Carbondale Reporter

Paul Jacobs, the state representative for District 115 and the Republican candidate for Illinois House District 118, recently shared his opinion on the new sex education curriculum for schools statewide.

According to a press release, in August 2021, Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker signed SB 818 into law, requiring all schools K-12 that teach sexual education to align their curriculum with certain standards.

"Modernizing our sex education standards will help keep our children safe and ensure important lessons, like consent and internet safety, are taught in classrooms," Pritzker said.

The new sex education curriculum will be based on the National Sex Education Standards. This includes teaching grades K-2 to define gender and gender identity, as well as gender-role stereotypes, and teaching the students the medically accurate names for body parts, including genitals, Breakthrough Ideas reports.

Grades 3-5 learn about masturbation; hormonal development and the role of hormone blockers; the differences between cisgender, transgender and gender nonbinary; and the difference between sexual orientation and gender identity. Grades 6 through 8 will learn to define oral sex, anal sex and vaginal sex, and are instructed to identify at least four methods of contraception that are available without a prescription, such as condoms and emergency contraception. 

High school students will learn about "reproductive justice," as well as how to differentiate between sex assigned at birth, gender identity and gender expression.

Jacobs told the Carbondale Reporter that he opposes this controversial legislation. 

"I am opposed to SB 818, and I think it should be repealed," Jacobs said. "This curriculum is too explicit to be used in our schools. It is not the job of schools to engage in such explicit subject matters especially when kids are not learning the basics like math, reading, science and history."

He adds that he has not heard of any support for SB 818 from his district.

"Most of the people I talk to agree with me that explicit, age-inappropriate material has no place in our classrooms, and they do not want their kids being taught the National Sex Education standards," he said. 

He also says he thinks schools should opt out of the new sex education curriculum.

According to test scores from the most recent Illinois Assessment of Readiness, less than 20% of Chicago third graders can read or do math at grade-level proficiency, the Chicago Sun-Times reports.

Statewide, 38% of students read at grade level, according to Wirepoints.