There are people who think this is OK?
A class of grade eight students in southern Sweden was asked to write essays about their sexual fantasies and experiences for a school assignment.
A teacher from the school expressed surprise that the assignment had upset parents, claiming that most students appreciated the exercise, which was part of a cooperative effort between the biology, sex and well being, and Swedish-language departments.
However, Maria Ahnlund told the newspaper she took the criticism “very seriously” and said she would review the assignment next year to see if there is a more “neutral” approach to the topic.
A spokesperson for teachers’ union Lärarförbundet emphasised the importance of addressing student concerns.
“Obviously, if students feel like the assignment violated their privacy, that criticism must be taken seriously,” Lärarförbundet spokesperson Claes Nyberg told The Local.
“Just the thought that a teacher would sit and ask about their sexual fantasies makes me sick,” one parent told the local Ystads Allehanda newspaper.
The comments came after a class consisting primarily of 14-year-old students from the Kastanje school in Tomelilla received a rather unusual writing assignment for their Swedish lesson.
Entitled “The First Time” (Första gången), the assignment instructed students to imagine they were talking to a close friend and write about the past sexual escapades they might divulge in confidence.
Other options included making up a story about their first sexual experience, writing about the first time they had sex or how they hoped their first time would be.
Getting high marks required writing at least a half page and with “passion,” according to the parent. The assignment made several students so uncomfortable, they told their parents about the request to write sexually themed essays.
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A teacher from the school expressed surprise that the assignment had upset parents, claiming that most students appreciated the exercise, which was part of a cooperative effort between the biology, sex and well being, and Swedish-language departments.
However, Maria Ahnlund told the newspaper she took the criticism “very seriously” and said she would review the assignment next year to see if there is a more “neutral” approach to the topic.
A spokesperson for teachers’ union Lärarförbundet emphasised the importance of addressing student concerns.
“Obviously, if students feel like the assignment violated their privacy, that criticism must be taken seriously,” Lärarförbundet spokesperson Claes Nyberg told The Local.
A more neutral approach, one that doesn’t violate the students’ privacy, would be OK, then?
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Andrea adds: “A teacher from the school expressed surprise that the assignment had upset parents…” You asked 14-year-olds to describe sexual fantasies, in writing, with passion. And nothing struck you as being possibly upsetting. What to say?
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That is insane that they would even think of asking questions like that.
Also crazy that it would take a cooperative effort between departments to come up with an assignment like that.
You’ve got to be kidding me. That’s so far beyond innapproriate, that it’s bordering on criminal. It’s never okay for a teacher to encourage children, because that’s what a 14 year old is, to discuss sexual fantasies, let alone in detail with passion.
I’m not a prude by any means and I’m all for discussing things with kids, but this is extremely different than sex-ed. Honestly, there’s something wrong when people begin to think it’s okay to discuss sexual fantasies with children, period!
Indeed. And then what happens if/when some kid discusses a fantasy that involves, say, pedophilia or violence or rape? You think these teachers are equipped to deal with that?
I agree with Beth. It sounds as though this teacher was indulging in some sort of kinky obsession–basically asking the students to write porn?
Grooming? Trying to find the most vulnerable? Voyeurism?
Too creepy for words.
As another commenter noted in part, can you imagine how uncomfortable this would have made a student whose only ‘sexual experiance’ had been past abuse/rape? This is wrong in so many ways!