TUNICA, MISSISSIPPI. – Marie Barnard was delighted when, after decades of silence on the topic, Mississippi passed a law requiring school districts to teach sex education. But the lesson involving the Peppermint Pattie wasn’t what she had in mind for her sons.

The curricula adopted by the school district in Oxford called on students to unwrap a piece of chocolate, pass it around class and observe how dirty it became.

“They’re using the Peppermint Pattie to show that a girl is no longer clean or valuable after she’s had sex – that she’s been used,” said Barnard, who works in public health. “That shouldn’t be the lesson we send kids about sex.”

Teen pregnancy declining, but 7.3 million a year still give birth Teen pregnancy declining, but 7.3 million a year still give birth

Millennial generation less religious, more liberal than older ones

She and other parents lobbied the district to teach about contraception, not just abstinence. After all, as she and other parents noted, 76% of Mississippi teenagers report having sex before the end of high school.

Mississippi has one of the highest teen pregnancy rates in the country, with 50 births per 1,000 females aged […]