Lessons for "Our Whole Lives" Church-based sex ed: Church-based sex ed

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When Nicole Chaisson teaches fifth- and sixth-graders about sexuality at Macalester Plymouth United Church in St. Paul, she doesn’t have to worry about what the state legislature might say. She is not relying on federal funding, and no organization will ask her to demonstrate the results. But her relative freedom doesn’t make her task simple.

On this Sunday evening, the session is about puberty, and the six girls and five boys in attendance are giggling nervously. They seem both comfortable at being there and anxious about the conversation about to take place. The anxiety is eventually voiced by one child by way of a question placed in an anonymous question box: “Why do we need to learn about puberty?”