My school does this camp thing where they send a variety of students to a retreat to talk about what ever they come up with. It’s designed to bring students from different “clicks” closer together and to have a better understanding of each other. They send teachers to chaperone and monitor everything but what ends up happening is upsetting.
The teacher leaders direct them on a format of conversation organization but it is loosely followed. The majority of student conversations start out about sex and go from there. They do get into deep discussion but I’ve seen some students get blindsided by what they hear. If I were a parent of a student I would not let them go. The teachers are only allowed to chime in or give guidance if asked to but they are not asked often. Most of the time the students want to treat the teachers like peers and ask them to talk about the same topics and reflect on life like they are.
To engage in that as a teacher is a mistake. It affects the way the students relate to you back in school. It’s crossing the line too much. I sat in a session where the students discussed premarital sex like it was something you did when you were just in love. When some one was brave enough to say they were a virgin, the other students said, “That’s cool,” and they did truly respect that but it seemed the majority felt sex was something you do basically as soon as you physically can. I got the impression they felt that once you land a steady boyfriend or girlfriend you should be having sex. This is normally in late high school but not always. Some are earlier.
I heard a girl talk about having an abortion at sixteen. There were multiple girls talking about sexual abuse by fathers and other adults in their life. Let me remind you this is not to a trained psychologist or school counselor, this is to a group of about ten other high school students. They are put in this, “be open” situation and out they are with everything. The students are purposefully put into groups by the teacher so they will know they least amount of people. They want as much cross click discussion as possible.
What I don’t get is, why this is needed. It reminds me of the Obama beer episode with the Cambridge police. Obama set a meeting to have an increased understanding between, well once he stuck his head in it, all three parties, heck Biden too. The cop did not need an increased understanding of anything, he did his job.
I think the same kind of philosophy is running through our schools. Students will learn about each other socially on their own hanging out Friday nights. Teachers should not be placed in that situation to force it nor be dragged into it. Nor should students have to hear these issues when they are not properly trained or mentally developed enough to handle them. Humans are not really fully developed mentally and emotionally until their early twenties, or late college. This is way too much for them. They are asked to keep the Vegas rule, what happens in camp stays at camp, but let’s be honest, they are going to tell their friends all about what was talked about when they get back. They may leave some names out here and there but in general they are going to report back to their friends. The teachers actually design it this way. They pick the influential leaders from each click.
It makes me sick that in the name of understanding and being able to claim some kind of open-mindedness my school and many other schools subject children to this. These topics should be discussed at home and if they are discussed amongst friends it should between established trustworthy peers not a group of strangers.
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