It doesn’t matter where you stand on the issues of sex-ed, pronoun usage or transgenderism in school, you should know who’s teaching your kids, what they’re teaching them and whether there’s more than meets the eye.
How far does the sex ed curriculum go? What’s being “normalized” by your school’s teachers? Who sets the agenda and how are your children’s teachers being trained? And how does the material align with your family values?
Judge for yourself in the case of AMAZE.org, an organization with materials that have made its way into Illinois schools. According to its website, AMAZE “takes the awkward out of sex ed. Real info in fun, animated videos that give you all the answers you actually want to know about sex, your body and relationships.”
AMAZE videos appear on standards proposed for Illinois’ New Sexuality Ed courses by the group’s partner organization Advocates for Youth, which are posted on this website. And Advocates for Youth appears as a resource on the Illinois State Board of Education website.
Some of the AMAZE videos cover some basic sex ed topics with little to object to. But there are others that many parents are sure to find objectionable. Take a look at these two short videos for a sample.
We were recently made aware of AMAZE by a parent from Avoca SD 37, a two-school district in the New Trier Township with some 700 total students. The parent noticed that AMAZE’s video for instructing young children on pronoun usage was linked in the principal’s April newsletter.
A FOIA by Wirepoints further revealed that other AMAZE videos are now part of the district’s curriculum. Avoca contracts out its 5th grade reproductive health education to Lurie’s Children’s Hospital, a leading youth transgender clinic in the midwest. Lurie’s education materials use AMAZE’s body odor, male anatomy and female anatomy videos.
The problem is, Lurie Hospital has effectively vetted AMAZE by using their materials. And now that students have seen the intro videos, they have knowledge of and access to the group’s other controversial videos like the ones above.
Some parents may be okay with normalizing porn for their children, but most won’t be. Many others will take exception to the group’s position on masturbation.
AMAZE will also step over the line for many parents with its handing of transgender issues like gender identity, transgenderism and puberty blockers.
While Avoca SD 37’s use of AMAZE is just one example, it may very well be that the company’s videos, or something like it, may soon be standard in sex ed curriculums statewide. Illinois passed legislation last year requiring ISBE to finalize new sex ed standards by August 1, 2022.
The spread of AMAZE into district curricula is concerning, not just because of its content, but because most parents have little idea of what’s actually being taught in their children’s classrooms.
It took a FOIA by Wirepoints, and subsequent questioning, to find out about AMAZE’s full role in Avoca’s sex ed lesson. It shouldn’t be that difficult.
Parents should have more power and control over curriculums. At the very least, they should know what’s being taught so they can choose whether or not to opt their children out.