I was working with a group of three students in writer's workshop, when completely out of the blue one student says to the other two, "I think I know why Ms. Armstrong won't get married. She wants her house quiet." Right as I was about to mentally file this statement under 'Cute Things My Students Have Said,' he follows it up with, "Are you a virgin?"
It never would have occurred to me to ask any of my teachers this, especially at the age of nine. Yet this isn't completely shocking considering the environment. I put an end to it by saying that the only business my students have with me is math and literacy. And the craziest part about it, was that the three students didn't even respond, didn't even look up from their work, just continued on with correcting the paragraphs I had edited. It was almost as if asking your teacher if she's a virgin is equivalent to asking your teacher if she has a pencil.
As one of my coworkers always says, I wish my kids still had cooties. Instead, they're going to a school-hosted seminar with their parents about HIV/AIDS, nonchalantly asking their teachers if they're virgins, and bringing condoms to school. In the fourth grade.
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Fortunately or un, kids are more aware of STD's than ever before. Somewhat more frightening is that children as young as third grade are engaging in oral sex on school busses and they do not think of it as sex. Another group that is falling into the endangered realm is senior citizens, thinking themselves freed from the burden of unwanted pregnancy, are not using condoms when "hooking up" in the "Home".
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