It should be an opt out class at the parents discretion, but it NEEDS to be offered!

Exactly.  And that is how it should be.

Last time I checked, Sex Ed was offered in public schools, and parents had the option of taking their kids out of that class.

Have you gone to it? Not meaning this to be degrading or anything, but seriously, have you seen it in action? I told my experience with Sex Ed on TW thread Link

"I remember "sex ed" in 5th grade. Nothing about sex in it, actually, and I have no idea why they called it that, but still. The boys and girls were separated into groups and the boys went to a different classroom. The girls learned about menstruation (took an hour) and the boys watched a film on football and horsed around. Of course we had to have parental consent to take the class."

I haven't been out of school that long have I? *pout*

Because the one I was stuck in was super bad, just as I illistrated.

I'm going to add a bit to this, in the artical itself..

Very insightful article.

Here's some food for thought...

During his senior year, my brother signed up for health class to fulfill and elective requirement. I clearly remember him talking about a std film he had watched. His teacher also made everyone bring home one of those "baby cries a lot" dolls that is supposed to simulate the routine of a real baby. Even though he payed attention in class and recieved an A, he still ended up knocking a girl up by the end of the year.

he's a great father, and now I have a beautiful niece.

I think sex ed in the schools is wonderul, but I think kids are going to do whatever they want, reguardless of the thinking about the consiquenses.

"I remember "sex ed" in 5th grade. Nothing about sex in it, actually, and I have no idea why they called it that, but still. The boys and girls were separated into groups and the boys went to a different classroom. The girls learned about menstruation (took an hour) and the boys watched a film on football and horsed around. Of course we had to have parental consent to take the class."

Sorry but just what did you expect them to teach 11 year olds? Because that's what age most of you were. Since most start school at 6 years of age. I would think 11 is a little "to" young for actual sex education.

I'm an Aussie so I can't comment on what your schools do, but I had 4 clumps of sex ed through school: 1 week each in Year 4, Year 6, Year 8 and Year 9. All treated very clinically and very biased towards procreative sex, as though our bodies are nothing but machines with elementary functions to perform. All done through a transimission approach, with no real chance for us to clarify any misconceptions we had or things we wanted to know. What, were they expecting I'd go home and ask my parents about any of the finer details I didn't understand? "Dad, I still didn't quite get the whole pinching the end of the condom thing, can you explain that to me?" "Sure son, get your dick out and let's practise".

Kids will also eat whatever they want, but I think it does help several of them to learn about nutrition. Otherwise, why teach them anything at all?

I don't understand why these issues shouldn't be taught the same way teachers are supposed to teach any co9ntroversial issue: cover the controversial sides, get students to research and then justify their own positions on the matter. For example, I recently did some work with my Year 4s about whether Australia was colonised/invaded and who arrived when. There are very differing views on this in the community. There were still very differing views at the end of the course, but my kids could justify why they took the position they did. Some of the clarified misconceptions, others changed their minds, others changed their minds after they heard other children's researched opinions. And none of them felt pressured to take on my loony leftist position (which btw I did not impart). Why not do the same with sex ed? Kids are going to come up with their own opinions around this age anyway, let's at least get them informed!!!!

Oh and BTW, why the hell shouldn't adoption be covered? Surely our society has enough stigma attached to something that could prevent a lot of abortions already without making it taboo.

Because that, honestly, to me, is not something that should be covered, I do think that is an Extremely private matter that should be worked out by the child and the parents/counselors. At the risk of sounding hypocritical, I don't think it should be taught. "but if you do get pregnant, you can always...." It should be STRESSED (and I should have said it before) by the instructors, that the student NEEDS to discuss the matters learned in class with their parents.

This is also something different about the community I live in. There are places that you can go to get a confidential pregnancy test for free, 3 of them actually, and all church supported, so adoption is the first discussion they have with women that don't want the baby. To get an abortion requires parental consent and a 4 hour minimum drive.

All treated very clinically and very biased towards procreative sex, as though our bodies are nothing but machines with elementary functions to perform.

They aren't?

Thank you, and you most definitely get an insightful from me.

I can't disagree with you at all, and you bring up great points about it too. For me personally, I would would need a little more information/statistics before I said I support the idea or not.... Off to research!

I, for one, respect any woman who gives her baby up for adoption much more than one who keeps the baby but refuses to take the responsibility of parenthood seriously. Parents are supposed to do what is best for their kids, if that means allowing the baby to be raised by people who want to be parents, that is a great decision that should be supported, not criticized.

On the subject of the age appropriate for sex education. I know my wife and I started teaching our kids about sex about the time they were old enough to point at each other in the bathtub and say, "Hey,what's that?"... or "Hey, what happened to yours?"

When I was running ambulance, there were situations where asking a patient if she was sexually active is indicated. The age when the question is appropriate keeps getting younger. Now it is to the point where I would ask when she had her last period, if she has started menstruating, (sadly) asking about sexual activity is no longer out of the question. With patients as young as 11, all too often the question is answered with "Does it count if we just used our mouths?"

mslady death I hoped you might come up with a better argument than "because I don't think it should". One of the biggest problems we are facing is that adoption is shrouded in secrecy and treated as taboo, a dirty secret, thus leading to mass feeelings of guilt for anyone who chooses to give their children to a "better" family. Why should people be madfe to feel that they should be ashamed of adoption? Shhhh shh honey, we don't talk about those things in public. It's not dignified.

Ok, so far, while trying to type this (which I subsequently deleted since this makes my point better *L*), I had 2 people ask this question. Why not teach it. Here is what I said to them:

"I think that it's a personal discussion that should be had between the pregnant child and her parents/partner.

I think that advocating adoption in school would undermine the entire prevention part of the class and educating young males that if they pressure their partner into adoption, then they will not have to deal with the consequences of the pregnancy and unsafe sex would be horrible and emotionally devastating"

My parents did so for me, and it made me significantly more mature than classmates, and I think helped me to make better decisions for myself.

Yikes, shoulda read that sentence before posting, I must be feeling rather narcissistic today.

I think that advocating adoption in school would undermine the entire prevention part of the class and educating young males that if they pressure their partner into adoption, then they will not have to deal with the consequences of the pregnancy and unsafe sex would be horrible and emotionally devastating

I can agree here, since how do your post-pregnancy alleviation options(abotion, adoption), help to limit risky behavior. These are things that should be brought to the table after the fact, but preventing the trouble by educating young people of the risks they take should be the goal here. Isn't the purpose of health and sex ed classes to make people aware of the potential problems that could arise from their choices, be they dietary, sexual or otherwise?

In teaching children about healthy eating, we don't bring up things like liposuction.