11 year Old Sex Education Advisor? What were they thinking?

Yesterday on the way home from school, I heard a disturbing conversation that the Montgomery County (Maryland) School Board had appointed an 11 year old Sex Education Advisor to provide student input on the sex education cirriculum the County was considering.

Putting aside my concerns about some of the aspects of this curriculum, the wisdom of putting an 11 year old girl on the advisory panel completely escapes me. I whole-heartedly support the idea of having student representatives on advisory panels since they will be the group of people responsible for learning the material. But an 11 year old, possibly pre-pubescent child has no place on a sex education panel. If the county appointed a 16, 17 or 18 year old student, I wouldn't have an issue, but this appointment is the height of stupidity.

Montgomery County probably leads the state in matters of educational theory. The appointment of and consideration by an citizens advisory panel of proposed changes to currucula is a laudable goal and, I think, in some aspects, responsible government. However, the over use of such panels is a waste of goverment funds.

For more information on the sex education curriculum in Montgomery County, see here. For the criticisms of the Citizens for a Responsible Curriculum, which discusses in particular the sex education curriculum, go here. In don't agree completely, or even mostly, with the thoughts of hte CRC, but at least they make some very good points.