As a mother of two young children, I decided to learn more about Pono Choices, the pilot sex education program for 11- to 13-year-olds in some Hawaii public schools. A quick Google search produced a link to a conservative group’s stinging critique and what appeared to be an unauthorized copy of the Pono Choices materials.

Some of the things I read in the materials available online were so bizarre that I honestly thought it could be a spoof of the real thing, like an article from The Onion. I decided to see if this was indeed the actual material. This proved to be a very difficult task.

I saw that the University of Hawaii had been awarded a federal grant to develop Pono Choices and contacted many people on campus to see how I could obtain a legitimate copy. I was eventually able to reach someone at the chancellor’s office who agreed to give me a copy for $7.50. I came in the next day and got my copy, which was, indeed, the same material available online. There were many concerning aspects of the Pono Choices material, but I will mention only two.

The material displays sexual experience and even multiple sexual partners as normal for the 11- to 13-year-olds. It is nearly criminal that the curriculum asserts that it will "empower" the children to make "pono choices about their sexual health" and yet nowhere do the materials mention rape, sexual assault or sexual predators. The instructor is directed to tell the students that the Pono Choices material "meets several standards and benchmarks" set by the state and so "the state of Hawaii has decided that it’s important for you to learn about this." But in Hawaii, it is a first-degree assault to have sexual intercourse with anyone under the age of 14 — and yet the curriculum is designed specifically for children ages 11-13.

An especially troubling aspect of Pono Choices is about the child’s right to not participate in an activity that makes them feel uncomfortable. In Module 1, the instructor is directed to show a "Group Agreements Poster" — these "agreements" are intended to help "everyone feel safe and respected, and to keep the class moving forward in a positive way" and include reasonable things like "no teasing and no putdowns."

But then in a set of incompatible agreements, the students are taught about their "right to pass" and their "responsibility to participate." The instructor is directed to say under the "right to pass," "if you feel uncomfortable with a topic and would rather not participate at that moment, you can use your right to pass" and then there is a note to the instructor which says, "If students ask a question about the right to pass, redirect them to the next agreement: the responsibility to participate."

The instructor is then directed to say that "you have the right to pass, but if everyone chooses to pass that means I will be doing all the talking, and that will get really boring so you have the responsibility to participate." So, the student who doesn’t feel comfortable participating has not only the natural peer pressure from his or her own classmates but also pressure from the instructor. The "right to pass" is trumped by the "responsibility to participate" and all because "it will be boring" if the instructor does "all the talking"?

If other parents take the time to acquire and review the Pono Choices materials, I think they will share some of my concerns. Perhaps that is why the Department Of Education has not made it easier for us to access these materials.