The Social Worker and Goddess Collide

Living the double life has been tough in the past couple of weeks.

In my day job, I've engaged in multiple conversations about the state of the middle school students.

Things have been getting excessively rowdy, lots of walking out of class, lots of snide comments from the kids, lots of dating and sexual insinuations.

The hardest part about working in a school system is seeing where the system is failing.  And truth be told, the system is failing the kids in three-fold.

Several years ago, you'd think you were walking onto the set of a movie or t.v. show.  Strange announcements were being made on the PA system.  Kids were running rampant around the halls.  The older male gym teacher (who was really quite a pleasant person..at least to me...) was in charge of teaching Health (and possibly Sex Ed) to the middle school students.

Well, while things have changed, they've only become slightly better.  The announcements are no longer strange, but are followed by strange crackling and beeping noises (a la LOST).  Kids are strolling around the halls now, but there's a slightly faster response to it.  And the older male gym teacher was replaced by a younger more active female gym teacher (I've never seen the kids do jumping jacks...it was awesome!!!!). 

BUT, there's no Health or Sex Ed.

Education is Broken

In the 4 years that I've been at this school, I've seen a lot of things that just wasn't right.  But I feel like the lack of sex education is possibly one of the things I struggle with on a daily basis.

Part of what I do with the students is turn them into little activists and help them find their voices.  We work on "community service" projects together that they are able to choose and implement.  Almost every year, I can bet that one of the projects that students will suggest will have something to do with sex ed.

One year, a class wanted to set up some AIDS/HIV prevention, but that idea was shot down by the principal.  Another year, a class wrote and performed a skit about teen pregnancy.  This year, a class suggested distributing condoms in Downtown Boston, and a separate class suggested implementing a sex ed class.

This was the final scene of the play where the main character did a monologue speaking with her newborn daughter, 

talking about the possible difficulties she would be facing.  

I teared up something fierce.

Amazingly, these ideas came straight from the students themselves.  The struggle I feel comes from wanting to be able to provide accurate information, but knowing that it's not my job to do so and I could possibly get in deep trouble.

So, where does that leave us?  It's possible that the kids will be receiving health or sex ed in the spring (perhaps because spring is the only time they'll really need it?).  Regardless, the kids are basically begging to be educated.

Meanwhile, I've heard all kinds of stories, mainly from the adults in the building, about kids fooling around with each other, making out in the stairway, or having sex over the weekend just to have the male talk smack about the female on Monday.  It's horrifying really.

I'd love to be able to distribute information to the students.  A pamphlet.  A website.  Something.  Anything!

On one point, of course kids shouldn't be having sex.  I personally believe that if you don't even know your basic anatomy, you probably shouldn't be engaging in any sexual behavior.  I wouldn't be surprised if the middle school kids (ranging from age 11-14) wouldn't know their anything about their clitorises (clitori?) or their prostates. 

But why don't we start there?  Why don't we start at basic anatomy?

In fact, why don't we just start with sitting down to have a conversation?

*Le sigh*

I wish I had an answer.  I wish I was able to do something about this major issue before I move on to a different job.  But this is systematic.

Now, don't get me wrong.  I'm not giving up quite yet.

It has made me consider how to combine my day and night jobs to benefit children and families.  It's still a work in progress, but the spark is there.  Oh, yes...the spark is there.