Many students at Saugeen District Secondary School walked out of class Friday afternoon, September 21, to protest, among other things, the sex ed curriculum rollback.

Hub Staff

Over 100 students from Saugeen District Secondary School (SDSS) walked out of class Friday afternoon, September 21, beginning at 1 p.m., to protest, among other things, the rollback of the current sex ed curriculum. They joined thousands of students protesting across the province.

The news came in July 2018 when Ontario's Education Minister Lisa Thompson said the curriculum that had been updated in 2015 by the province's previous government would be scrapped, reverting instead to a curriculum that hadn't seen an upgrade since 1998.

Critics have argued that a lot has changed since 1998 and using such an outdated curriculum puts kids in danger.

"We should be able to talk about gender identity and sexual orientation," said Grade 11 student Deidre Scanlon. "That shouldn't be something we're afraid of, this isn't the '70s," she said, adding that she was also protesting funding cuts to public education.

For Grade 11 student Monique Bouch, she said an article she had read recently really struck her. "Grade 1s are taught about body parts because it was recommended by child abuse investigators for many years and now they're stripping that from the program and if kids are getting assaulted how are they going to know that it's wrong," she said.

"Also, if you're not teaching kids about consent and safe ways to have sex then it's going to lead to bad things," she added.

"We don't believe in some of the things that are happening," said Grade 10 student Amy Barlow when asked why she was taking part in the province wide walkout. Barlow said that learning about LGBTQ+ issues, periods, safe sex and consent are important. "Consent is a huge thing for me personally," she said.

"A lot of people don't understand what the concept of consent is and when they teach that in schools a lot more people understand it and understand how important it is but once we take that out, I feel like it's just going to go back to the way it was where no one cared about it and it's not asked for anymore," she said. Barlow added that consent is something that already isn't asked for much and including it in the curriculum "helps a lot of people learn about it and helps people be more comfortable."

Barlow said it also helps girls who have trouble standing up for themselves. "If a guy comes onto you and you can't say 'no' then it's a big thing for the guys to understand what consent is," she said.

Barlow later added that her generation is a new generation that is discovering who they are. "We're at a young age, we're vulnerable, everyone's trying to find themselves," she said, adding that it's important to have learning and resources available when you might not understand what you're going through. "Taking that resource away or taking the education away, it's kind of corrupting our generation and a lot of people who are trying to find themselves won't be able to really understand," she said.

Izzy Huizenga, a Grade 9 student at SDSS, said she believes that nothing should be left out of sex ed. "Every detail should be known so that when people go out into the real world they know what they're doing," she said.

Grade 10 student Naomi Brown said that it's a subject that has affected her personally as she has two friends who are 15 and pregnant and there is an entire side of her family that is unknown to her due to a teenage pregnancy that led to adoption. "You need to know how to protect yourself so you don't get pregnant, you need to know when to say 'no,'" she said.

"Also, if you are lesbian and if you are gay you need to know how to do that, you can't just be thrown out and expect to know everything," she said. "We need more information," said Brown.

Grade 10 student Alexa Janes said that her worst fear is that attitudes will revert back to when being a member of the LGBTQ+ community was seen as bad. "We've evolved," she said, "that has helped and it's calmed down a lot of the problems in this generation."

Janes said it was important to her that she took part in the walkout. "I may have gone through this education already but new people coming in, going through Grade 9, going through all of this, this is new to them and imagine a young girl has their period for the first time and their mother didn't give them the talk and now they don't know what to do and they're scared and they don't have the education to know about it," she said.

Hayden Cheesman, a Grade 11 student said that kids need to learn about consent. "Especially in today's age when there's accusations left and right, people should be more prepared for that," he said. "I know I'll get marked absent from class but I kind of think this is bigger than me," he said.

For Grade 11 student Givan Bosnac, he said it's important for kids to learn about safe sex and protection against STDs.

Further development of the curriculum pertaining to Canada's history with First Nations is also something that was put on hold this summer and Grade 9 student Justin Lachance believes that it's a history that needs to be taught in schools. "They were here first and they also went through a lot of suffering," he said.

Laya Kochut, a Grade 9 student at SDSS said that she has friends who are members of the LGBTQ+ community and "they need people that are supporting them right now and not silencing them."

Kailynn Reid, also in Grade 9, said it's 2018 and "we can be whoever we want, however we want."

Fiona Aiken, Grade 10, was inspired by "the rise of the teenager" and likened it to the rising of the phoenix. Referencing the March of our Lives, Aiken said "that was kick started by a bunch of high school students who came from this tragic thing," she said. "I'm just doing this to kind of show the adults that are driving past as we speak that we have a voice in today's system."

Aiken said some adults think "we're just kids Snapchatting our lives away in our basements playing Fortnite so I just wanted to make a stand and say, 'Hey, we know this stuff, we know what we're doing here.'"

Fianna McKnight, a Grade 9 student at SDSS, said she has too many friends who don't feel like they can fully express themselves. "It's 2018," she said, adding that someone in the government isn't going stop them from having a voice.

One of the students participating didn't want to be identified and said she feels sex ed is important. "We need to learn about this stuff and for people like me, our parents don't teach us this type of thing and just expect us to magically some day figure it out but when it comes to STDs and the LGBT community, we're not going to somehow magically learn it," she said. "It's important to know so that we don't go out and do anything stupid without knowing what we're getting ourselves into," she added.

From left, SDSS student Naomi Brown, Amy Barlow, Piper Bailey, Laney Brooks, Alexa Janes, Chloe Brown and Dante Clark took part in the province wide walkout September 21 to protest the sex ed curriculum rollback.

Grade 9 SDSS students, from left, Lauren Gilbert, Aliyah Petronski, Ashley Hilbers, Evrim Dereli, Lyndsey Van Sickle and Rachel Schuster.

Grade 11 students, from left, Hayden Cheesman, Givan Bosnac and Keenan Lilly.

In front, Grade 9 student Kailynn Reid. Back row, from left, Fianna McKnight, Grade 9; Fiona Aiken, Grade 10; Laya Kochut, Grade 9; Keyara Vell, Grade 9; Ava Kochut, Grade 9; Ethan Bowman, Grade 9.

Students gathered in front of Saugeen District Secondary School September 21 to have their voices heard about, among other things, the sex ed curriculum rollback.

SDSS students participating in province wide walkout September 21 were met with nice weather for the first hour of their protest at Saugeen District Secondary School.