Monday, January 13, 2014

Stuffing the Box

The conversation caught my ear. I can't tell you exactly what they were talking about because their conversation was definitely NSFW (even though we were in a classroom).

AP calculus. They had an assignment. Much of the class was doing it. (Some of them were doing work for other classes, but they knew what was due and when, and they are the sorts of students who get their work done, so I let them be.)

I listened in on the conversation with the idea that I'd step in and tell them that it was inappropriate. But I had enough context and their comments were such that I soon enough figured out what they were up to.

Freshmen take health. It lasts one semester. It is paired with geography, which is what they take for the other semester of their freshman year. But some freshmen (the kinds of freshmen that eventually end up in AP calculus) take AP geography. AP geography takes a full year. So, those students have to take health later (it is a requirement for graduation).

This week the health classes were doing their sex ed unit. The health teachers were taking questions. Anonymous, slip-of-paper-in-a-box questions.

This junior, presumably a bit bored being stuck in a freshman class, decided he wanted to spice up the discussion. I can't really blame him.

He consulted Yahoo Answers. He and his friends were laughing over some of the more ridiculous questions they found. And what I overheard was pretty ridiculous. Clearly, they were seeking out the crazy.

He got a female friend to write out the questions. I guess he didn't want his subterfuge caught. Although, I caught on pretty quickly.

I suppose I should have warned his teacher. I suppose I should have put a stop to this. But, truth is, I thought this was funny as well. And I didn't want to spoil his fun.

It was an interesting way to come back from winter break.

3 comments:

  1. There is very little in the way of sex ed here in Utah. They are allowed to teach "Abstinence Only" thanks to the church (at least that's what I've been told). I think kids in proper sex ed courses should feel thankful and embrace the education because there is so much to know about reproduction and sexuality. Just watch the show "Masters of Sex" on Showtime and you'll see.

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  2. I remember the questions in a box health class. Of course I didn't have the internet to help me come up with crazy and ridiculous questions.

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  3. They're lucky. We were stuck with health ed for one half of a semester for all four years, and we never got to fill a box with ridiculous anonymous questions.

    I'd like to see what the teacher's response to all those questions was.

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