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Fourth Grade Teacher Polls Students on Abortion Issue
April 20, 2006
For Washington County's Canon-McMillan School District in Pennsylvania, the abortion issue has found its way into the curriculum, but this time it's not in the form of an informative discussion in a junior high health class. Instead, it involves the recent actions of Katherine McGuire, a fourth-grade social studies teacher at Hills-Hendersonville Elementary School in Canonsburg.
Katherine McGuire explained to her 9 and 10-year-old students that, during an abortion, a needle is injected into a woman's belly, and the fetus is sucked out and killed. She then told her students to put their heads down on their desks, close their eyes, and vote on whether or not they would have an abortion or put the baby up for adoption.
"You just don't bring it up to a 9-year-old," said Jim Stienstraw Jr., 43, of Cecil, whose daughter is in McGuire's fourth-grade class. The teacher was suspended with pay on April 6. District officials will decide her fate after conducting interviews with students and parents.
The local teachers union has come out in support of McGuire. "It wasn't something she initiated, I can tell you that," said Colleen Imbriale, a spokeswoman with the teachers union at Canon-McMillan. "It's not anything, as I understand, that the teacher did to try to develop a discussion on the issue. It came about in the course of the class. She handled it and moved on."
Parents have spoke out against the union, with one mom saying that, "Because the teachers union supports her, that kind of gives teachers license to do whatever they darn well please. There are no ramifications."
The spokesperson for the union, Imbriale, doesn't think there should be. "I don't believe (McGuire) did anything wrong," she said. "There's a lot of misinformation out there."
Could this be the typical union cover-up, protect-one-of-our-own scenario? Possibly, or could their actually be a lot of misinformation that has been spread by some of the parents? Regardless, the bigger question here is the question of whether it is okay for an educator at the fourth grade level to discuss the issue of abortion with her class. If a student brings it up in class, then how is she supposed to handle it without exposing her opinion? And how does the Catholic Church feel about educating 9 and 10-year-olds on abortion?
The Pontifical Council for the Family has written, "Before adolescence, the immoral nature of abortion, surgical or chemical, can be gradually explained in terms of Catholic morality and reverence for human life" (1995: The Truth and Meaning of Human Sexuality, n.137). More opinions are expressed in an article by Fr. Frank A. Pavone, "It is not necessary to teach children the details of reproduction before they learn that abortion is a bad thing. The basis for teaching about abortion is not the reproductive system, but the dignity and worth of every human person, whether that person is big or small, young or old, healthy or sick, wanted or unwanted, convenient or inconvenient."
In Pavone's article, he goes on to explain that in 1990, Public health records in New York State show 231 abortions on thirteen-year-old girls. So, is it wrong to teach children only three years younger about abortion? From a Catholic perspective, not necessarily. Catholic officials do, however, discourage a graphic depiction of abortion to children, fearing that they may be traumatized.
In the case of Katherine McGuire, Hills-Hendersonville Elementary is not a Catholic school. A lot of the students' parents may disagree with McGuire's own views on abortion. Yet, if the topic comes up in class, how is she supposed to handle it? Would the average Pro-Choice teacher NOT express her own opinions about abortion? Doubtful. So, in the end, what do you think should happen to McGuire? Basically, was what she did reprehensible or not?
 Forum Talk: Fourth Grade Teacher Polls Students on Abortion Issue
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