SCHOOL NEWS
ARGYLE PRINCIPAL, STUDENTS, NURSE DISCUSS PROGRAM

More class time needed for sex education

TEENAGERS GRADUATING today are perhaps better
informed on the topic of sexuality than any of their fore-
runners. But Terry Shaw says still more time should be
spent discussing the subject in the classroom.

The Lynn Valley Echo recently
spoke with Shaw, principal of
Argyle Secondary School, who
discussed the provincial Family
Life program that has been taught
in Grades 7 to 12 since 1987.

“I think we give the kids a pret-
ty good program. But there’s just
not the time to do what we're
mandated to do,” he said. ‘‘It’s
really tough to find time to do this
program which is so incredibly
important.*”

With a curriculum that's ‘‘pack-
ed full’? already and students who
must prepare for government ex-
-ams twice a year, Shaw notes the
difficulty in trying to fit in the an-
nual four or five hours required
under the Family Life guidelines.

Joan Watson, a community

health nurse who teaches the pro-
gram at Handsworth Secondary,
agrees. “‘There’s an awful lot
_packed in,”” she said. ‘‘There’s a
concern that the time is fairly
limited and that we're only
touching on the surface of major
issues.”’
- Ken Neale of the North Van-
“eouver School . Board’s Special
‘Education department says the
goverameat is planning to instigate
a ‘Learning for Living program
from Grades 1 through 10 that
would eacompass substance abuse,
fitness and lifestyle choices as weil
as sexuality.

While this would avoid the
probiem of ‘‘stealing’’ time direct-
ly from other subjects such as
math or science, Neale says the
goverument is not yet clear on how
it is going to juggle curriculum
demands to make room for this
mew course.

.- In the meantime, Shaw says he
believes that teachers at Argyle
support the current Family Life
: program, .
Last semester, Grade 1 students
heard a Vancouver streetworker
‘and an AIDS victim discuss the
threat of AIDS. Following the
presentation, the 250 students
__ broke off into smaller grcups to
‘talk about what they had heard.

: “Jt- was: a very frank, open
“discussion about what AIDS is,"’
said Shaw. ‘‘Students: wanted a

- good look.... They wanted some |

reality, not a text-book ap-
‘proach." : ,
He said the small group discus-

sions were very successful, with the -

: students. being able. to | get | im-

phasis in the junior grades on
assertive communications and
self-esteem.

Teaching kids how to deal with
peer pressure, he says, gives them
the tools to avoid being pushed in-
to a decision that they are perhaps
not prepared to make.

“) really do think it helps —
they develop a sense of self-esteem
and a way to assert themselves in a
way that is acceptable to society
and to (their peers).”"

‘The importance of sexual educa-
tion in the classroom was under-
scored by the comments of two
Grade I1 students, ‘‘Don’” and
“Helen’’, who said they found it
difficult, if not impossible, to
discuss such topics _with their
parents.

Nor would their friends be of
much help if they needed a ques-
tion answered — ‘‘They'’d proba-
bly know as little as me,’? Don
said.

Both said they thought the Fam-
ily Life program provides good in-
formation to students who,. al-
though. they may ‘‘not take it
seriously in the classroom,’’ do
think about the issues later ~—
when it counts the most.

Neither said, however, that they
found there was much pressure
from peers to be sexually active,
although Helen said that girls are
sometimes pressed for a “yes?” by
their boyfriends.

Helen also said that the program
should offer more information
about the risks involved in abor-
tion.

She said another girl in the
school had undergone an abortion,
but Helen doubted that she was
aware of all the pros and cons in-
volved in her decision.

According to Shaw, abortion is
discussed when it comes up in a
question, but otherwise not dealt
with: ‘‘The ministry has suggested
that we not really bring it up as an
alternative to pregnancy,’? he
noted.

“When you are looking at alter-
natives to pregnancy, once again it

7 - Sunday, March 19, 1989 - Eynn Valley Echo

photo Mike Webetieid

ARGYLE TEACHER Olga Pimentel and principal Terry Shaw are shown here teaching parts of the provincial
Family Life program to 9 class of Grade 8 girls. Although Shaw says the sex education program is very
thorough in its information, he worries that there there is not enough time available to cover the tople ade-

quately.

(abortion) has been dumped in the
bucket,”” said health nurse Wat-
son, who said that when discussing
topics such as abortion, . ad-
ministrators often ‘fear that value
judgments will be injected.’’
“There are a lot of things that
are severely lacking in the pro-
gram,’’ she claimed. ‘‘A lot of it

gets paid lip service, and that's.”

about it.”

More time should also be spent
on developing students’  self-
esteem, Watson said, and there

_ should be a greater uniformity in

what is taught from school to
school.

She was enthusiastic about the
province’s proposed Living for
Learning course, which she hoped
would see the topic of sexuality in-
tegrated among a range of other
lifestyle subjects.

Despite any perceived — ' weak
points in the Family Life program,
Shaw said, its inception. was a
boon to B.C. educators, who until
that time had had no standardized
guidelines to follow.

While some schools offered a
fair amount of sex education,
other schools had ignored the
topic: Shaw noted that Argyle

School, for example, ‘‘did virtually

Let The Sunshine Ini!

| mediate feedback from each other |: §
onthe topics. raised in the Pres: :

The Family Life material used
now, however, Shaw said, is very
thorough and is updated annually.

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