negative, as much as they might be "across the pond" in America.
I´ve been careful to quote the Association and their leader verbatim; his comments were quite clear and there was no need for interpretation. Scouting in the U.K. is presumably different in the scouting in the U.S. which is more focused on male bonding (and non-sexual) activities, and which excludes girls. The Boy Scout National Council Web site states that "Through the Boy Scout Program, young men can achieve the core objectives of strengthening character, personal fitness and good citizenship. I was never a Boy Scout, but I went through Cub Scouts before I decided not to take that plunge.
I thought of scouting as being much like the military; you follow the leader, wear a uniform, earn commendations, and learn to work outdoors as a team. If you wanted all of the outdoorsy activities, without the uniform, in a co-ed setting, you joined the local camping explorer post in the ninth grade. I knew the adult post leaders back then—they were a husband and wife who taught in the high school and middle school—and I doubt there was any form of sex education. However, most of the post members saw the husband every day in school, and he was a popular teacher. They didn´t dare cross a man they´d see in the classroom every day; they needed a good grade and a college recommendation.
I do not believe that the U.K. Association´s ideas would be practical in U.S. scouting. Americans are too divided on sex education classes in school, as taught by qualified sex educators. Parents would have a difficult time warming up to the thought of their boys being taught the birds and the bees, first by the Den Mother and Den Dad at a very young age, then by a Scoutmaster. Parents do not always see other parents as role models and it is doubtful that scout leaders would like to place themselves in the middle of sexual relations between their friends´ children. That leads me to understand why the U.K. scout leadership is taking their initiative: they would rather teach from a distance then get caught in the middle of a mess.
Even a sincere effort to bring in outside experts could backfire. As one example, four and a half years ago, leaders of a pro-life organization in Waco, Texas initiated a boycott of Girl Scout cookies because of the "cozy relationship" between the local Girl Scouts and the local chapter of Planned Parenthood. (See the USA Today story at http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2004-03-03-cookie-boycott_x.htm)
According to that story, parents were upset to learn that the local Girl Scout organization had given a "woman of distinction award" last year to a Planned Parenthood executive. Parents were disturbed to find out that their Girl Scout organization (the national Girl Scout organization has no position on sex education) had endorsed a Planned Parenthood sex-ed program.
The furor forced parents to withdraw their daughters from the Girl Scout troop, and the local Brownie troop as well, even in light of a skyrocketing demand for cookies as a protest against the boycott. The parent leaders of both troops resigned. This seems like an over-reaction, but I guess it had to happen because the troops had become more curious about sex. The story mentions that the mothers had planned to start their own organization using a Christian-based curriculum.
This story took place in Crawford Texas, the very community where President Bush resides. It could have happened anyplace else in America, red state or blue.
Contact Stuart Nachbar at http://www.EducatedQuest.com, a blog on education politics, policy and technology or read about his first book, The Sex Ed Chronicles, a novel on education and politics in 1980 New Jersey, at http://www.SexEdChronicles.com.
The Association plans for Scout leaders to hand out condoms to prevent unprotected sex and advising where to get pregnancy tests (around 15% of scouts are girls). Although the new policy will apply to all scouts age six and above, only explorer scouts, age 14-18, will visit sexual health clinics and do "how to say no" role-playing. Scout leaders will be able to give confidential contraceptive advice to scouts under-16s and even hand out emergency condoms on trips. The Association insists the information will help Scouts resist peer pressure to have sex before they are ready.
"We must be realistic and accept that around a third of young people are sexually active before 16 and many more start relationships at 16 and 17," the chief scout, Peter Duncan told the British press. Duncan added that "with over 450,000 members, scouting touches members of every community, religious and social group in the country … adults in scouting have a duty to promote safe and responsible relationships, and we have the responsibility to provide sound advice about how to do that". Reactions have been positive and negative, as much as they might be "across the pond" in America.
I´ve been careful to quote the Association and their leader verbatim; his comments were quite clear and there was no need for interpretation. Scouting in the U.K. is presumably different in the scouting in the U.S. which is more focused on male bonding (and non-sexual) activities, and which excludes girls. The Boy Scout National Council Web site states that "Through the Boy Scout Program, young men can achieve the core objectives of strengthening character, personal fitness and good citizenship. I was never a Boy Scout, but I went through Cub Scouts before I decided not to take that plunge.
I thought of scouting as being much like the military; you follow the leader, wear a uniform, earn commendations, and learn to work outdoors as a team. If you wanted all of the outdoorsy activities, without the uniform, in a co-ed setting, you joined the local camping explorer post in the ninth grade. I knew the adult post leaders back then—they were a husband and wife who taught in the high school and middle school—and I doubt there was any form of sex education. However, most of the post members saw the husband every day in school, and he was a popular teacher. They didn´t dare cross a man they´d see in the classroom every day; they needed a good grade and a college recommendation.
I do not believe that the U.K. Association´s ideas would be practical in U.S. scouting. Americans are too divided on sex education classes in school, as taught by qualified sex educators. Parents would have a difficult time warming up to the thought of their boys being taught the birds and the bees, first by the Den Mother and Den Dad at a very young age, then by a Scoutmaster. Parents do not always see other parents as role models and it is doubtful that scout leaders would like to place themselves in the middle of sexual relations between their friends´ children. That leads me to understand why the U.K. scout leadership is taking their initiative: they would rather teach from a distance then get caught in the middle of a mess.
Even a sincere effort to bring in outside experts could backfire. As one example, four and a half years ago, leaders of a pro-life organization in Waco, Texas initiated a boycott of Girl Scout cookies because of the "cozy relationship" between the local Girl Scouts and the local chapter of Planned Parenthood. (See the USA Today story at http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2004-03-03-cookie-boycott_x.htm)
According to that story, parents were upset to learn that the local Girl Scout organization had given a "woman of distinction award" last year to a Planned Parenthood executive. Parents were disturbed to find out that their Girl Scout organization (the national Girl Scout organization has no position on sex education) had endorsed a Planned Parenthood sex-ed program.
The furor forced parents to withdraw their daughters from the Girl Scout troop, and the local Brownie troop as well, even in light of a skyrocketing demand for cookies as a protest against the boycott. The parent leaders of both troops resigned. This seems like an over-reaction, but I guess it had to happen because the troops had become more curious about sex. The story mentions that the mothers had planned to start their own organization using a Christian-based curriculum.
This story took place in Crawford Texas, the very community where President Bush resides. It could have happened anyplace else in America, red state or blue.
Contact Stuart Nachbar at http://www.EducatedQuest.com, a blog on education politics, policy and technology or read about his first book, The Sex Ed Chronicles, a novel on education and politics in 1980 New Jersey, at http://www.SexEdChronicles.com.
Print
Email
