Dealing With
Difficult Questions
Guidelines for Middle School Teachers
Health Education Program K-12
16550 SW Merlo Road Beaverton, Oregon 97006 Approved 04/03/06
CONTROVERSIAL ISSUES/CONTROVERSIAL GUEST SPEAKERS 3 STUDYING CONTROVERSIAL ISSUES–BOARD POLICY 4
STUDYING CONTROVERSIAL ISSUES–AR 5
ABORTION 6
ABSTINENCE 6
K-12 ABSTINENCE-BASED STATEMENT 7
CONTRACEPTION 8
MASTURBATION AND NOCTURNAL EMISSION 9
SEXUAL ASSAULT 10
SEXUAL INTERCOURSE 11
SEXUAL ORIENTATION 12
STUDENT QUESTIONS 13
K-12 ANSWERING DIFFICULT QUESTIONS OVERVIEW 14
ANSWERING DIFFICULT QUESTIONS PROTOCOL 15
CONTENTS
CONTROVERSIAL ISSUES/CONTROVERSIAL GUEST SPEAKERS
Related Core Outcome(s): Sexual Health and Prevention and Control of Disease Q: Can grade 6-8 teachers of health discuss controversial issues?
A: The role of the health teacher is to provide information and assist in building skills which will enable students to make informed decisions and build foundations for healthy lifestyles.
As public school employees, teachers of health are expected to honor the diversity of our community and keep their own personal beliefs in check.
Although there are a variety of controversial issues which are health related and provide context for discussion and learning, teachers are asked to distinguish between widely shared beliefs or values and controversial issues. A Difficult Questions Protocol is expected to be utilized when controversial issues arise. You can find this protocol in the Student Questions section of this packet.
Teachers of health are asked to provide instruction that is within the scope of the student outcomes in the Health Curriculum Maps. Best practices in health education tell us that using the evidence based curriculum adopted by the district is the most effective way to impact student behaviors in a positive way.
When providing instruction in a controversial area, all teachers need to operate within the parameters of the Board Policy, INB: Studying Controversial Issues.
Q: Can grade 6-8 teachers of health bring in guest speakers on controversial issues?
A: No. Guest speakers addressing controversial issues will not be allowed at the middle school level. If a teacher has questions regarding guest speakers contact the district’s Specialist for Prevention, Health, PE and Counseling.
STUDYING CONTROVERSIAL ISSUES–BOARD POLICY
Since our society is based on the free exchange of ideas and diversity of political and social thought, it shall be the policy of this district to encourage unbiased, unprejudiced and scientific study of controversial issues as they arise as part of the school curriculum. A controversial issue may be defined as any topic or problem which society is in the process of debating on which there is honest disagreement. Such issues arise when different interpretations are given to a particular set of circumstances.
The basic goal in study of controversial questions should be to enable the student to develop techniques for considering such questions techniques which he/she will use habitually in later life. Learning situations shall provide opportunities for the development of clear thinking, balanced judgment, intelligent choices, informed opinion, an ability to differentiate fact from opinion and an understanding of propaganda devices. Questions treated should come within the range of the knowledge, maturity and competence of the students. Issues selected for study should be current, significant and of interest to the students.
The teacher has the responsibility of handling controversial issues. The role of the teacher should be such as will reveal to students the processes used by the social scientist with which problems are identified, studied and solved. The teacher shall avoid indoctrination in his/her own personal viewpoint and shall not attempt to control or limit the judgment of students. The selection of materials, guest speakers and classroom activities in general shall be done with studied impartiality for the purpose of fairly presenting all sides of an issue.
The administration of this policy in the schools of the district is the immediate responsibility of the principal under the guidance of procedures established by the superintendent.
END OF POLICY Legal References:
ORS 336.067 Code: INB
OAR 581-022-1020 Adopted: 12/2/63
OAR 581-022-1910 Readopted: 2/9/98
Orig. Code: 6144 United States Constitution, Amendment I
Oregon Constitution, Article 1Code: INB
STUDYING CONTROVERSIAL ISSUES–AR
Statement
Board Policy INB - Controversial Issues clearly outlines the position of the Board on the introduction of controversial issues and speakers into the classroom.
Procedures
1. At the beginning of the school year, teachers, in conjunction with a building administrator, will review the policy and guidelines concerning controversial issues and speakers, and will reevaluate the preceding year’s activities as they pertain to the use of controversial resource persons. Implementation of the policy will be evaluated continuously throughout the year to avoid oversights in procedure.
2. The teacher shall notify his/her immediate supervisor and his/her principal concerning the controversial topic he/she plans to introduce and/or the guest speaker he/she plans to utilize in his/her program. It shall be the responsibility of the principal, the department and the teacher to ensure impartiality. When opinions differ as to the advisability of
addressing a particular topic or using a particular speaker, the principal shall have the final determination.
3. As appropriate, the teacher shall discuss with the guest before his/her appearance in the classroom the fact that he/she is in a school class and language and behavior should be appropriate for public school students.
4. The teacher must remain with the students while the guest speaker is with the class.
Code: INB-AR Adopted: 7/83 Readopted: 4/1/00 Orig. Code: 6000-15
ABORTION
Related Core Outcome(s): Sexual Health
Q: Can grade 6-8 teachers of health discuss abortion?
A: The topic of abortion is not addressed in the middle school health curriculum. If a student initiates a question regarding abortion, the student should be referred to a parent/
guardian and/or counselor for further information.
ABSTINENCE
Related Core Outcome(s): Sexual Health
Q: Where does discussion of sexual abstinence first appear in the Beaverton human sexuality curriculum?
A: The term “abstinence” is first used in relation to sexual activity at grade 6. At all middle school grades students learn about the benefits of practicing abstinence, such as attaining personal goals, remaining disease and pregnancy free, gaining respect for self and
others, demonstrating character, and contributing to family harmony. They also learn the following abstinence strategies: dealing with peer pressure, setting personal boundaries, saying “no” assertively, refusal skills, and communication skills. Lessons include data which demonstrates that more teens are abstinent than are not abstinent, which supports saying
“no” to peers who put them under pressure.
Note; BSD Abstinence-Based Position Statement is on the following page.
The plan of instruction shall include information and skills-based teaching strategies that:
• promote abstinence for school age youth;
• incorporate refusal skills and decision making activities;
• reinforce the benefi ts of abstinence without devaluing or ignoring those young people who have had or are having sexual intercourse;
• promote mutually monogamous relationships with an uninfected partner for adults as the safest and most responsible sexual behavior;
• provide balanced and accurate information associated with any contraceptive or disease reduction method;
• be medically accurate and not ethnically, culturally, or gender biased.
* In accordance with: Oregon State Law 336.455, Oregon Administrative Regulation 581-22-1440 and 581-022-1440 Abstinence-based programs are supported by:
Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Division of Adolescent School Health (DASH), American Medical Association (AMA), American Psychiatric Association (APA), American Red Cross, Guttmacher Institute, Advocates for Youth, Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States, National Association of State Boards of Education, The Kaiser Family Foundation, Child Trends, UCSF Center for AIDS Prevention Studies, Harvard AIDS Institute, The National Commission on Adolescent Sexual Health
Beaverton School District
K-12 Health Abstinence-Based Statement
Providing guidance for youth in this period of development is a crucial function of the home and school working together.
Abstinence is a key concept in the K-12 Beaverton health education curriculum. The position of Beaverton School District is to support abstinence in a variety of contexts.
Abstinence means “voluntarily choosing not to participate in a particular activity”. In the context of human sexuality and HIV/AIDS prevention programs, abstinence refers to choosing not to engage in sexual activity, including sexual intercourse or other behaviors that contribute to the spread of sexually transmitted disease/infections.
Beaverton School District, in accordance with Oregon state laws and rules, mandates
abstinence-based sexuality education.* Abstinence-based programs emphasize that
abstinence is the only 100% effective way to prevent unintended pregnancy, sexually
transmitted diseases/infections, HIV/AIDS, and Hepatitis B and C. Abstinence will be
emphasized, but not to the exclusion of other materials and instruction on contraceptives
and disease prevention methods. Abstinence-based programs also include medically
accurate and age appropriate information about condom use and other forms of
contraception.
CONTRACEPTION
Related Core Outcome(s): Sexual Health
Q: Can grade 6-8 teachers of health discuss contraception in class?
A: The topic of contraception is first introduced at 7th grade. Students younger than 7th grade raising questions about contraception and their use should be referred to their parents/guardian and/or counselor for discussion of the topic.
Q: How is the topic of contraception addressed in the 7th and 8th grade middle school health curriculum?
A: The topic of contraception is briefly introduced in the 7th grade curriculum as one method of protection from STDs/STIs, HIV, pregnancy, and Hepatitis B. At the 8th grade level a more in-depth discussion of the various types of contraceptives is presented, again in the context as a method of protection from STDs/STIs, HIV, pregnancy, and Hepatitis B.
Abstinence will still be stressed as the safest and best choice for adolescents.
Q: How should this discussion be framed?
A: In order to remain consistent with the Beaverton School District’s K-12 Abstinence
Statement, it is important to communicate to students that the teacher is not suggesting that any method except abstinence will guarantee 100% prevention of either
pregnancy or the spread of sexually transmitted diseases/infections. It is also important that the teacher does not communicate that the use of one contraceptive choice is recommended for students over abstinence.
Part of the emphasis of the sexual health curriculum is that such decisions need to be made by adults, i.e., individuals who have matured in their decision-making ability, are fully cognizant of the implications and consequences of sexual activity, are able to manage those consequences in their lives on their own, and have developed the communication skills necessary to maintain healthy interpersonal relationships. It is the opinion of this
community and this district that such decisions are best made by individuals who are older than high school age.
Beaverton School District’s health curriculum promotes abstinence for adolescents. It also incorporates refusal skills and personal empowerment throughout all units on sexual health and the prevention and control of disease.
Q: What information about condoms or which teaching techniques would not be acceptable
MASTURBATION AND NOCTURNAL EMISSION
Related Core Outcome(s): Sexual Health
Q: Can middle school teachers discuss masturbation and nocturnal emission as part of the health curriculum?
A: The topic of masturbation and nocturnal emission is in the curriculum beginning at grade 6. Masturbation is defined as “self-stimulation of the genitals.” Masturbation and nocturnal emission is introduced at this level for the following reasons:
• It is an age-appropriate issue for students.
• An adolescent boy may experience a nocturnal emission, an involuntary ejaculation of semen during sleep, at this point in his life. If he or his parent/guardian does not know the difference between that phenomenon and masturbation, the child might falsely be accused of masturbating by a parent/guardian whose values do not approve of that activity. Such accusations create unnecessary and possible negative feelings which can be generalized to sexual development as a whole.
• Students need to know the scientific realities about masturbation. Examples of myths that may be dispelled: masturbation will cause physical damage, one’s hair will fall out, a person will become crazy, and it will cause warts.
The curriculum does not negate religious beliefs a family might hold about the
rightness or wrongness of masturbation. Instruction has and will continue to include the acknowledgment that some people believe it to be an appropriate activity while others believe it unacceptable. Beliefs of the family as to whether masturbation is appropriate or not appropriate need to be shared with the student at home so that the information learned at school can be put into the context of each family’s own value system.
SEXUAL ASSAULT
Related Core Outcome(s): Sexual Health, Violence Prevention, and Alcohol, Tobacco, and Other Drugs
Q: Can middle school health teachers address the topic of sexual assault?
A: Although the topic is not in the curriculum at grades 6-7, students may ask questions about the topic. In response to a student question, the teacher may define sexual assault. “Sexual assault can be physical, verbal, visual, or anything that forces a person to experience unwanted sexual contact or attention.” If students ask for additional information they will be referred to a parent/guardian and/or counselor for further information.
The topic first appears in the curriculum at grade 8. Discussions will be put in the context of dating or relating to acquaintances regarding effective interpersonal strategies to build healthy relationships. Strategies may include:
• Components of a healthy relationship
• Analyzing and avoiding potential abuse situations
• Assertive communication skills
• Setting personal boundaries
• Positive dating relationships
• Assertiveness
• Refusal skills
• Self-esteem building skills
• Effective communication
• Decision-making
Q: What materials or content would not be acceptable in instruction?
A: As in other topics within the sexual health curriculum, the presentation of all information needs to be tasteful, not blatant or overly graphic.
SEXUAL INTERCOURSE
Related Core Outcome(s): Sexual Health and Alcohol, Tobacco & Other Drugs
Q: When in the middle school health curriculum is the term “sexual intercourse” introduced?
A: Sexual intercourse is introduced at grade 6 by teaching the definition only. The definition of sexual intercourse is “an act during which sperm cells are released from a man’s penis into a woman’s vagina.” Sexual intercourse is referred to as well at grades 7 and 8, both in the context of sexual health instruction and disease transmission including HIV/AIDS and sexually transmitted diseases/infections.
Q: What can middle school teachers say about the types of sexual intercourse?
A: Vaginal, anal, and oral intercourse are defined in the context of transmission of sexually transmitted diseases/infections, including HIV/AIDS at the 7th/8th grade level. Students asking more specific questions about this topic are to be referred to their parent/guardian and/or counselor to answer their questions.
SEXUAL ORIENTATION
Related Core Outcome(s): Sexual Health and Violence Prevention Q: Is instruction on sexual orientation part of the health curriculum?
A: No, the Core Outcomes in the health program do not include lessons at any grade level about the nature of sexual orientation. There are issues about which no community consensus exists. Every family’s beliefs deserve respect.
Issues involved in the subject of sexual orientation are often raised by students in the context of lessons on sexually transmitted diseases and sexuality in general. In addition, the health curriculum addresses learning targets through which students will be able to demonstrate respect and empathy for individual differences. Individual differences includes people of many diverse backgrounds and lifestyles, including those who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or questioning. Therefore, it is possible that the term is discussed in classes if students ask questions and/or if situations or discussions about respect and empathy for others arise.
Q: How should middle school teachers respond to questions by students about sexual orientation?
A: At grade 6 or above, the following basic definition of sexual orientation may be used as necessary to address student questions, but will not be introduced as a topic unto itself.
Sexual Orientation: a term used to refer to a person’s emotional, romantic and sexual attraction to individuals of a particular gender(s). If a student has additional questions, a referral to one’s parent/guardian and/or counselor will be given.
Q: What is not appropriate to cover about sexual orientation?
A: As indicated above, there are no health lessons at any grade level about the nature of sexual orientation. It is only appropriate to address the topic at middle or high school in response to student questions as they surface in the discussions. It would also not be appropriate to debate sexual orientation.
STUDENT QUESTIONS
Related Core Outcome(s): All Core Outcomes
Q: How should a teacher respond to a question about information not included in the student’s grade-level curriculum?
A: Teachers are encouraged to prepare themselves well by attending inservices and
becoming thoroughly familiar with the grade level curriculum so that they are sure what is included and what is not. The Difficult Questions Protocol on the following pages will also be given to each teacher to help them address sensitive questions that may be asked.
Q: What are some suggested responses appropriate to use when a teacher is unsure of how to address a question?
A: The following is a list of possible responses to use in class:
• “That’s a great question, but we do not study (topic) in the (sixth) grade, so we won’t be talking about that topic this year.”
• “That’s not something we will be talking about in depth in our class. That’s one to discuss with your parents/guardians.”
• “I would like to answer that question tomorrow.” Or, “The answer is in tomorrow’s lesson.”
• “I’m going to pass on that question at this time. The answer is not appropriate for the whole group to talk about right now.”
• “I do not know the answer. Perhaps I can find out for us.” This response would allow a teacher who is unsure both of the answer and whether discussing it is appropriate, to do some additional research before answering or choosing not to answer.
• “The growing up process can be confusing; let’s talk about that after class.”
• “Please ask your question again and use the proper term, not slang. I’ll then try to answer for you.”
• “Talk with your parents/guardian about that one and see how they feel about it. We won’t be talking about it as part of our classroom instruction.”
• If students assert value statements in class (i.e., “You shouldn’t ...”), teachers should use the Difficult Questions Protocol.
K-12 ANSWERING DIFFICULT QUESTIONS OVERVIEW
Philosophy
The role of the health teacher is to provide information and assist in building skills which will enable students to make informed decisions and build foundations for healthy lifestyles. The Beaverton School District recognizes that families are the primary health educators of their children. In respect for the diversity of our community, health educators are expected to distinguish between widely shared beliefs or values and controversial issues related to the student outcomes in the K-12 health curriculum.
Widely shared beliefs or values are those shared by most families, or specifically written into law or policy, which the teacher is, in fact, expected to teach.
Examples of widely shared values public school teachers encounter are:
1. That each individual (regardless of age; gender; family constellation; gender identity, role, or sexual orientation; physical or mental abilities; race; religion; or ethnic identity) is unique, valuable, and deserving of equal and considerate treatment.
2. That a school should be an emotionally safe place to learn.
3. That people have an obligation to learn as much as they can about themselves and those they care about.
4. That no one has the right to selfishly use another person, simply for his or her own gratification.
5. That it is wrong to trick, threaten, or tease another person.
6. That students should not harm or harass another student, even if provoked.
7. That no one should feel obligated to share personal experience, feelings or beliefs with acquaintances (people have the right to pass).
8. That it is safest (emotionally, physically, and socially) for school-aged people to not engage in sexual intercourse.
9. That it is wrong to knowingly transmit disease.
10. That it is safest for students to abstain from the use alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs.
Controversial issues are those the community is not in agreement with. The teacher must
ANSWERING DIFFICULT QUESTIONS PROTOCOL
1. Affirm the student for asking the question.
“That’s an important issue… I’m glad you asked… A lot of people wonder that.”
2. Identify it as a belief question (if it is one).
“That’s a belief question. Many people, families, and religions have different answers.”
3. Answer the factual part (if there is any).
“Before we look at beliefs, let’s examine a few facts…”
4. Help the class describe the range of beliefs.
“Different people believe things about _________. What do you think some people believe?
Here the teacher has three jobs: (1) to ensure that as complete a range of beliefs as possible is described, (2) to ensure that each belief position is expressed in as fair and even-handed a way as possible…preferably in the way the person who holds it would describe it if he/she were there, and (3) to create a climate in the classroom where all beliefs are respected.
5. Decline to express your own personal beliefs, unless they are widely shared values.
“My personal belief is not as valuable to you and your learning as an understanding of the range of beliefs about this topic.”
It is best practice for teachers to not share personal beliefs about controversial topics but rather to set up a range of values/beliefs so as not to offend students/families who have differing beliefs.
6. Refer to family, clergy and other trusted/loved adults.
“Since people have such different beliefs about _____, I would encourage you to find out what your families believe. Talk about it with people you trust, especially adults.”
