4.12.15: Sex-Ed Around The World, Parental Leave When Kids Are Teens, & A Disposable Camera App

As schools across the country struggle to meet the new national common core standards, one controversial aspect of education is not part of the curriculum: sex education. On today’s show, the evolving debate around sex ed, which is not strictly an American phenomenon.

Then, parental leave has been shown to benefit infant health and early development, but Jennifer Senior argues that if we truly care about our kids’ well-being, the policy should not stop after the first 12 weeks.

Listen to the full show or click read more for individual segments.

A Global History of Sex Education

• Jonathan Zimmerman is Professor of Education and History at New York University and author of a new book that investigates sex education:  Too Hot to Handle: A Global History of Sex Education.

The Birds, The Bees, and A Very Bizarre Sex Ed Lesson

• The Word of Mouth team share their experience with Sex Ed, and one member of the team wins the prize for most bizarre experience.

The Case for Parental Leave During Teenage Years

• Jennifer Senior is contributing editor for New York Magazine, where we found her article “The Case for Taking Parental Leave When Kids Are Teenagers”.  She is also the author of the new book, All Joy and No Fun: The Paradox of Modern Parenthood. 

Pre-Dean Teens

• From Mean Girls to Clueless to Fast Times at Ridgemont High, teenagers are great fodder for film. Director John Hughes’ filmography is a testament to that. But the roots of the teen movie go back much further than Ferris Bueller. WNYC’s Sara Fishko brings us this story.
• You can listen to this story again at PRX.org.

Disposable Camera App Tested

• We walked down memory lane and waxed nostalgic for the good old days of the dark room and the one-hour photo, by testing a new app that turns your smart phone into an old-school disposable camera. See the results and our review here.