[video=youtube;IH0xzsogzAk]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IH0xzsogzAk[/video] This is a decent example of the way McCain is misleading with his ads. It's too bad the "sheep" will never know the difference.
I actually read the Bill in question. Obama struck out 6-12th grade and replaced it with K-12, throughout. And it does teach sex education to 5 year olds, including how to not get AIDS (use condoms during sex, etc.). Can't we let 5 year olds be 5 year olds instead of political pawns?
Mr. Obama voted for the bill in committee, where it passed, but it never came to a full and final vote. The proposal called for “age and developmentally appropriate” sex education and also allowed parents the option of withdrawing their children from such classroom instruction if they felt that it clashed with their beliefs or values. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ “I have a 6-year-old daughter and a 3-year-old daughter, and one of the things my wife and I talked to our daughter about is the possibility of somebody touching them inappropriately, and what that might mean,” Mr. Obama said in 2004. “And that was included specifically in the law, so that kindergarteners are able to exercise some possible protection against abuse, because I have family members as well as friends who suffered abuse at that age.” ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ The advertisement, then, also misrepresents what the bill meant by “comprehensive.” The instruction the bill required was comprehensive in that it called for a curriculum that went from kindergarten and through high school, not in the sense that kindergarteners would have been fully exposed to the entire gamut of sex-related issues. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________ In another part of the advertisement, Mr. McCain maintains that Mr. Obama’s sole achievement in education was the sex-education bill. In reality, Mr. Obama not only helped administer a $49 million education project in Chicago in the 1990s, but also sponsored or co-sponsored measures that increased the number of charter schools in Illinois, and expanded federal grants to summer school programs and to historically black colleges. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/11/u...bl&ex=1221278400&en=139555dd265b8c71&ei=5087
So quote Obama's PR firm, I mean the NY Times. The bill says what it says. When asked about it, he said he did support teaching sex ed to 5 year olds. If you're trying to teach kids that young about what sexual predators do, why not tell 'em "if an adult touches you here, here, or there, call an adult you trust and tell them right away." http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/ful...&DocNum=99&GAID=3&LegID=734&SpecSess=&Session 7 Sec. 27-9.1. Sex Education. 8 (a) No pupil shall be required to take or participate in 9 any class or course in comprehensive sex education if the 10 pupil's <s>his</s> parent or guardian submits written objection 11 thereto, and refusal to take or participate in such course or 12 program shall not be reason for suspension or expulsion of 13 such pupil. Each class or course in comprehensive sex 14 education offered in any of grades K <s>6</s> through 12 shall 15 include instruction on the prevention of sexually transmitted 16 infections, including the prevention, transmission and spread 17 of HIV <s>AIDS</s>. Nothing in this Section prohibits instruction in 18 sanitation, hygiene or traditional courses in biology. </pre>
Exactly what is age and developmentally appropriate about teaching sexual conduct and practices to 5 year olds? That's just lame spin.
I have no problem with children learning about inappropriate touching. If you did have a problem with it, then the law grants you the opportunity to remove your child from the class.
Why do you need a daily or weekly CLASS IN COMPREHENSIVE SEX EDUCATION to teach a 5 year old that? We're talking about kids who are years before puberty. Anyhow, the point is whether the ad is accurate. To this point, it is.
section 3 makes it clear that the information provided must be "age appropriate," and (I assume) be up to the administrator of each school district.
Age Appropriate COMPREHENSIVE Sex Education is an oxymoron. So they tell the kids "if someone touches you there, tell an adult you trust right away." What do they do the rest of all that time the kids are in these classes?
five-year-olds don't take separate classes for each subject. regardless, as I read the bill, it doesn't require sex education classes; it just sets out the content should they be offered. I assume that whether sex education content is offered to students of a particular age would be up to each school district administrator; however, I also assume that at some point it becomes mandatory, such as in high school, but there would be a different state statute on that.
Whether we agree or not on teaching comprehensive sex education to 5 year olds is appropriate, it is still a fact in the ad that stands up to scrutiny.
When's the last time that McCain has had a honest attack ad? He's has had tons of ads filled with lies about Obama, as posted in this thread. Then of course the celebrity style character attacks. Like what the hell are these? <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Id1IKJGVkvg&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Id1IKJGVkvg&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object> <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/ls05NfUAiNk&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/ls05NfUAiNk&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object> These are nothing but propaganda ads playing to the worst parts of religious bigots. It seems like John McCain is in hissy fit mode because Obama wouldn't agree to those town halls. I believe McCain himself even said that his campaign could have been run differently if Obama agreed to the town halls. Of course this isn't fair, because John McCain was too scared to agree to doing the one on one, no moderator debates that Barack Obama either.
You know what, if you really believe that the bill was written to teach 5 year olds about HIV and the like, then I don't even know what to say to you. The bill obviously covers a lot of stuff, and you can try to make it say whatever you want it to. But the fact that "age and developmentally appropriate" is in there 3 times tells me that the curriculum is going to vary greatly from grades K-12.
Like I said, the ad on this point stands up to scrutiny. The ad claims Obama was involved in this bill that teaches sex education to kids in grade K. It does, whatever "age and developmentally appropriate" is taken to mean.
We didn't have a comprehensive sexual education course in kindergarten, but we did have one in 1st grade...at a Catholic school. Although we did have the "strangers are bad, and that type of stuff" education in Kindergarten. In 1st grade, you began learning about pregnancy, and that a man/woman create a baby...no explanation how. Second grade you learn about some body changes you might go through in something called "puberty" as part of that education. Third grade, they introduce the concepts of penis and vagina into the discussion, and it's on from there. That was at a Catholic school too. I don't see what the big deal is of having a sexual education plan that's comprehensive, and then scales upward like my example.
ABC News: http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalradar/2007/07/sex-ed-for-kind.html Sex Ed for Kindergarteners 'Right Thing to Do,' Says Obama July 18, 2007 1:13 PM <!--A'Melody Lee --> ABC News' Teddy Davis and Lindsey Ellerson Report: Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., told Planned Parenthood Tuesday that sex education for kindergarteners, as long as it is "age-appropriate," is "the right thing to do." "I remember Alan Keyes . . . I remember him using this in his campaign against me," Obama said in reference to the conservative firebrand who ran against him for the U.S. Senate in 2004. Sex education for kindergarteners had become an issue in his race against Keyes because of Obama’s work on the issue as chairman of the health committee in the Illinois state Senate. "'Barack Obama supports teaching sex education to kindergarteners,'" said Obama mimicking Keyes' distinctive style of speech. "Which -- I didn’t know what to tell him (laughter)." "But it’s the right thing to do," Obama continued, "to provide age-appropriate sex education, science-based sex education in schools." Watch the video: http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=3386492 Speaking to a young woman who asked a question about sex education, Obama said, "You, as a peer, can have enormous power over your age cohort but you’ve got to have some support from the schools. You certainly should not have to be fighting each and every instance by providing accurate information outside of the classroom because inside the classroom the only thing that can be talked about is abstinence."
I probably would have drafted it differently, but statutory language is always the product of heated debate and messy compromise.
