In a move that is sure to be controversial just by nature of the subject matter — despite the fact that more than 80 percent of New York City voters support it — sex education will be mandated in all New York City public middle and high schools this fall. The curriculum, according to the Times, will include condom usage and advice on age-appropriate sexual experimentation. Already more than half of NYC public schools use standardized sex-ed programs — while all are legally required to teach about HIV and AIDS. (Nationally, as of 2008, one in four teenagers in America was taught abstinence-only sexual education.) Under the new rules, schools must teach a semester of sex ed in sixth or seventh grade, and have a refresher course in ninth or tenth. If parents so desire, they may opt their children out of lessons on contraception. The goal, according to city officials, is to get students to wait until they are older to experiment.
Show of hands: How many people assumed that sex ed was already required in New York City public schools?
