It reads like a guidebook to child molestation: Get children to talk about something children like and know about, and then … use that thing to get them talking about sex and their privates!
Only in this case, it was being done by a school.
Enfield Public Schools in Connecticut are under well-deserved scrutiny for a “Pizza and Consent” assignment in which eighth-graders (13 and 14 years old) students were given a handout that described pizza as a “metaphor for sex,” reports
The assignment went on to instruct students to list their favorite – and least favorite – pizza toppings “in relation to sex.” “Here are some examples: Likes: Cheese = Kissing,” it reads. “Dislikes: Olives = Giving Oral.”
“Now that you know this metaphor for sex, let’s explore your preferences! Draw and color your favorite type of pizza. What’s your favorite style of pizza? Your favorite toppings? What are your pizza no-nos? Now mirror these preferences in relation to sex!,” the assignment states gleefully.
The assignment has a section for “likes” and “dislikes,” where students can “mirror” their preferences for pizza toppings “in relation to sex.”
Who created this assignment? Who is reading the answers? Are they matching students’ names to the answers given? Are the compiled responses kept for further examination?
The assignment was revealed Feb. 7 by Parents Defending Education.
It was of course a “mistake” that was sent “inadvertently” to the eighth-graders, Enfield Public Schools Superintendent Christopher Drezek said during a school board meeting the following day, though it is difficult to imagine a “mistake” of such magnitude.
“The simple truth was it was a mistake. And I know that there are some who may not believe that. I know there are some who don’t necessarily maybe want that answer,” Drezek said. “In this particular case, I didn’t even get a chance to because the person who made the mistake jumped ahead of it before I was even notified that it had happened.”
Drezek admitted that the content in the assignment was “inappropriate,” which seems a mild term, and insisted that there’s no “hidden agenda” in trying to trick 13-year-olds into discussing their knowledge and preferences about sex.
