By: Jamie Thompson
In East Lansing, Michigan, a mother named Professor Sarah Rivers found herself in quite the unexpected situation during her son’s sex education class. When she discovered that her seat at the back of the classroom had a wi-fi connection, she decided to live-tweet the entire experience. As the lesson progressed, her frustration mounted, and her tweets reflected her growing disbelief.
The educators leading the class were not regular staff members but external specialists. They presented a series of alarming statistics and anecdotes, claiming that condoms were ineffective, premarital pregnancies were linked to a life of isolation and despair, and that the failure rate of condoms was around one in six. The more Sarah listened, the more her anger bubbled up, prompting her to tweet her reactions in real time.
Despite her discontent, the teachers remained steadfast in their approach, focusing on sharing cautionary tales about the perils of premarital sex. As they continued to discuss the supposed ineffectiveness of birth control methods, Sarah found it increasingly difficult to restrain her emotions, resorting to all caps in her posts.
Then came the moment of experiments. The school principal later clarified to a news outlet that the curriculum was not strictly abstinence-only but rather “abstinence-based.” However, Sarah’s subsequent research revealed that the group conducting the class had strong pro-life Christian views, which became evident during the lesson. A wealth of studies has called into question the effectiveness of abstinence-only education, yet Congress has continued to fund such programs through 2017.
As a Clinical Professor in the Medical Humanities and Bioethics Program at the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University, Sarah found the experience both infuriating and eye-opening. Following the incident, she discovered she was banned from many school events and would be under “special monitoring” due to her use of colorful language after class. (Honestly, I can relate to that—my own mom could have easily faced similar consequences!)
Even though Sarah believes her son attends a good school, she feels the district remains oblivious to the content being taught by the visiting groups. Given the attention her tweets received, it’s likely they’ve become more aware by now.
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In summary, Professor Sarah Rivers’ live-tweeting of her son’s sex ed class sparked a public conversation about the quality and nature of sexual education being provided in schools. Despite her frustrations, she remains hopeful about her son’s education but is concerned about the influence of the external groups involved.