Over the past few years, we've become more and more aware of the grim results of when failure to respect consent becomes embedded at a cultural level. \
This can lead to so many detrimental consequences, and those consequences have been slowly coming to light through the bravery of survivors of assault.
It has become abundantly clear that we can no longer consider offences of this nature as existing purely between individuals.
And in the interest of building a better world alongside the next generation, one California teacher given some young minds a lesson on the importance of consent.
And as important as lessons on reading and math are, her classroom is also a place where kids can learn to hash out social and interpersonal issues that they'll not only need to navigate later in life, but that can already affect them now.
As she put it on Instagram, "Everything about Kavanaugh in the news has been making me HEATED."
As often as we see people rage-tweeting and participating in slacktivism, it's awesome to see someone take real action.
As she wrote, "Whenever I get frustrated about the state of our country, it inspires me to proactively teach my kids to DO BETTER."
According to CNN, some parents expressed concern that this would involve teaching kids about sex, but as you can see, her chart doesn't get into that subject.
For instance, the idea of making sure that a "yes" they receive sounds positive and enthusiastic and that allowances made on a one-time basis don't necessarily apply forever.
As she told CNN, "If you teach anything in isolation, chances are the students will not retain the information. So I will continue to build on the lesson."
As she wrote on Instagram, this not only gave her a chance to see what they understood, but also gave them a chance to practice the kind of dialogue needed with this subject.
Not only did this lesson seem to take root well, but it also opened the door for further class discussions, like whether sharing secrets counts as a violation of consent.
In her caption, she wrote "When it comes to social-emotional learning, there is no such thing as a 'one and done' lesson."
She used war as a spotlight on how behavior is influenced, "My goal for my students was to understand that the children who participated in Nazi youth programs (as well as other hate groups) were not unlike themselves, and understand the many factors that influence communal behavior."
We hope other teachers can learn from her leadership and passion.
h/t: CNN
