The Education Migration: Why Educators are Leaving the Field & How we can Advocate for Them and Students. 

        According to a survey conducted by the National Education Association, who represents over 3 million teachers, 55% of educators are now planning to leave their jobs earlier than they originally planned. Over 90% of educators that took the survey indicated that they are experiencing serious feelings of burnout, a spike from 37% in August 2021 (Jotkoff,2022). School districts across the country are losing educators left and right, from Pre-Kindergarten to post-secondary education. Why is this happening? Like the Great Reimagination, also referred to as the Great Resignation, the education field is seeing changes in its historical practices. These changes are coming due to educators feeling burned out and unheard. One way burnout could decrease is by increasing the wages and benefits of employees. In addition, the COVID-19 pandemic has increased the risk of teachers’ health. Thankfully, the vaccine is now available to anyone aged 5 and up, but only a little more than a quarter of 5-11 year olds have gotten the vaccine as of January 2022. 
Further, new education reform bills are creating an unsure future for what education will look like, especially in the realm of social studies, history, and literature courses. In Florida, House Bill 1557, more popularly known as the “Don’t Say Gay Bill,” silences conversations about gender identity and sexual orientation in schools. An amendment to the bill most recently required that if students disclose to faculty or staff that they identify as anything other than straight, schools are required to inform their parents. Not only does this strip student-teacher relationships of trust, it could also cause irreparable harm to students upon being outed to parents without their consent. Along with this bill, books bans are back in style, taking books that have anything to do with gender identity, sexual orientation, sexual activity, and even profanities off bookshelves in schools. These conversations are taking place in at least 14 states at the legal level. Most recently, Indiana Senate Bill 167 was introduced, and this is one of the most terrifying. This bill states the following:
    “Provides that a state agency, state educational institution, school corporation, or qualified school or an employee of the state agency, state educational institution, school corporation, or qualified school acting in an official capacity may not include or promote certain concepts as part of a course of instruction or in a curriculum or direct or otherwise compel a school employee or student to adhere to certain tenets relating to the individual's sex, race, ethnicity, religion, color, national origin, or political affiliation. Provides that a state agency, school corporation, qualified school, or state educational institution or an employee of the state agency, school corporation, qualified school, or state educational institution acting in an official capacity may not require an employee of the school corporation, qualified school, or state educational institution to engage in training, orientation, or therapy that presents any form of racial or sex stereotyping or blame on the basis of sex, race, ethnicity, religion, color, national origin, or political affiliation. Provides that a student shall not be required to participate in a personal analysis, an evaluation, or a survey that reveals or attempts to affect the student's attitudes, habits, traits, opinions, beliefs, or feelings without parental consent” (Baldwin, 2022). 
    These bills are entering swiftly and seem to come more and more often. Many teachers refuse to work for an institution in which they cannot discuss basic historical events and even general topic conversations including race, sex, religion, color, national origin, and political affiliation. How are Civics and Government teachers supposed to speak on our government structure if they cannot mention our two-party system? How will we discuss the Civil Rights Movement or WWII? It is vital that we are informed about these bills, and that we reach out to our local government, exercising our rights to hold them accountable, and advocating for kids whose voices are regularly silenced. These bills could change the future of education by eliminating the most important parts of our history. Without teaching about America’s foundation, built in racism, colonialism, and sexism, we are doing a disservice to everyone. 
     These bills have been sparked by the term “Critical Race Theory”(CRT). CRT is not new, in fact, the academic concept is over 40 years old, but it has recently been the victim of restrictive education laws, protects, and a wildfire of false information about a very whitewashed version of our country’s history. CRT is defined as, “…cross-disciplinary intellectual and social movement of civil-rights scholars and activists who seek to examine the intersection of race and law in the United States and to challenge mainstream American liberal approaches to racial justice.” The idea of talking openly about the systems built in our country, and how many of them are built on the backs of oppressing People of Color, has caused immense backlash. Those against CRT have claimed that the idea is just a way to blame white people and that it is a personal attack on both themselves and their children. In all honesty, CRT is just a way to infuse the idea of intersectionality in education, something that increases the inclusivity of historically white-centric teachings. The only way to cultivate change is to acknowledge the damage done by acknowledging how systems of oppression came to be and how they work so that we can educate folks on how to go against them. In order to do this, we must have teachers in the classroom who are advocates and allies, representative of different cultures, classes, identities, and experiences, but this is not possible without fighting for better conditions for them so that they can do their jobs to the best of their ability while being supported by their community. 
    “To teach in a manner that respects and cares for the souls of our students is essential if we are to provide the w necessary conditions where learning can most deeply and intimately begin.”- bell hooks
 

https://www.glaad.org/resourcelist

https://pen.org/report/educational-gag-orders/

https://www.instagram.com/p/CaiAR5mFUq5/?utm_medium=copy_link

http://info.retiredteachers.org/blog/how-can-i-advocate-for-public-education

Women's History Month: Celebrating Sex Educators
By: Callie Anderson (she/her)

Celebrating Women’s History Month and all of the progress feminine-identifying people have made is a highlight of March. It’s also important to look at what progress we are making today and where we are headed. There are so many feminine-identifying people today who are making a difference when it comes to sexual health and sex education. This is just a small look into some of the people sharing their knowledge of sex, sexuality, and sexual health today.

In this article, sex will be an inclusive term referring to any and all forms of sexual activity.

Cassandra Corrado brands herself as a sex educator for adults. She calls West Chester her hometown and runs the Instagram account @FeministSexEd where she shares sex education content from reels about lube to posts about sexual communication and physical intimacy without sex.

Corrado’s website offers a look into her work as a sex educator. Since 2015, she has facilitated sex education workshops at colleges across the country for thousands of college students. She has curated a number of different workshops, but some include “Sex in Translation” focusing on sexual communication and “Playing Safely” focusing on physical and emotional safety during sex. To prioritize safety, during COVID, Corrado has hosted webinars in place of in person workshops.

Along with workshops through colleges, Corrado also provides sex education online at least once a month through virtual, live workshops where people can buy tickets and join from anywhere. This month, on March 7 and March 29, Corrado will be facilitating a workshop called “Uprooting Shame Collective.” She also offers private educational consultations and ongoing coaching services.

Back in September 2020, Corrado launched a 12-episode YouTube series called “You Deserve Good Sex” with Rewire News Group. This series has short videos to address the topics Corrado gets asked about the most including the myth of blue balls, picking a sex toy, and having healthy sex after trauma.

Shamyra Howard is a sexologist, licensed clinical social worker, and therapist specializing in sexuality and relationships. She is also the author of the book Use Your Mouth: Pocket-Sized Conversations to Simply Increase the 7 Types of Intimacy In and Out of the Bedroom.

On her Instagram account @SexologistShamyra, Sexologist Shamyra shares educational clips from various speaking events and fun reels of sex education topics such as the anatomy of a reproductive system. Furthermore, she shares posts with advice on a wide variety of topics including how to navigate having a high sex drive, how to enjoy being on dating apps, and how to stop having obligatory sex.

Sexologist Shamyra offers both individual and couples therapy, and she does speaking events. Some of the topics she speaks on include BDSM and Kink, Intimacy In and Out of the Bedroom, and Sexual Diversity. She has also been featured in many media outlets including Essence, OWN, and The Huffpost.

Erica Smith has been a sex educator for over 20 years. Much of her work has been focused in the Philadelphia area. According to her website Smith has “provided comprehensive sex education, HIV prevention services, and support to young women and LGBTQ[IA] youth detained in Philadelphia’s juvenile justice system.”

On her Instagram page @EricaSmith.Sex.Ed, Smith shares educational posts and reels on so many sex education topics including queer imposter syndrome, purity culture, abortion pills, and the intersections of religion and sexuality.

In 2019, Smith developed a 6 session sexuality education and coaching program designed for people raised in purity culture called Purity Culture Dropout™´©Å. This sex education is queer inclusive, shame free, medically accurate, and comprehensive. Furthermore, Smith moderates Purity Culture Dropout Queer Support Groups where queer folks have the opportunity to meet other queer folks raised in purity culture and have support group discussions.

Smith offers a number of sex education books and webinars on her website including Sexual Communication for Purity Culture Dropouts and Your First Time: Everything You Need to Know Before Your Sexual Debut. She also offers professional consultations and individual sex education and coaching sessions. For businesses and organizations, Smith has a number of trainings available including LGBTQIA competency, adolescent sexuality and sexual health, and issues facing justice-involved youth.

Dr. Lexx Brown-James is a sex therapist, educator, and media consultant. Located nearby in Swarthmore, she combines education and therapy to help people with relationship intimacy using shamefree sex education. Dr. Lexx teaches sex positive comprehensive sexuality from an intersectional lens. She also offers coaching and supervision services and media appearances.

Dr. Lexx is known as the #CouplesClinician and advocates for comprehensive sex education for everyone regardless of age. On her website, Dr. Lexx provides resources for sex education for everyone from children to teens to adults to parents.

Through the educational arm of her institute, The Institute for Sexuality & Intimacy, LLC, Dr. Lexx offers a number of training workshops such as “Being a Sex Positive Parent,” “Sexuality Educator Antiracist Training,” and “The Black Girls’ Guide to Getting Rid of Sexual Shame™´©Å.” She also brings shamefree sex education to people through her social media platform SexEd4Dads, which equips dads to take care and educate their children on sexuality, puberty, and more. In May, Dr. Lexx will be premiering her podcast Talk Sex with Dr. Lexx.

Making space during Women’s History Month for the current day women and feminine-identifying leaders in sex education is important just like it’s important to reflect on past people who have made their work in sex education possible today. There are so many people dedicating their time and energy to bettering sex education, so this is just a small look into the work that a few people are doing to make sex education accessible to everyone.