Does Michigan Require Sex Education Classes To Mention Consent?

Would you believe that only 8 states require sex education classes to mention consent or assault?

I honestly didn't believe it either, and the worst part of it is that Michigan is not one of those 8. In fact, according to a study by American Progress, Michigan is not one of the 24 states that require any sex education in schools. Most Michigan schools do teach some sort of sex ed anyway, but lawmakers have made it clear that they're cool with kids learning what they can on the bus ride to school.

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After reading the article I still didn't believe that Michigan had no sex ed requirements. I mean, I remember all of the boys being brought to the gym in high school for an assembly. We were each given a head of cauliflower, and the speaker told us that if we had sex, there was a chance that this would start to grow on our privates!

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You can laugh, but that is 100% true! The assembly quickly turned into a bunch of teenage boys throwing cauliflower at each other.

I started to look into what states did require and found that only 24 states have mandatory sex ed in schools and less than half have any sort of guidelines on what to teach and when. That means that there are a few states that consider sex education to be preaching only abstinence. That is literally the opposite of sex education.

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It's not all bad news for parents that would actually prefer their children to get an actual education. Michigan has introduced two separate bills that would require sex education, and that consent/assault would be part of the curriculum.

The bad news is that both of them have been sitting in a committee for months now.

There are parents who do not want teachers or health professionals talking to their kids about sex in school. I call them Amish. Seriously though, there are always chances for parents to opt their children out of these lessons if they choose. Hopefully, lawmakers will get the ball rolling and catch Michigan up to the rest of the country so the next generation is not dealing with another sexual misconduct scandal every other week.