The pro-life group Live Action has released a series of videos demonstrating the inappropriate advice given to young teenagers at Planned Parenthood clinics as part of their taxpayer-funded sex education programs, but this goes to another level. In this case, another level means elementary school, as the Fox affiliate in Las Vegas reports. Their schools now begin sex education at the fifth grade with a basic course in human reproductive biology with an emphasis on abstinence, but schools don’t think the program is effective enough. Instead, they’d like to start in kindergarten with a new curriculum that teaches about masturbation (via JWF)

FOX5 Vegas – KVVU

Some changes the school board may considered are outlined a 112-page document called Guidelines for Comprehensive Sexuality Education, which was put together by a national task force of educators and health experts.

Some of the suggestions in the document have local parents upset.

“You read through it and you’re appalled by some of the stuff,” said parent Ronald Withaeger.

Withaeger’s oldest daughter will be in kindergarten in a few years.

“I was sick to my stomach. My wife and I read it. We’re sick to think elementary age kids would be exposed to these types of things,” he said.

The document covers nearly every sex education topic imaginable, and it’s suggestions are intended for students from kindergarten through twelfth grade. Topics include healthful dating, marriage, family values, reproduction and much more.

“‘Masturbation should be done in a private place.’ That’s kindergarten through third grade. You’ve got to be kidding me. There’s no need to know that at that age,” Withaeger said.

Old and busted: Teaching good ol’ American independence and rugged individualism in elementary-school history classes. New hotness (literally): Teaching rugged individualism in sex ed to the Sesame Street crowd.

This falls into the same category of imposing age-inappropriate discussions of sexual activities as another viral story from yesterday, which may or may not be a hoax. This one, however, is all too real, and parallels the Planned Parenthood story in the sense of bypassing parents to indoctrinate behaviors with vulnerable kids and teens while bypassing parents.

There is nothing wrong with age-appropriate sex education, even in a public-school setting, but the emphasis has to be on age-appropriate. Teaching 15-year-olds the etiquette of sadomasochism and suggesting Fifty Shades of Grey as a textbook clearly does not fall within that paradigm; teens at that age need instruction on how to be safe, protect themselves from exploitation, and channel their curiosity into activities less fraught with life-changing consequences. Children from 5-9 years of age need much more basic instruction about privacy, modesty, and very basic biology about reproduction that will answer their questions without otherwise confusing them. Privacy and modesty at that age doesn’t mean giving a few pointers about keeping the door locked while masturbating.

Small wonder that parents trust public schools less and less with the education of their children, and turn more and more to educational environments where they have more control over them — like charter schools, private schools, and home schooling. This is less about education than it is about values-based indoctrination.