What kind of sex ed should be taught in school?

OK so in some places abstinence only is taught in high school and yet we have increasing numbers of teen pregnancy. We also have full on sex ed taught in some high schools, even handing out condoms, and yet we have increasing numbers of teen pregnancy.

WTF is the answer? Looks like no matter what kids will screw & get knocked up.

Oh dear.

We can't keep teenagers from being sexual beings, all we can do is do our best to equip them to make good choices. That doesn't just mean putting a condom on a banana, that means teaching them relationship and problem solving skills, both actively and by example, not just before they hit puberty but before they can pronounce puberty.

contraception were taught. Unfortunately, lots of parents raise hell when REALITY is
taught and sex is discussed frankly. Therefore, in the real world, those of us who want
our children to be informed and safe need to do it ourselves.

And then you pray they listen...

They have to learn that there is life after HS. If they are striving for something in life beyond HS, they will be very careful to not do anything to screw up those goals. With that in mind, they will either postpone sex or be very DILIGENT about using birth control.

and make their judgements.

But making contraception available for those who want/need/believe in it is crucial.

I'm pro-science/pro-knowledge. I'm not adverse to saying that abstenence is the only 100% effective form of birth control, but it has to be part of the whole package of educating our kids.

David

Which I believe to be a huuuuge mistake. The sex ed classes my daughter went to scared her so much (the talk about STD's and pregnancy) that I may not have any grandchildren. Ever. However, the best education is from the parents, but kids aren't exactly comfortable discussing sex with their parents, so they will go to their peers.

As a parent, I discussed sex and babies from an early age, whatever was age appropriate, all throughout her growing up. It's not fool proof, and I really don't have a clue as to my daughter's sex life and that's as it should be. She's almost 21. Growing up, my daughter had friends who had strict Mormon parents, and they do not believe in birth control or abortion. She would go with her friends to Planned Parenthood to get birth control or the morning after pill. Thank god for that organization. I believe this is why birth control should be readily available.

Understanding their bodies is the responsible thing to do. Why teach only one part of sex education. Giving people the full and complete amount of information will lead to people making fully formed and intelligent information.

I am a public school teacher. I have taught in some of the toughest neighborhoods. These neighborhoods are also some of the lowest in terms of education level. You would be surprised how many young girls don't know how they got pregnant, literally. They had no idea that sexual intercourse led to conception. I didn't believe that until I saw it myself.

Education needs to be for everyone, not based on the foolish whims of a few.


Teenagers have been getting pregnant for quite some time now. You can't say nothing works because teenagers get pregnant. Personally, I was in a school that gave me the complete and full information and I appreciated having an intelligent and fully comprehensive understanding of my body.

we all had to take "Exploring human behavior" it was a required class that ran all year and we literally got all the information. It should be an ongoing class imo.

of people, church goers too (I am one), would sign onto this as it seems rather common sense! Ignoring something like sex doesn't make it go away.

The numbers shouldn't be rising. Not in this day and age. The numbers were lower before the abstinence only mandates. It seems pretty obvious there's a correlation between the rise in teen pregnancy and the practice of this wholly uninformative form of child indoctrination.

also every teenager should know the science of human reproduction.

To the point where, by the time kids are ready to get it on themselves the moves are already understood, it's just a question of picking the right partner.

Make it more like Driver's Education or (dare I say it) Gun Safety, and less like Mystery Science Theater.

and it makes learning so much easier!

the sex ed is very comprehensive and explicit. We even have a controversial "banana day" in middle school where upper classmen of the high school give instructions on the proper use of condoms. Of course those parents who object can excuse their kids from school that day.

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If that more people used to do what the Palin girl and her boyfriend are doing.

It took me until I was nine or ten years old, I think, to realize that my mother was six months pregnant with my oldest sibling when she and my father got married. In my extended family, there are about eight kids, believe it or not, who were borne out of wedlock to teenage mothers. Of my several cousins and sisters who were teenage moms, only two of them ever married the father of the children.

Where I grew up teenage pregnancy was in remains an epidemic. Few girls ever abort those pregnancies and none of them ever put the kids up for adoption and hardly any of the fathers are around to play any real role in the kids lives.

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My son start on Sunday at our UU church.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Our_Whole_Lives

Program Structure There are four OWL curricula designed for the American school grades of K–1, 4–6, 7–9, 10–12, plus one for young adults (18–35-year-olds) and one for adults.

Each session of the Our Whole Lives curriculum can include the "Sexuality and Our Faith" companion, which comes in separate versions for UUA and UCC communities. Without "Sexuality and Our Faith," the programs have no religious material and are thus appropriate for use in schools and other non-religious institutions.

Program Values Our Whole Lives is built upon four core values: 1) Self Worth 2) Sexual Health 3)Responsibility and 4) Justice and Inclusivity. Participants are encouraged to use these values in decision-making concerning their own sexuality and relationships. Throughout the program, participants are encouraged to explore and learn to articulate their own values

http://www.uua.org/religiouseducation/curricula/ourwhole/
Lifespan Sexuality Education Curricula

Our Whole Lives is a series of sexuality education curricula for six age groups: grades K-1, grades 4-6, grades 7-9, grades 10-12, young adults (ages 18-35), and adults.

Our Whole Lives helps participants make informed and responsible decisions about their sexual health and behavior. It equips participants with accurate, age-appropriate information in six subject areas: human development, relationships, personal skills, sexual behavior, sexual health, and society and culture. Grounded in a holistic view of sexuality, Our Whole Lives provides not only facts about anatomy and human development, but helps participants to clarify their values, build interpersonal skills, and understand the spiritual, emotional, and social aspects of sexuality.

college and get a nice start in life before having kids of their own. That's one thing that is sorely lacking in most sex ed. programs; the emphasis on staying child-free until their 20s at least.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2008-09-07-sex-education-side_N.htm

"He says Finland and the Netherlands, for example, have a history of comprehensive sex education; there's almost no sex education in Greece, Italy and Ireland. Yet teen birth rates are much lower in all those countries than the USA's 42 births per 1,000 women ages 15-19."

If the girls heard how their boyfriends talked about them it would be the best sex education ever.

I had a jock brother and I was invisible to his friends so I got to hear first hand how they talked about their girlfriends. These guys were The guys all the girls wanted to date. Since they were only a year older then me I made sure no guy was going to use me and talk about it with their buddies.

Seriously, teach them how to figure out for themselves how effective various combinations of methods are in preventing pregnancy, and what the probability of conception is given a scenario with a given method of birth control.

With some logic thrown in about the reality of the situation. In simple terms, there should be basic plumbing info, along with explaining why abstaining might be the wisest choice for now (not forever). This is explained by stats on birth control failure, which then may derail college plans and other dreams.

There is a eugenics programme now in place in UK schools. It was originally set up by Laura Huxley as 'Children: Our Ultimate Investment' and includes 'Project Caressing', which does exactly as it says, teaches young children how to be tactile with elderly men. The ultimate extension of the sex education we are seeing now in schools.

Link to youtube video 'Ark Schools, Academies and Eugenics.'

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBxQpft5F_k

Teach them about Mutual Masturbation

Tell them about their bodies and the bodies of the other sex. Tell them about how sex works and when it seems to be appropriate, but also encourage them to make their own decisions about whether or not they feel ready for sex. Teach them all the different kinds of birth control and how effective they are. Teach them about sexual harassment and how it occurs, how to identify it and who to tell if you feel you've been sexually harassed or assaulted. Then of course, teach them about STDs and how its possible to avoid them--not just with abstinence. Abstinence only sexual education only furthers the myth that we are not and have never been sexual beings with a biological urge toward procreation. If contraception is introduced maybe we can even knock out the word "procreation" that is happening far too much these days, seemingly because of the abstinence only teachings.