Sex Ed in New Zealand schools hypersexualises kids and further confuses them in their identity and sense of self.
My approach has been to tell parents what is happening and to plead to Let Kids Be Kids.
In theory school boards, in consultation with parents, decide what is taught. In practice what is taught is decided by the Ministry of Education with parents and Boards completely in the dark.
Weirdly, what is taught follows what UNESCO says should be taught, and more weirdly, New Zealand committed to teaching the UNESCO curriculum when we signed up to the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
Crazy right? It starts with the UN.
For nine months I have been trying to get 10 minutes in front of the Wakatipu High School Board of Trustees to explain the curriculum they have supposedly agreed to.
The Board Chair and Principal have not been at all keen for me to present.
Finally, I got the opportunity on Monday 17 February. I took a great deal of time to get my speech to time and to check and double check accuracy. I decided to record my presentation so parents could get to see what is being taught to their children. That, after all, is how boards and schools are supposed to work.
I checked with the New Zealand Board of Trustees Association. The Association exists to advise school boards on governance. The Association confirmed that School Board meetings are held in public and, of course, I could record my presentation. They suggested it would be courteous to advise the Board of my intention.
The week before my presentation I emailed both the Principal and the Chair that I would be recording my presentation. On the Monday morning of my presentation the Principal Oded Nathan emailed to say I was not allowed to record my presentation. I replied saying that I was and would be and that I had checked with the New Zealand Board of Trustees Association.
Just as I was leaving for the meeting I received an email from Board Chair Adrian Januszkiewicz that I would not be allowed to record my presentation. He cited section 131 of the Act as giving the Board that power and said he wanted to protect the privacy of Board members. He suggested that as a consequence I may choose not to present.
I double checked with the New Zealand Board of Trustees Association. They explained that section 131 provides the board with “complete discretion to perform its functions and exercise its powers as it thinks fit” but obviously that discretion is “subject to this Act, any other enactment, and the general law of New Zealand”.
It would be odd that a Board could do away with the need to meet in public! But that in fact was what the Board Chair was proposing. And he is a lawyer taking, as it turned out, legal advice.
And what about privacy? The Board Members serve as officers of a crown entity and in that capacity have no expectation of privacy. Our schools aren’t supposed to be run in secret. Openness and transparency are the hallmarks of good government and democracy.
A reasonable person might well ask why I was so intent on recording my presentation. It’s because I realise what is happening to our kids is happening in darkness away from the light. There is no openness or transparency. There is no accountability. There is no informed consent. There is no democracy.
It seems to me parents are kept in the dark because the invisible agents hypersexualising our kids know that parents rise up if only they knew what is happening. My experience is students are too embarrassed to talk to their parents about what they are being taught in school. And who can blame them?
My aim is just to let parents and boards know what is happening. I wanted to record my presentation so parents could be informed of what their Board is up to.
Indeed, I wanted the Board to know what they were up to. I am certain they have no knowledge. Certainly the Chair had no knowledge of the curriculum when I first met him one-on-one. He said he knew nothing of it. He didn’t seem all that keen to learn either. Or to do anything.
Back to the Board meeting.
The principal met me outside the boardroom to say that I could not record because it was against the tikanga of the school. I was now getting exasperated. I had heard all the excuses for why I could not present to the Board and now it was a laundry list of reasons why I could not record my presentation.
I explained I would be presenting and I would be recording. The Chairman then was sent out to talk to me. He explained they had legal advice. I suggested their legal advice was not much chop if it suggested that the Board could meet in secret.
The principal then said that I could not record my presentation because they had a 16 year old student rep on the Board and discussing sex ed in front of her was not appropriate. The irony of me discussing what they were teaching my 13 year old being inappropriate for a 16 year old seemed entirely lost on them. And also that the student rep could hear my presentation, but not if I were to record my presentation. It was bananas.
The upshot was that I did not get to present to the Board. I stood outside the School and gave my presentation to camera. It’s the presentation that the School Chair and the School Principal did not want their Board to hear -- or at least have a record of their Board hearing it.
So please share, far and wide.
Click to view
Weirdly, what is taught follows what UNESCO says should be taught, and more weirdly, New Zealand committed to teaching the UNESCO curriculum when we signed up to the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
Crazy right? It starts with the UN.
For nine months I have been trying to get 10 minutes in front of the Wakatipu High School Board of Trustees to explain the curriculum they have supposedly agreed to.
The Board Chair and Principal have not been at all keen for me to present.
Finally, I got the opportunity on Monday 17 February. I took a great deal of time to get my speech to time and to check and double check accuracy. I decided to record my presentation so parents could get to see what is being taught to their children. That, after all, is how boards and schools are supposed to work.
I checked with the New Zealand Board of Trustees Association. The Association exists to advise school boards on governance. The Association confirmed that School Board meetings are held in public and, of course, I could record my presentation. They suggested it would be courteous to advise the Board of my intention.
The week before my presentation I emailed both the Principal and the Chair that I would be recording my presentation. On the Monday morning of my presentation the Principal Oded Nathan emailed to say I was not allowed to record my presentation. I replied saying that I was and would be and that I had checked with the New Zealand Board of Trustees Association.
Just as I was leaving for the meeting I received an email from Board Chair Adrian Januszkiewicz that I would not be allowed to record my presentation. He cited section 131 of the Act as giving the Board that power and said he wanted to protect the privacy of Board members. He suggested that as a consequence I may choose not to present.
I double checked with the New Zealand Board of Trustees Association. They explained that section 131 provides the board with “complete discretion to perform its functions and exercise its powers as it thinks fit” but obviously that discretion is “subject to this Act, any other enactment, and the general law of New Zealand”.
It would be odd that a Board could do away with the need to meet in public! But that in fact was what the Board Chair was proposing. And he is a lawyer taking, as it turned out, legal advice.
And what about privacy? The Board Members serve as officers of a crown entity and in that capacity have no expectation of privacy. Our schools aren’t supposed to be run in secret. Openness and transparency are the hallmarks of good government and democracy.
A reasonable person might well ask why I was so intent on recording my presentation. It’s because I realise what is happening to our kids is happening in darkness away from the light. There is no openness or transparency. There is no accountability. There is no informed consent. There is no democracy.
It seems to me parents are kept in the dark because the invisible agents hypersexualising our kids know that parents rise up if only they knew what is happening. My experience is students are too embarrassed to talk to their parents about what they are being taught in school. And who can blame them?
My aim is just to let parents and boards know what is happening. I wanted to record my presentation so parents could be informed of what their Board is up to.
Indeed, I wanted the Board to know what they were up to. I am certain they have no knowledge. Certainly the Chair had no knowledge of the curriculum when I first met him one-on-one. He said he knew nothing of it. He didn’t seem all that keen to learn either. Or to do anything.
Back to the Board meeting.
The principal met me outside the boardroom to say that I could not record because it was against the tikanga of the school. I was now getting exasperated. I had heard all the excuses for why I could not present to the Board and now it was a laundry list of reasons why I could not record my presentation.
I explained I would be presenting and I would be recording. The Chairman then was sent out to talk to me. He explained they had legal advice. I suggested their legal advice was not much chop if it suggested that the Board could meet in secret.
The principal then said that I could not record my presentation because they had a 16 year old student rep on the Board and discussing sex ed in front of her was not appropriate. The irony of me discussing what they were teaching my 13 year old being inappropriate for a 16 year old seemed entirely lost on them. And also that the student rep could hear my presentation, but not if I were to record my presentation. It was bananas.
The upshot was that I did not get to present to the Board. I stood outside the School and gave my presentation to camera. It’s the presentation that the School Chair and the School Principal did not want their Board to hear -- or at least have a record of their Board hearing it.
So please share, far and wide.
Click to view
Board Presentation
Wakatipu High School
Rodney Hide -- 17 February 2025
Thank you. Thank you for the opportunity to speak today. Thank you too for your service and support for the School. I very much appreciate it.
I want to share my experience as a Parent of the School’s Relationship and Sexuality Education curriculum or what is known as RSE.
I am here because RSE is a Board responsibility.
The Education and Training Act 2020 requires the Board every two years to adopt a statement on the content and delivery of the Health Curriculum.
In doing so, the Board must inform the school community (that is, parents) of the content of the Health Curriculum and “ascertain the wishes of the school community regarding the way in which the health curriculum should be implemented given the views, beliefs, and customs of the members of that community” (s91).
That is to say, I am in the right place, talking to the right people.
The Board is directly and solely responsible for what I am here to discuss.
School advice
Last year my 13 year old daughter was a year 9 student at Wakatipu High School.
The School’s Head of Health and Physical Education Cara Sibtsen emailed my wife explaining the upcoming course.
The email itself was misleading:
“This term, [--] as part of the compulsory ‘Health Education in New Zealand Schools’ [--] our Year 9 students will be participating in a unit of work focused on relationship and sexuality education.”
The email is misleading because s.51 of the Act specifically makes RSE optional. The Health Curriculum is compulsory. RSE is not.
To agree to the course, I needed to see it.
I replied to Cara asking for the material taught.
Cara replied: “The resources we use for this unit are intellectual property … [and] the Navigating the Journey resource is a purchased resource and we can not share this due to copyright.”
My concern became informed consent: I could not see the material that I was to OK for my 13 year old daughter.
The failure to disclose is in direct opposition to the Board’s obligation under s.91 of the Act.
I bought “Navigating the Journey” for Year 9 students.
Course content
Here’s what I discovered.
Marriage is mentioned but once and only to explain that sexual assault occurs within marriage (NtJ9 p.52). Marriage and family don’t feature.
Cara replied: “The resources we use for this unit are intellectual property … [and] the Navigating the Journey resource is a purchased resource and we can not share this due to copyright.”
My concern became informed consent: I could not see the material that I was to OK for my 13 year old daughter.
The failure to disclose is in direct opposition to the Board’s obligation under s.91 of the Act.
I bought “Navigating the Journey” for Year 9 students.
Course content
Here’s what I discovered.
Marriage is mentioned but once and only to explain that sexual assault occurs within marriage (NtJ9 p.52). Marriage and family don’t feature.
Abstinence is not recommended. Sex is the 13 year old’s choice.
The age of consent is mentioned but the course explains that children under 16 may still want to have sex in which case, “It is important that both people give consent and that contraceptives are used carefully” (NtJ9 p.51).
The course explains over and over to 13 year olds how to give and gain consent when legally they can do neither.
13 year olds and consent is a legal impossibility.
The course has pairs of pupils putting condoms on wooden penises (NtJ9 p.79). Girls at 13 with boys in the class.
The course has students in groups connecting cards saying vaginal sex, anal sex and oral sex with their meanings. The exercises are designed to stimulate class discussion (NtJ Appendix 11). The cards are graphic. The matching card for “oral sex” is “one person’s mouth touching another person’s genitals - (that is,) penis, testicles, vulva, clitoris or anus”.
13 year olds are given an exercise to stimulate class discussion about oral and anal sex.
There are also scenarios to discuss. For example:
The age of consent is mentioned but the course explains that children under 16 may still want to have sex in which case, “It is important that both people give consent and that contraceptives are used carefully” (NtJ9 p.51).
The course explains over and over to 13 year olds how to give and gain consent when legally they can do neither.
13 year olds and consent is a legal impossibility.
The course has pairs of pupils putting condoms on wooden penises (NtJ9 p.79). Girls at 13 with boys in the class.
The course has students in groups connecting cards saying vaginal sex, anal sex and oral sex with their meanings. The exercises are designed to stimulate class discussion (NtJ Appendix 11). The cards are graphic. The matching card for “oral sex” is “one person’s mouth touching another person’s genitals - (that is,) penis, testicles, vulva, clitoris or anus”.
13 year olds are given an exercise to stimulate class discussion about oral and anal sex.
There are also scenarios to discuss. For example:
A young woman gets drunk at a party. She is flirting with and kissing an older woman. After dancing with her she passes out in a bedroom. The older woman has sex with her (NtJ Appendix 13).
There is nothing to discuss about this scenario. There’s only a statement to make: what’s described is a crime for which the punishment is 20 years.
The curriculum states, “The main reason people take part in sexual activity is for pleasure” (NtJ p.48). Pleasure, consent and protection are the key messages the curriculum provides.
The curriculum explains that masturbation is a good way to learn about what gives one pleasure with the pupil’s bedroom being a good place to experiment (NtJ p.48).
And sex toys. They are good too. But be careful, the curriculum warns. They can spread disease when shared with friends and lovers (NtJ p.80).
Videos
The curriculum recommends videos for the students.
Here are snippets:
“So there are a bunch of sexual orientations that sit on the spectrum and it is just important to go with what works for you.
“If your sexuality is outside of the norm, that is awesome.
“When it comes to having sex for the first time, it is all up to you. You can do vagina to penis, or hands to vagina, or hands to vulva, or mouth to vulva, or vulva to vulva, or hands to penis, you could do mouth to penis or penis to anus.
“Lube is especially important to use during anal sex because anuses don’t self lubricate.
“STIs are a common part of sexual activity and nothing to be ashamed about. Best thing to do is to get checked often. It is just like checking your hard drive for viruses.
“If you are performing oral sex on a vulva you can always use a dental dam to protect both you and your partner from STIs. And if you don’t have a dental dam at home you can always make one from a condom and some scissors.
“We are not saying all porn is bad. And if you want to watch it, it is totally up to you.
“Ethical porn is a genre that makes sure everyone is enjoying themselves whatever their sexual orientation. People are not doing things to each other but with each other.
“There’s queer porn that is actually made by queer people for queer people. There’s loads of different types of porn out there.”
To be fair Mr Nathan did email me to say that PE teacher Mr King would not be showing the video that would tell my daughter to lube and protect herself should she submit to anal sex. That was good but little comfort.
Indeed, such an omission reinforces that the curriculum is not fit for purpose.
This Board says teach anal sex. Your teacher says No.
The Minister of Education Erica Stanford has also said No. She has declared the RSE guidelines not “fit for purpose”. They are to be withdrawn at the end of this term.
You might think I have cherry-picked the worst of the curriculum. I have not. What I have presented to you is representative of the 196 page Navigating the Journey for Year 9s. I invite you all to read it.
Conclusion
I have four quick points upon which to conclude:
1/ The curriculum material the Board has approved is highly inappropriate both for the school and for minors;
2/ There is no informed consent: parents do not know what is taught and can’t readily find out. That’s in direct opposition to s.51;
3/ The Board consultation last year was meaningless: parents have no clue of the content and can’t get the content should they ask for it. That’s in direct opposition to s.91.
4/ The present curriculum is inappropriate and dangerous. There are plenty of wholesome and truthful curricula to choose from.
Thank you for your time. I am happy to answer questions.
Click to view
Rodney Hide is former ACT Party leader, and Minister in the National-ACT Government from 2008 to 2011. This article was first published HERE
18 comments:
Unfortunately, education has been one of the main disappointments with this government. They have had the opportunity to fix things but have done very little.
Good on ya Rodney.
I don't think I was 'old enough' at 13, for some of that information?
So are other parents happy with this "filth" being taught by "state educators" at our taxpayer funded state schools?
The state can only get away with this crap by acquiescence, compliance, non-pushback, a don't rock the boat mentality.
This filth would be gone by lunchtime if outraged mama and pappa bears rocked up and confronted the state school head on.
Where the hell are the outraged mamma/pappa bears?
Go Rodney. Everyone lets get behind Rodney and those Herr that are fighting the good fight against these evil far left swamp dwellers.
Unfortunately the far left rot and control is deep with loonies such as oded, Cara, Adrian et al trying to stop the good people from trying to protect our kids from their sex tripe.
Democracy is a dirty word to these evil gutter dwellers. Shame on them. As Trump says, drain the whakatipu school board swamp.
'The irony of me discussing what they were teaching my 13 year old being inappropriate for a 16 year old seemed entirely lost on them.'
That sums it up in its entirety.
PS Where in tikanga is 'recording' noted as a thing and if so how in tikanga did that ever occur?
I am entirely with you Rodney. It's just ludicrous. Really unwise of the authorities to be so obstructive. To be as direct as you are, I have to say I feel for your kids. I really hope they are able to handle your public demonstration of civil rights.
Teachers and Principals have a lot to answer for. I truly hope there will be a day of reckoning for them with jail time. They are corrupting the children they are paid to educate and nurture. Saying "I was forced to do it", like the Nazis did, is no defense. 20 years in the lock up would be good. But sadly it won't happen in NZ. Rodney, have you made sure our great leader, Luxon, knows about this?
MC
Thank you Rodney Hide for this mind-boggling article and NZCPR for publishing it.
It seems that schools are being used by the Government to indoctrinate children on sex and race issues before they have sufficiently developed a rational faculty to consider these issues critically. “Hey, teacher, leave the kids alone.”
It is interesting, though not surprising, to read that it starts with the UN. I suspect that a lot else does too, including the drive to ‘partnership’.
We have totally gone off the rails on this and much else; the marae census forms is another example. It is no use the Government tweaking it. Our entire system needs to be reinstalled, much as President Trump and Elon Musk are doing for America.
NZ needs to be rid of this UN control. What on earth are we doing signing up to this garbage and Propaganda?
Times have sure changed. The Profumo affair with rumours of unorhtodox sex was a revelation to many. I could not have defined a homosexual until into teens. Work apprentices in late teens were mystified by the male /female nomenclature applied to plugs and sockets. I realise that sections of society are sex obsessed. But who advances r to children, and why? Is it the only subjectmany teachers areinterested in and fully familiar with? Commercial links are indirect.
The school and the board are acting like petty tyrants. Los of gaslighting going on too. Shamefull stuff.
A question- to Rodney - "Where is our esteemed Minister of Education in a time like this"?
Can one assume, she is MIA!
It will be interesting to see how other Parents of Children at this high School react, me thinks that may be a stretch (of their time & effort).
Welcome to California everyone.
How disgusting. No wonder the kids are all depessed and full of anxiety. Why on earth is this depravity being taught?
One simple question, why is the Minister Stanford waiting to stop the RSE element of this? It is something that should have and can be stopped immediately if there was the will to do so. The hysteresis in much of our coalition's actions is mind numbing. Just witness how swiftly people like Mahuta moved to stop what they did not like or initiate what they wanted. Maori ward referenda with built in 3 year hysteresis before any will disappear (if ever!), MACA amendment paused (on permanent hold?) - come on coalition, wake up to the fact that He Puapua is going ahead regardless of all statements to the contrary and likely with the full blessing of our PM.
Thank you for trying to get this out there. I hope it results in an uproar.
After 45 years of being involved in NZ schooling and education . nothing shocks me any more.
The Min. of Ed is the most iniquitous outfit imaginable. . Every area of wholesome and effective education they have over the decades destroyed. Progressivism , the prevailing ideology in education does not care one iota about children's welfare , it is rather an ideology intent on an agenda to destroy all the values of traditional western civilization.
You may work to rid the system of this sexualized filth , but what of all the other horrors they they can and will and have potentially dreamed up to pollute your child's mind.. -over use of screens which turn children into zombies on dopamine, use of AI to warp their morality, cult worship of the environment , destruction of individuality by group think , DEI to corrupt rational thinking , and personal responsibility , undermine parental authority... the list goes on and on.
Progressivism has to be revealed for what it really is - a fiendish ideology with intent to inflict as much harm on children as it can.
How did we permit this absurd situation to prevail for so long? Those behind and approved this should not be within a mile of our education system/children. They need to be gone.
Unfortunately, Gaynor and everyone else posting comments here are correct. I worked variously as a secondary teacher, tertiary lecturer, academic manager and for NZQA as a quantitative researcher and statistician. As such, I had to interface with the Ministry of Education. Many good people at both places but an awful lot of posers and people in highly-paid management roles who had little or no subject matter expertise.
An appalling culture of arrogance, especially from those unqualified people who were promoted into management and others of modest qualifications and experience promoted onto the executive teams.
I need not repeat what I have said many times about the disgusting bullying where people were badly damaged, but I feel that certain senior people deserve to be called out over it rather than be protected.
The overall capability was modest or even OK for the most part, but very low in certain quarters (e.g. statistics and education research managers and team leaders who had no tertiary qualifications or any understanding of statistics or research). And those so-called managers were the worst bullies and also the least competent.
Ask yourselves how New Zealand education has fared over the last 20 years. Some of these bullying clowns have played a significant part in the decline of education in this country. David Lillis
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