Steering the Sex Education Discussion

• In Event: 16.018 - Sexuality, Social Justice, and Schooling: A Cross-Disciplinary Investigation

Abstract

Objectives: There is a debate in the field of democratic education about what should be taught as controversial (Dearden, 1981; Hand, 2008, 2013; Hess, 2009). Hess (2009) frames the problem as a question of which issues should be presented to students as "open," "closed" or "tipping." Open questions are those for which there are competing (reasonable) views, and students are encouraged to develop their own answer to the question. Closed questions are those that are considered settled or known. If a question is closed, it is not presented to students as open for debate. Questions that are "tipping" move from open to closed or closed to open, and are particularly challenging for teachers. Should recognizing same sex marriage, for example, be taught as settled or open? Hand (2013) introduces "steering" as a forth way to frame a question. He defines this as introducing a question as open and then, "guiding participants, by means of strategic prompts, questions, and interjections, toward a predetermined conclusion" (p. 499). In this paper, I ask: When, if ever, is steering morally justified within the sex education curriculum?

Theoretical Framework: This paper builds on Lamb's (2010) argument that sex education ought to be viewed as a form of democratic education. Specifically, educators ought to aim toward the development of the "sexual citizen" who is able to think ethically about his/her sexual experiences with others and is prepared to consider public policies around sex and sexuality. Within this frame, good judgment about steering requires careful attention to the aims of education.

Methods and Sources: I use the tools of applied moral and political philosophy to identify when steering a discussion within lessons of sex education is or is not morally justifiable. To make this case, I draw upon examples of student-teacher exchanges in three different sex education programs. Example 1 comes from a common lesson in Abstinence Only Until Marriage curricula. Example 2 comes from the Sexual Ethics for a Caring Society Curriculum (Lamb, 2010). Example 3 is taken from a rape prevention program used with college students. I argue that all three are cases of steering and use these to discuss the ethical considerations educators should weigh when deciding when, if ever, to steer a discussion.

Significance/Conclusions: Steering is often considered unethical because it is seen as manipulative or an over-reach of the teacher's authority (Hess, 2009). This paper will show that in conditions of social inequalities based on race, gender, and sexual orientation steering is a pedagogical move that is, in some cases, justified.

Author

• Paula McAvoy, University of Wisconsin - Madison