When we had our son we started discussing our plans for his educational future, and very quickly came to the agreement that putting him in public schools was simply not an option in Oregon. This was not just because Oregon boasts the second worst graduation rate (68%-second to Nevada in 2012) in the nation but because we just cannot understand why any school district would have a student to teacher ratio of 19.2 students to every one teacher, and frankly why Kindergarden students at a local school (rumored to be the BEST in the district) were allowed to roam the halls without any adult supervision on a recent visit.

As graduates of the Catholic education system in our home state, my husband and I decided to send our son to Catholic schools. After reading a blog posting about some of the approved reading materials in fourth grade classrooms in Tennessee I felt that our choice was reaffirmed. After all, Tennesee is by and large a much more conservative state than Oregon and I figure if their schools are approving this swill for their fourth graders, what our son sees by the time he makes it to fourth grade might be even more pornographic. Keep in mind, if these were actual pictures, not illustrations, they would be illegal. Because they are illustrations, its perfectly ok to show underage children involved in masturbation.

I do not consider myself a prude by any stretch of the imagination-some of my previous modeling gigs prove that (I was fully clothed BTW)-but images like this being shown to children arouse the following emotions in me:

1) Anger-Why the heck does a child of that age need to see graphic depictions of these acts in their school books?

2) Confusion-Why is the school taking on this CLEAR parental responsibility? It is MY job as a parent to partner with my husband to help our son understand his body and his sexuality. I do not trust the state to educate him about these important aspects of humanity.

3) Disgust-Viewing illustrations of a small child engaged in masturbation makes me sick to my stomach. Call me old school, I understand that kids naturally explore their bodies, but this is a bridge too far for me. Sexualizing a natural, innocent exploration is sickening.

This is exactly why we as parents need to be engaged with our children’s schools, look at their textbooks and protest when we see things that are inappropriate, or factually inaccurate. This is why vouchers are such a wonderful idea for education in all states as well. If public schools see a steady decline in enrollment and hear the feedback that things like these books are a contributing factor to their declining enrollment, perhaps they will think twice before taking even more drastic steps forward with initiatives like Common Core.