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Senator asked child ‘pornography’ question during civics competition

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Senator asked child ‘pornography’ question during civics competition

A Pennsylvania State Senator is apologizing after posing a pornography question to a sixth grade girl during a civics competition.

On Wednesday, a local National Civics Bee competition was held at Penn State Schuylkill in Schuylkill Haven, giving students in grades 6-8 a chance to “flex their civics knowledge for a chance to win recognition and cash prizes.”

According to the Schuylkill Chamber of Commerce website, these student competitors came to discuss a variety of essay topics.

However, one student’s topic of Book Banning drew a bit of controversy, not because of her topic, but because of a question asked by one of the participating judges, who happens to be a State Senator.

According to a Facebook post by the mother of the girl whose essay was about book banning, State Sen. David Argall (R-Carbon/Luzerne/Schuylkill) asked the sixth grader if it was “appropriate to give pornographic magazines to kindergarteners.”

The mother says her daughter asked what the senator meant, seemingly because the young girl did not know what pornography was.

Argall, the mother says, then responded by telling the young girl that pornography was “naked pictures of people.”

“This discussion has no place at the Civics Bee,” the mother shared online. “I am further appalled and furious that I now have to explain pornography to my fourth grader who was there to cheer on her sister.”

In response to the incident, Argall told abc27 news the following:

During last night’s local round of the National Civics Bee, I posed a question as a volunteer judge to a participant that was not age-appropriate for this setting. I apologize to the young lady, her family, and all the participants who worked hard to get to this point, with excellent presentations by the students who submitted entries on book bans and many other important subjects.

I was attempting to ask if some books and magazines are not appropriate for some age groups, a subject which has received considerable attention in the general assembly in recent years. In hindsight, my obvious mistake was in citing an example that was itself not appropriate for this age group, a mistake which I will not make again.

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