The leader of a “progressive” Minneapolis private
school took about a dozen middle- and
high-school- aged students on a sex education field trip to an adult novelty store ( porn shop) last week
according to news reports. The students, brought to the “Smitten Kitten,” were
as young as 11. Parents, apparently, were not notified before the trip.
The
head of “Gaia Democratic School,” and host of the “field trip,” is/was Starri
Hedges (a great porn starlet’s name, by-the-way. If no one is currently using
that moniker, they should snap it up). Starri said she wanted to provide a safe
and welcoming environment for students to learn about human sexual behavior.
“What I saw happening on our trip, I thought it was beautiful because kids
could talk to these sex educators without any shame, without any fear,” she
added. Beautiful? I could think of
many adjectives for what was happening, but I’m not sure beautiful would be
among them.
The
school is housed in a Unitarian church on Mount Curve Avenue. Naturally.
The
store’s owner said via an e-mail that she considers Smitten Kitten to be “an
educational resource about sex and
sexuality…”
The
field trip afforded students access to educators and products that could be
used to practice safer sex, Hedges said. She also said that some students
bought condoms. “It was certainly the first time we have taken that kind of
field trip and it will probably be our last, which I feel bad (about) because
the kids had so much fun.” Imagine that.
I always thought that a person had to be 18 to
even enter one of these esteemed educational establishments.
Oh, well, what’s the big deal? Just
gives “Toys for Tots” a new meaning, I guess.
Seriously, this decision is incomprehensible. The name of the school
tells you everything you need to know, but to break city code and take wildly
under-aged kids into an adult sex shop without prior notification of- and
approval from- their parents is, or should be, unconscionable.
The Smitten Kitten was, in fact,
cited for breaking the city code for the location/zoning region that it
occupies, as the store didn’t have the
most sexually explicit material properly contained in a separate section of the
shop, as that code requires. The store will be made to comply with the code,
but no fines or other penalties will be levied.
It is the “Gaia Democratic School”
and its director that should be hit with fines and penalties.
***************
Gaia means “mother of the Earth.”
The school’s mantra is: “We offer K-12 students individualized learning in an
environment of empowerment, freedom and fun with an emphasis on cooperative and
democratic methods. Unschoolers, homeschoolers, and free spirits are welcome!”
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