Youth Assessment Survey (YAS) Sex and Drug Survey
How old were you the first time you had oral sex? During the past 3 months, with how many people have you had sexual intercourse? The last time you had sexual intercourse, did you or your partner use a condom?
These questions are asked to GHAPS students by school officials. Every odd school year students in 8th, 10th, and 12th grades are asked by Ottawa County to fill out a questionnaire about their sexual behavior, family relationships, health, and drug and alcohol use known as the Youth Assessment Survey. School districts are not required to give this survey to their students. The complete survey is 92 pages long and contains 215 questions. This is another tool that is being used to over sexualize our children and normalize outrageous behavior.
On the surface this survey seems harmless, but further investigation reveals this survey likely does more harm than good. Results show that roughly 10%-25% of students are responding yes to questions regarding sexual behavior and drug use. For a child that responds, no, perhaps experimenting with the behavior has never even occurred to them. After taking the survey, however, the child begins to think am I the only one that hasn’t done __________? Here’s another example question: “Do you take diet pills, powders, or liquids without a doctor’s advice?” The thought of taking diet pills has probably never even occurred to the child before the survey, but after taking the survey, this behavior may be seen as normal. This means that roughly 75% of our children who haven’t experimented or even thought of experimenting are being told that these behaviors are common among teens.
Adolescents are vulnerable. Many lack self-esteem, and they question everything. They strive to fit in and be “liked” by their peers. They haven’t yet found their path in life and are experimenting with everything from trying new sport activities, to joining clubs, meeting new friends and unfortunately experimenting with sex, drugs and alcohol. It is our job as parents and educators to minimize the damage they do to themselves and help them through this transitional phase of life. It is not our job to normalize these behaviors and even suggest they are common among teens by providing children with questions asking how many of them have participated in such behaviors.
In addition to the sexual behavior, pornography exposure questions, and drug and alcohol questions, this survey contains questions that promote the Marxist concepts of Critical Theory. “During your life, how often have you felt that you were treated badly or unfairly because of your race or ethnicity?” This question uses the idea of Critical Race Theory to divide people based on race. “During your life, how often have you felt that you were treated badly or unfairly because of your sexual orientation? This question uses the idea of Critical Queer Theory to divide people based on sexual orientation. “Would your parent/guardian know if you did not come home on time? My parent/guardian asks me what I think before most family decisions affecting me are made. During the past 12 months, how many times has a parent or other adult in your home sworn at you, insulted you, or put you down? How wrong does your parent/guardian feel it would be for you to have sexual intercourse?” These questions are used to create division among families by increasing the divide between parents and children. All three of these lines of questions foster division and the breakdown of society.
With regards to the Youth Assessment Survey, parents are typically notified that the survey will take place and given the opportunity to sign a permission slip opting their child out of the survey. The notification to parents does not give sample questions or discuss any potential harm from the survey. Students are told “Some of the questions in the survey are very personal and may bring up difficult emotions. If you need to talk to someone during or after the survey please contact your school social worker or another trusted adult.”
Officials justify the use of the survey stating it will be used to determine the health and risk behaviors of Ottawa County Students.
The questions in the survey are invasive and normalize student sexual behavior, teen drug and alcohol use, promote the ideas of Critical Theory and plant seeds of division between children and parents. In addition, the results of this survey have been presented to sex education advisory boards and used to implement more explicit sexual education courses in school districts. Parents need to be aware of this survey and we as a community need to stand up to Ottawa County and stop the harm this survey is having on our students.