The many meanings of the phrase "Hard to Teach".(sex education)(Editorial)

The title of this issue, "Hard to Teach," stems from a publication we created a number of years ago called Filling the Gaps: Hard to Teach Topics in Sexuality Education. At the time, we had heard from many educators that there was a lack of resources to help them tackle certain topics such as sexual orientation, gender, masturbation, and abortion. To fill that void, we scoured existing curricula for good lessons and enlisted our own educators and outside experts to create new lessons where none were available. The responses we got back told us that this compilation of lesson plans was extremely helpful.

In our offices this publication was nicknamed "Hard to Teach" and over the years, the phrase kept popping up. Certainly there are still topics that remain "hard to teach" because they may spark controversy or cause discomfort on the part of students and educators. But to us the phrase means much more. Communities can be "hard to teach" because controversy, or the fear of controversy, can lead to restrictive programs and block progress. Certain audiences can be "hard to teach" because they are resistant to learning about sexuality or have preconceived notions about some aspect of sexuality that get in the way. And the American public, both adults and young people, can be "hard to teach" because they rely on certain linguistic frames and conceptual models that are detrimental but hard to overcome.

The articles and lesson plans we included in this issue touch on each of these different takes on the phrase "hard to teach."

TRACKING CONTROVERSY

One of my favorite projects each year is the annual review of controversies surrounding sexuality education in communities across the country. On a personal level it may be my favorite because writing this article (for the 1997-98 school year) was my first major project at SIECUS. But my affinity for the piece goes beyond the personal; this review tells the real stories of communities and individuals across the country who are struggling on a personal level with the issues we think about and write about every day. Their stories are at times shocking but often predictable. The debates they engage in are frequently frustrating but occasionally exhilarating. Most importantly, though, I find that these struggles always motivate me to want to work harder for sexuality education in this country, so that one day people in these communities can stop spending time and resources on debates when such resources would clearly be better spent educating young people.

This year, the review was written by Maxwell Ciardullo, SIECUS' public policy assistant. He tracked over 150 controversies in 38 states that focused on the type of sexuality education young people receive (often abstinence-only-until-marriage vs. comprehensive sexuality education), the role of outside groups such as Planned Parenthood or local crisis pregnancy centers in providing sexuality education, and the topics and information that should or should not be included in books and other classroom materials.

In a supplemental piece, Ciardullo also writes about the disturbing increase in debates involving sexual orientation as a topic as well as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning (LGBTQ) individuals. Conservative forces continue to try to completely eradicate any mention of sexual orientation from school materials, curricula, and clubs while at the same time attempting to remove LGBTQ individuals from school communities altogether.