Hi Rhosty,

What minuscule proportion of students are we talking about ? Four per cent ? So a one-size-fits-all program is to be enforced on the other 96 % ? Or what has it got to do with bullying ?

I am relieved that eight- and nine-year olds won't (have I got this right ?) be subjected to contemplating being subjected to anal intercourse, or imagining that they have the genitals of the other sex. Or none at all. "How do I pee ?" Nothing like a bit of challenging anxiety to focus the mind :)

But thanks for the heads-up:

"And given the worst offenders can be abysmally ignorant parents, shouldn't be left up to them?"

On what evidence ? Is this - perhaps inadvertently, Rhosty - the next phase in the program to destroy society as we know it is removing children from parental care ? It's a long time since I read it, but wasn't that one part of the Plan in Orwell's 1984 ? Also in Soviet Russia and China and Pol Pot's Kampuchea. The Nazis had similar programs, for their fair-haired, blue-eyed elite of kids, right until the end of the War. Also on the kibbutzim in Israel in the earlier days.

How to prise the children out of the control of parents ...... hmmmmmm ......

So what's next ? What other debates can the new reactionary fruit-cakes initiate ? Euthanasia ? Solent Green for us old farts ? 'Removal' of the disabled ? The Nazis had highly-developed policies on those 'removals', is that where they are going ?

Hey, how come there's nothing much in this Unsafe Schools stuff about the bullying of the disabled, only about the weirdly-sexualised ? Or am I wrong ?

Joe

This was not an anti bullying program. It was a gender studies program. For 11/12 year olds!
If it was about inclusion it would have had lessons on race, disability, appearance etc. where were the lessons asking kids to roll around the floor jerking so they could empathise with an epileptic child? Where was the role play where instead of losing your genitals you lost your ability to empathise, like autistic kids?
As for the continued emphasis on the necessity of this program to stop suicide in young people, well, studies show that children who are sexually abused are three times more likely than gay kids to commit suicide.
So, if we are serious about suicide prevention in young people, we should be putting all our focus on educating kids how to get help if they are or have been abused.
After all, they are the highest risk group

And not before time that we started knocking some of this stupid diversity on the head, in all walks of life.

Talk about the mobs of Rome!

If it was about suicide you certainly would not confuse kids and lead them to a lifestyle where death/suicide is so prevalent. How dumbed down can a society get. And to think so many voted for Daniel Anrews. What a sick perverse society. No wonder Isis is so attractive to so many.

I get very tired of people claiming that because you disagree with this program you must be motivated by hatred of homosexuals. I do not hate homosexuals at all, yet I have serious concerns about this program.
Many or even most children do not have a clear perception of their sexuality as it has not fully developed yet. Same sex attraction is very common in adolescents, yet the vast majority end up being perfectly ordinary heterosexuals. As such, the active normalising of these things is more likely to make a child think "I must be a homosexual/transsexual/anything else" when in fact they have simply not fully developed in their sexuality.
There was a huge article in the Sunday Times in WA a few weeks ago about a 12 year old girl who, after having been subjected to the "safe schools program" was "able to come out" as a transsexual and was now beginning hormone treatment to prevent her from going through puberty, as well as dressing and identifying as a boy. This girl also described herself as "bi-sexual, homosexual and transsexual? My concern is that this girl may simply be a tomboy who may have grown up to be a perfectly normal either heterosexual or lesbian. Instead she is undergoing treatment that will prevent her turning into an adult and will affect her for the rest of her life. I don't believe that describing a 12 year old as "bisexual" makes any more sense than describing them as heterosexual. they are not (or at least should not be ) having sex at all.
leave kids alone when it comes to sexual matters. they can make up their own mind when they are older.

As a proud scout master of many years, Tony, I should not need to remind you of the words of the founder of the scout movement, Baden Powell, on this matter: http://www.gomelscouts.com/continence.html

Anything that is made a big deal of, attracts a big deal of bullying - and the "safe school" program brings sexuality to the fore, teaching children that it is a big deal.

Education should turn the child's attention away from sexual distractions of any kind and if the issue comes up, parents and teachers should put it to rest by reassuring children that they have no expectations of them to "perform" in this area.

Scouts are taught not to bully as that would contravene the scout law (http://www.scout.org/promiseandlaw). Scouting channels the child's energy constructively and is one of the best anti-bullying programs!