Ask The Pastor 78

What’s all the fuss about the new state health curriculum?

We have been watching in the news since the state board of education introduced a new state health curriculum back in March. During the course of the months that followed, faced with a great deal of opposition, the state board tried again with a revised version and when that failed to calm the storm, they withdrew recommendations. The rational for withdrawing is that at present there is too much pressure on educators and the public from the pandemic to attempt something this new. It can be supposed then, that this is not the end of the discussion and another attempt will be made at a later time. So why all the fuss about a recommendation that does not need to be enforced by the local school board? First let us think about the content of this new “recommended” curriculum.

· Kindergarteners would be taught about cohabitating and same-gender families.

· First-graders would be taught to define “gender identity and gender-role stereotypes.”

· Fourth-graders would be taught that sex is “assigned” at birth and gender is fluid.

· Fifth-graders would be taught that “gender expression and gender identity exist along a spectrum.”

· Sixth-graders would be taught about identifying with multiple sexual identities, including “bisexual, lesbian, gay, queer, two-spirit, asexual, and pansexual.”

· Eighth graders would be taught abortion is “reproductive care” and how to develop a plan to eliminate an unintended pregnancy.

Immediately there are at least three concerns that all Bible believing parents should have concerning this curriculum. The first being, as we have noted in previous articles, most of this teaching is contrary to what the Bible teaches. The second, is that this is an area of education which ought to be taught by the parents, according their own value system and world view. The third, is that this is information that is not appropriate for the age group being taught. The human brain assimilates information at a rate that is in proportion with their age and maturity. This curriculum is designed to be well advanced of both the intellectual and psychological capabilities of the children, thereby putting these children at risk. This is, at the very least, child abuse. It is time to get back to the Bible as our basis for education and education to get back to the basics.

Have questions about the Bible? Send them to Dr. Greg Koehn at gak4850@gmail.com and read the answer here in this article. See my blog at cbclushton.com