Sex Education in Public Schools

Sex education has long been a debated topic in schools. Many people have different opinions about how it should be done. In a news article by The Guardian, "How Obama's healthcare reform boosted abstinence-only sex education," the reporter points out that conservatives are managing to gain funding for and implement abstinence-only sex education programs in schools. The three states mentioned in the article, Texas, Tennessee, and Wisconsin, have already launched "aggressive legislative efforts to promote abstinence-only education."

Reflection 3: Ashley Smith and What Are Prisons For?

Ashley Smith was a happy little girl born in New Brunswick on January 29, 1988. She was adopted by Coralee Smith when Ashley was five-days-old. She had a normal childhood. Coralee Smith later became the partner of Herbert Gober when Ashley was three-years-old. Then in 2001, when Ashley was thirteen or fourteen, Herbert and Coralee saw changes in Ashley’s behaviour. She became “disruptive and disobedient.” By the time Ashley was fifteen she was in and out of youth court fourteen times for various minor offenses, changed schools twice, seen by a psychologist, who found no evidence of mental illness, and attended to by a youth care worker among other things. From April to October of 2003, she is sent to the New Brunswick Youth Centre various times. On October 21, 2003, Ashley and a group of other youth throw crab apples at a postal worker while on probation from her last visit to youth centre. She is sent to a Miramichi juvenile detention centre.