Disciplinary Action/Disciplinary Office/First Week/Sex-Ed/Fourth Grade
You made your way to the newly renovated wing of the old school building, wondering if it wouldn’t have been worth it more to just move the school to a more decent location than trying to salvage this depressing place. A few steps before you reach the fourth-grade classroom door, a sharp bell informed the beginning of recess, and for a bit, the halls were alive with students leaving the classrooms and hurrying up to the outside patio. Most were just quickly walking, apparently, the punishment for running in the halls was having a good effect even on those that don’t directly suffer it.
When you entered the classroom, Ms. Carmichael was busy storing away some materials and trying to get her space back in working order. Even on the few days you’ve been working, you had to admit you had no idea how much work is it for the teacher to give a simple class. For a student it’s just coming in, taking notes and taking homework, but a teacher has to prepare for the class, fix everything the students mess and correct the homework of every student. You haven’t thought much of teachers before, but were quickly gaining respect for the profession.
“Mr. Gardner, I didn’t see you there!” she said as she finally turned around. She wore a nice long khaki skirt and blue blouse, that made her red hair stand up even more, plus the red ribbon in her blouse made it seem like her hair flew both down her back and in her front, “do you… do you need something?”
You were still getting used to the reactions of the teachers to your presence, they all treated you respectfully, but there was always a hidden fear there. You supposed you couldn’t really blame them, seeing as you had the power to force them to help you punish any student, but it wasn’t something you would do just for fun, you were getting a good idea of what teacher would actually enjoy such a task, and which ones would consider it torture.
“Yes, I wanted to talk to you, if that’s Ok?” you started, trying to sound as pleasant as possible, “Am I correct that you’re in charge of teaching sex-ed to the children?”
Ms. Carmichael sat on one of the student’s chairs, and offered you another, “Why, yes, that’s one of the hardest subjects I’ve had to teach for the last four years,” she said, clearly relieved you only wanted to talk.
“I wanted to know the details of your class,” you continued, and at this she clearly tensed up once more, “since as you know, with the new policies, it’ll be important for me to know what knowledge the children have on this subject if they are ever sent to my office.”
“Ohh, sure… no problem…” started the teacher, “I mean… we don’t really have too much time to focus on… that, but I do try to cover the program,” you noticed how she was twiddling her thumbs, clearly not fully comfortable with the conversation, “even though I’ve been teaching it for four years, I feel I’m still discovering how to best give the information, you know… it’s a delicate subject… especially for some parents…”
“So sex-ed had been only implemented for the last four years?”
“Yes, the students now on eight grade were the first ones that received it,” she said, flinching a little, perhaps remembering that first year she had to teach it.
“And they only have the class in fourth grade?”
“Yes!” she quickly answered, “that way they know what to expect once their bodies begin to… develop,” she made a pause, “and the parents can’t complain we’re putting ungodly thought on their minds since they won’t… act… on the subject.”
“I’m amazed the parents even agreed to have this class,” you said in the most relaxed tone you could, you didn’t want this to become an inquisition for the teacher.
“There were a lot of complaints, believe me!” she said, also relaxing a little, “there still are, especially when the children go home and brag about something, even if it was not taught during the class,” she vented.
“So what exactly do you teach them?” you took advantage of her momentary relaxation to return to your main interest.
“Well, the program is divided into blocks, and each block has four periods assigned to it, two for the girls and two for the boys, so I really only have about two hours to give all the block information,” she gave a small laugh.
“Is that enough?”
“Sometimes it feels like too much…” she answered, “the children start asking questions and I just wish the period is over so I can move to other subjects.”
“So what are the blocks about?”
“Well, the first one is human anatomy,” she said after thinking for a bit, “that one’s pretty easy, just teaching the boys and girls the correct names of… things. The hard part is when they start asking the names for the other gender’s,” she again left out a little laugh, apparently, she was really relaxing at last.
“Why is that hard?” you asked with honest curiosity.
“Well, we teach boys and girls only their own parts,” she explained, “that way we don’t need any props since they have already seen them on themselves… and it also helps avoid the parents… it’s one thing if a boy comes home saying penis, than if he comes home saying vagina… Still, the students talk among themselves, so I’m pretty sure they know all the names a few days after the class, anyways.
“The next block is human attraction, there I have to explain to them that in a few years they will begin to have feelings towards their classmates, that that is part of the tests the Lord has burdened us for our sins, and that resisting those urges until marriage will take us a step closer to salvation.
“Again it’s not a hard block, except the children really want to know how the attraction feels,” she looked up, remembering, “the first year I told them it was like the longing they felt just before Christmas or their birthday… I think it’s a close example, but some parents complained their children were crying at Christmas that year…” she distractedly rubbed her temples, “now I just say it’s a deeper version of the love they have for their families, that’s usually enough to satisfy them.
“The real challenge begins with the third block: pregnancy” continued Ms. Carmichael, “while most children already know that women get pregnant and the baby develops inside them, having to explain that it’s the husband’s job to put the seed inside the wife for the process to happen it’s hard,” the teacher had gotten up and walked to the back of the classroom, fishing something from amongst a pile of slides, “we even have to use some props to illustrate the point,” she said, handing you two cardboard images.
Both images were very simplistic drawings of a side view cross-section at the female reproductive organs, neither had any labels. In the first one, you could see the vagina, cervix and an empty womb, while in the next one the womb had an almost fully grown baby inside.
“It’s hard having to show this to the children, especially the boys…” she made another pause, sitting down again, “I feel like I’m showing them pornographic materials,” she let out a deep breath, “and they always have more and more questions… about three years ago I slipped and mention coitus… I even got a death threat by mail over that.”
“Really? That’s going too far—”
“Oh, it was just a concerned parent, the headmaster took care of everything,” she quickly dismissed your worry, “So I have to take care of what I say, words like coitus or semen are way too strong for the children. The children have to know that a baby results when the husband and wife lie together and the husband puts the baby seed inside the wife’s womb, and that the first time they do this, is when the wife gifts her husband with the proof of her purity, her virginity…” she paused a moment, almost like yearning for something on her past.
“The children also give you a hard time there?” you asked after she remained quiet for a bit.
“Not too much,” she admits, “I think the images help to distract them… they usually just comment on how nasty everything seems, while the girls always swoon when I describe the happiness of a bride and groom on their honeymoon.
“Anyways,” she continued, apparently letting the past behind, “the last two blocks are all about the risks of sex and giving them tools to abstain from it until they’re married…” she made another pause, her face turning a bit dark, “I don’t like to scare my students, but I guess there’s no way around that on such a subject…
“I have to explain to them that while a husband and wife lying together is a holy act sanctioned by God, any unmarried couple that does so is risking eternal damnation, that any babies produced out of marriage will forever bear the weight of that sin and that they would shame not only themselves but also their families and community if they let the hand of the devil guide their actions.”
Yes, that sounded more like the kind of sex-ed you expected, “I’ve heard mentions of the brothel, do you also mention it?” your comment appeared to drag Ms. Carmichael out of her dark mood.
“Well, yes… I mean, it’s a good example of what happens for those who can’t refrain their urges, so I might have mentioned it once or twice.”
“What about masturbation, do you deal with it in any form?”
“It’s not part of the program,” she said shyly, “so I prefer to let the parents deal with it… I mean if they ask me if touching themselves is Ok I will tell them that is also a trap of the devil, but I wouldn’t dare utter that word in front of them.”
“What about consent and abuse?”
This time Ms. Carmichael almost jumped out of the chair, “They know they should not perform any sexual acts, I don’t like to dilute that idea by introducing terms of when sex is good or bad.”
By now you had a pretty good idea what information the children were really receiving, and it explained why they had reacted the way the did back in your office. You really couldn’t complain, the way they were being taught was almost like they were being groomed to be easily abused, and you didn’t really give a damn about town to try to fix that.
Still, you could use your new position to really improve the children’s understanding of sex, while at the same time getting access to some extra pussy in the classroom.