SHine S.A Opinion piece
The SHine program is soon to be incorporated into
the Ross Smith Secondary curriculum. Many people are welcoming it into
the school, but
there
are the few who don’t want to have the subjects discussed, influencing
their children’s attitudes and decisions.
On the other hand, some parents are breathing a sigh of relief because
they don’t have to give their child “that talk”.
SHine involves students learning that being gay is acceptable and helps
them develop healthy relationships. They help people who have been identified
as having a risk of either developing a bad relationship or are at risk
with other aspects of their life. SHine also offers programs for older
primary school students.
I think the shine program is a fantastic thing to have in the school curriculum.
It provides the most convenient way of communicating to students that there
are options out in that big wide world apart from the stereotypical “normal” person
promoted by mainstream media. The program helps parents, teachers and students
alike by touching on subjects previously considered taboo.
Shine also offers education programs for teachers to help them incorporate
sexual health and relationship issues into the curriculum. The teachers
resource manual, entitled “Teach it like it is” offers more than
60 activities in the classroom.
One other program that SHine offers is the S.H.A.R.E (Sexual Health And
Relationships Education) program. It is a collaborative project between
the Department of Education and Children’s Services and SHine S.A.,
made possible with funding from the Department of Human Services.
It helps schools adopt a whole school approach to relationships and sexual
health education. This involves developing a policy to help support healthy
relationships and sexual health among other things.
At the moment, parents have the option of refusing to allow their children
to participate in the program, which is understandable but not ideal. It
does not help to contribute to a healthier society and an aware population
if people are allowed to ignore the facts. However, given the sensitivity
of the subject it may require a few years for these barriers to be removed.
Importantly, this program will really make a difference in the long run
when it gets to the next generation. Hopefully by then young people will
be more accepting, which will lead to a healthier and more tolerant society.
Welcome to the
Ross Smith E-View!
NEW ISSUE
TERM 3 2003
Ross Smith students are again leading the world in on-line publishing after the school became one of the first to feature student-produced videos on their website as part of the literacy project in 1999.
The Ross Smith E-View was started this year after articles were put onto an international schools website with wired.com, but in 2002 Ross Smith has made a magazine on the net for themselves.