If you thought children in the first three grades of school were spending all their time learning the basics (reading, ‘riting and ‘rithmetic), you will be surprised to learn that some schools are teaching a new subject in those tender years. It’s a course about incest, physical and sexual abuse, alcoholism, and domestic violence.
These courses have exotic names and, of course, enjoy taxpayer funding. One, called “Protective Behaviors Anti-Victim Training,” is claimed to be in use in 34 states. It has created quite a stir in Wisconsin where it originated.
If this is news to you, you might think that some useful purpose would be served by warning little children not to get in the automobile of a stranger who offers a candy bar. But that isn’t what this course is about. Only one out of 86 pages concerns dangers from strangers; the rest of the course is about dangers the child may face in the home.
The course consists of a series of lessons about horrible hypothetical experiences that allegedly may occur to a child in his own home or as a result of the misbehavior of his parents.
No wonder parents object to the course; they perceive it as anti-parent, as indeed it is. It scares the child into believing that home is a hostile environment and that the chief threat to his safety is from someone in his own family.
The child is taught to expect that his parents will probably not believe him if he tells them his fears. So, the child is required to set up a network of mostly non-parents in whom he is to confide.
Even the semantics of the course are anti-parent. The manual never mentions mother, father, mom or dad, but refers exclusively to “grown-ups at home” or “household people.” The only mention of “parent” is about a parent abusing his own child.
The course includes a “Bibliography of Children’s Literature” made up exclusively of depressing books about disturbing events in the home, ugly remarks, family quarreling, divorce, domestic violence, alcoholism, or mental illness. It doesn’t include any book of hope, inspiration, nobility, or family love.
The child is led to believe the gigantic falsehood that these evils are typical, normal, or common to most homes. The figures given in the course itself (which may be exaggerated) indicate that only one out of five households experiences sexual abuse, domestic violence, or physical abuse, and only one out of three homes experiences alcoholic abuse.
The course attempts to justify itself by reiterating the statistic that 80% of the abuse of children comes from adults whom the child knows and trusts. This figure is used in a very misleading way. It does not mean 80% of children are subject to child abuse; it is 80% of the 20% of the children who are allegedly subject to child abuse, which is only 16% of children.
It’s a terrible tragedy if 16% of children are abused in the home, but that certainly is no justification for scaring the other 84% of the children who come from normal homes where parents observe standards of morality and courtesy and do not indulge in violence or abuse of their own family members. Nor is it any justification for inflicting group therapy on the majority of children who come from homes which do not have these problems.
The authors of “Protective Behaviors” asked 2,000 teachers, school administrators, and social workers to evaluate this course in terms of a fruit or vegetable. Responses included: “Cauliflower, because lots of little pieces go together to make the whole head” and “Broccoli, you have to learn to accept it for what it is.” Those answers give a good indication of the nonprofessional level of the course.
Another similar course for early elementary grades, currently used in Nebraska, is “Bubbylonian Encounter.” It’s a play with classroom discussion about a creature named Bub who arrives from Bubbylonia to teach about good touching and bad touching. The course compels a classroom discussion of incest and forced sexual touching by at least the third grade.
These are examples of the experimental psychological courses which address feelings, attitudes, behavior, and family relationships, and which consume hours of the school day, thereby displacing traditional academic subjects and basic skills. Little children are being used for “guineapiggism” by unlicensed psychologists in the classroom.
