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Puberty:  The Wonder Years

9/21/2017

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If you happen to be in the greater Los Angeles area and have young children in elementary school, boy are you in for a treat. There’s a new sex education program coming your way with the charming title of, “Puberty: The Wonder Years.” And it will be starting as early as fourth grade. (LA Times)

Sex education lessons are reportedly set to be tested for students as young as fourth grade in some Los Angeles Unified schools.

One of the courses the LAUSD is testing is “Puberty: The Wonder Years” authored by Michigan health educator and nurse Wendy Sellers, according to the Daily News.

Sellers, who has trained hundreds of teachers on her curriculum, says her course is aimed at changing the traditional role of sex education, which she told the Daily News often consisted in the past of a video on menstruation for girls in the sixth grade and another separate lesson for the boys in another classroom.
Right off the bat I’ll just say that I’m not such a prude that I don’t recognize the need to have improved sex education programs. Provided it’s done with the approval of the parents and remains age appropriate, there’s plenty of room for the system to do better. Also, for better or worse, children are maturing sexually earlier than they used to. Some of the horror stories about kids getting almost no education along these lines at home demonstrates the need to do better.

But where do you draw the line between actual sex education and social justice indoctrination? Young girls should be prepared for the onset of menstruation and both genders should be aware of all the health aspects which are involved in puberty. This program, however, goes considerably further. (Emphasis added)

Her curriculum – one that Sellers says is inclusive of LGTBQ identities and doesn’t assume traditional gender roles in describing relationships – would reportedly be taught to students between fourth and sixth grade and would integrate examples of same-sex couples into lessons.

According to the curriculum’s website, the goal of “Puberty: The Wonder Years” is to “equip students in grades 4, 5, and 6 with the knowledge and skills to 1) appreciate and respect the amazing changes experienced by self and others, and 2) to postpone sexual intercourse.”
I have no problem with integrating same-sex couples into the discussion early because that’s something that the kids will be encountering in real life anyway and a certain percentage of them are no doubt going to wind up in such relationships themselves. But the program’s authors couldn’t just leave it there. Denying “traditional gender roles” is just code language for indoctrinating children into the cultural normalization of gender dysphoria as somehow being normal and injecting even more confusion into an already confusing time of life.

There’s a Facebook page for the program where you can read all sorts of interesting comments and curriculum specifics. I was going to leave a comment myself, but I think you need to be an invited member.

This is yet another example of why schools – particularly public schools – can not be accepted as not only default baby sitters but essentially replacement parents. The family is primarily responsible for decisions as to what constitutes “education” for their children, and the churches play a role as well. If the parents of Los Angeles want their kids enrolled in some sort of transgender integration project, that’s on them. But if they aren’t being kept in the loop and given the option to keep their kids out of such “classes” then something needs to change.

Source
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​Ascend Applauds HHS in Ending the Ineffective Teen Pregnancy Prevention (TPP) Program

9/11/2017

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(Washington, DC) -Ascend applauds the decision by the US Dept. of Health and Human Services (HHS) to cut short, by two years, the failed TPP program which will be required to end June 2018. After a review of findings by HHS, the program, generously funded under the Obama administration since 2010, has simply failed to deliver expected outcomes despite its nearly billion-dollar price tag.
 
TPP programs were promoted on an “approved” list by the Office of Adolescent Health (OAH) and showcased as model programs that could be implemented with confidence. The OAH website stated, “Evidence-based programs can be expected to produce positive results consistently.”[1]  In good faith, many schools and communities across the country implemented these programs but did not experience the “positive results” promised. In fact, in replicating these “evidenced-based” programs, 80% of students fared no better or even worse than those who did not receive programs.   Additionally, three programs were found to put teens at greater risk by increasing sexual initiation, pregnancy and oral sex. [2] And yet, false assertions of success by TPP proponents tout the program as a major contributor to the decline in teen birth rates. However, as HHS leadership notes, the TPP program has reached a mere 1% of the teen population since 2010 and can hardly lay claim to the precipitous drop that has been observed since 1991. Further, a 28% increase in the number of high school students choosing to wait for sex has been documented during this same time period. [3]
 
Mary Anne Mosack, Executive Director of Ascend, stated, “We encourage Congress to follow the responsible decision made by HHS to end this failed program by prioritizing the health of youth over special interest groups content to make exaggerated claims of success.  By any measure, common sense would dictate that this program does not deserve the continued support of hard earned tax dollars. As President Obama said in his 2009 inaugural address, ‘The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works – …where the answer is no, programs will end.’ ”
 
For TPP, the answer is clearly no.                                  
_______________________________
  
[1] United States Department of Health and Human Services; The Office of Adolescent Health. (2015, February 25)
[2] Office of Adolescent Health (2016) Summary of findings from the TPP program Grantees (FY2010-2014). Washington, DC:   HHS.(2016). Special issue of American Journal of Public Health explores impacts of Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program. American Journal of Public Health: September 2016. 106 (S1):S9-S15.
[3] CDC. (2016). Youth Online: High School YRBS 2015.  
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Earn up to $125 when you purchase and install a smart thermostat

9/7/2017

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Here’s what you need to do:

1. Purchase and install an approved smart thermostat

2. Upload your purchase receipt to SDG&E’s online Marketplace, and receive a $50 rebate

3. Enroll in Reduce Your Use Thermostat, and receive an additional $50 - $75

Visit SDG&E’s Marketplace to find a selection of eligible smart thermostats online. You can compare prices, purchase directly from a variety of local retailers and have your device shipped directly to you.

Learn more at sdge.com/smarttherm.
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    Author/Editor

    Sharon Pearce has served as the Director of Silent Voices since 1984, and has dedicated her life to speaking up for the unborn - and for the women who have been hurt by abortion.

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