If you needed another reason not to put your kids in the rotten garbage dump that is our nation’s public school system – or, perhaps, to pull them out of it – here you go.
This one’s courtesy of Greenwich Schools in Connecticut, where second graders – we’re talking about 7 and 8-year-olds, here – were reportedly shown a video meant for trauma victims that included a cartoon image of a terrified little girl standing next to a man whose…er…intimate area was standing at full attention.
The video, called The Alfred Jr. & Shadow – A Short Story about Being Scared, was shown to some second-grade remote-learning students during a lesson on social and emotional learning, where kids were taught the difference between "normalscared" and "embarrassedscared" or "painfulscared." It apparently also included segments on parents who fight, are drunk or are on drugs, as well as examples of physical and emotional abuse.
At one point, the video cuts to a cartoon image of a frightened child standing next to a man with a fully erect penis.
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“[Some] children have experienced an adult touching or putting their penis in the child’s private parts or mouth,” the video explains, adding that these child victims are often “terrified that this will happen again.”
The New York Post explains this video is typically used as a tool for children who’ve experienced trauma, not as part of an everyday school curriculum (although how showing young trauma victims a cartoon of a man’s penis would be helpful is also anyone’s guess).
Following outrage from a slew of Greenwich parents, Greenwich Schools Superintendent Dr. Toni Jones apologized in an email to the parents of remote-learning second-graders sent Monday, saying the video was "not appropriate" viewing for such a young audience.
“Around the midway point in the video there is reference to situations in which children may become afraid, including being afraid of abuse, both physical and sexual,” she wrote. “The content at this point in the video was not appropriate for our GPS second grade classrooms.”
The school’s psychology department is now being made available to parents and students who may be having trouble with what they saw, saying they’ll help parents talk to their kids and answer any questions about the content of the video.
Or, alternatively, here’s a thought: don’t take parenting advice from the same school system that just made your prepubescent kid watch a cartoon video about pedophilia. And while you’re at it, find them a different - and perhaps somewhat decent – school.