A few people were appalled that McCain had accused Obama of wanting to teach sex ed to kindergartners. Not knowing much about the issue, I thought I'd do some research. Evidence shows that McCain was correct in his accusation that Obama wanted to teach sex education to kindergartners. The bill in question actually reads that sexually transmitted diseases and how they are passed were to be taught to any K-12 students. Uncovering the actual details of the syllabus show that for Illinois students ages 5-8 were to be taught the names of all body parts involved in sex, how the sexual act occurs, and the pleasures of masturbation. The syllabus also discusses same-sex relationships for students ages 5-8.
The exact text of the bill includes this passage:
Each class or course in comprehensive sex education offered in any of grades K 6 through 12 shall include instruction on the prevention of sexually transmitted infections, including the prevention, transmission and spread of HIV AIDS.
Obama claimed that his bill only was meant to discuss inappropriate touching. Byron York of the National Review did an investigation and found that while that is in the bill, it was a very minor part and was not the primary focus of the bill. The primary purpose of the bill was to move sex education from grades 6-12 to occur from K-12. Parents were only given an opt-out provision for the teaching about the transmission and prevention of HIV.
Whether you approve of such a syllabus or not, John McCain was not incorrect in his ad.
I, myself, am making no judgments as to whether this type of curriculum is appropriate or not. That is not the purpose of this post. The purpose is to show that McCain has been unfairly maligned and accused of a false ad when in fact it is not false at all.
Here is a copy of the syllabus that is used for Illinois schools:
http://www.siecus.org/_data/global/images/guidelines.pdf Students who are aged 5-8 are taught the Level 1 curriculum. When looking at the syllabus, just search for "Level 1" repeatedly to find what is taught to the students.
