Students in Ontario will be taught a revised health and physical education curriculum this year – a controversial change because some educators accused Premier Doug Ford of playing to his conservative base instead of listening to experts on what and when children should learn about sexual health. Today in The Conversation Canada, Jen Gilbert of York University looks at one concession the Ford government has offered – an “opt out” option for parents who want to remove their children from sex ed classes. “The government has cynically positioned sex education as a potential violation of conservative parents’ rights,” she writes.

Elsewhere, we look at how some insecticides can be counterproductive for agriculture and ask why more academics aren’t concerned about the environmental impact of their heavy travel schedules to attend academic conferences.

And finally…later this month, there’s a big party being held at the old Kingston Penitentiary. A local charity has booked the pen to hold a fund-raising rock concert. Sounds kind of cool, right? But Linda Mussell of Queen’s University raises some serious concerns about having a party in a place that has a history associated with death and suffering.

Regards,