Transitioning from being a high school student to an adult is a difficult process, but one that high schools have begun to get more involved with. Unfortunately, their own transition process has also had their fair share of stumbles.
As part of college-credit course Adult Roles and Financial Literacy, NY Daily News reports, high school students at Roy High School in Utah were given a 30-question quiz titled "Know Thyself." This quiz was not approved to be part of the course’s curriculum. The yes/no quiz includes questions ranging from have you "ever been kissed against your will" to have you "ever made a member of the opposite sex cry" to have you "ever had an abortion," according to Daily Mail.
Each question was assigned a certain number of "indecency points." 12 indecency points were given to both a "yes" answer for "have you ever slipped Angel dust into someone's drink" and "have you (your girl) ever had an abortion?" (Yeah, the quiz equated drugging someone’s drink and having an abortion.)
Students tallied up their results to be ranked from "a nerd" to "hopeless and condemned." Yikes.
The full list of questions can be seen below.
After parents sent complaints to school officials, the teacher who distrubted the quiz has been placed on leave.
As The Salt Lake Tribune reports, Utah schools continue to teach an abstinence-based sex education curriculum, despite several studies showing that it just doesn’t work. While comprehensive sex education is certainly important, this high school teacher isn’t going about it the right way. Shaming students about their sexual behavior won’t lead them to trust their teachers or even their school — and is certainly not the best way to teach students to make safe and informed decisions about their sex lives. Luckily, students may be able to access sex ed even when their schools drop the ball like the case of the porn site in Utah that began redirecting consumers towards sex education courses.
Here's hoping that sex education will become more accessible and inclusive, rather than spreading shame, judgment and stigma.