Teachers cannot teach condom/birth control use.

[Mateo_1387]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_sex_ed_wisconsin

So, what do you think?

Edited April 25, 2010 by akflightmedic

[JPINFV]

D: Optional with parental opt-out. I vaguely remember "sex ed" (mostly focused on puberty than actual sex) in 5th and 7th grades. I don't really remember what in terms of contraception was covered. I don't know what was covered in high school because students with impacted schedules (in my case, band with a full load of AP courses meant that I didn't have any extra space in my schedule) were allowed to test out of the health course requirement. Apparently that is no longer an option with students required to take the course either over summer or at night if they can't legitimately accommodate the health class into their school schedule. One of the big issues is that the course is only a semester long, so it leaves a hole in students schedules that might not otherwise be there.

[DwayneEMTP]

I think that it simply illuminates that fact that politics has everything to do with obscure agendas and very little to do with creating a safe, healthy country for us to live in.

I think that we should show Deep Throat to kids in about the 5th grade. There's not a girl on the planet that will have sex before she's 30 after watching it. (Ok, not really.)

This attitude simply shows a blindness for real life. kids ARE having sex. Regardless what we tell them, they are drinking, getting stoned, exploring their sexuality. It's unavoidable with the constant exposure to sexuality in our popular media. And I personally think that it's a good thing. Sex is real life. It's vital to passionate, loving relationships. It's not evil, we're all doing it, and sometimes in ways we'd just as soon not talk about to others, yet we want to pretend that it's only good when 'we're' doing it, for others it's wrong and dirty for some reason.

Perhaps we stop short? Maybe we should, along with teaching the use of contraceptives, teach oral sex techniques? (Heh, I could just hear Republican sphincters slamming shut all across the City.)I'm actually being serious here. Children are hardwired to begin to distance themselves from their parents at puberty. The most logical way to separate is to rebel against adult rules and thinking. Tell your kids that they can't have sex, and they'll use that to distance themselves from you. Tell them that they're not mature enough to have sex and they'll use sex to prove you wrong. As an act sex isn't good or bad. It can be made either by circumstances. Children need to learn how to mitigate those circumstances, to come to understand it as a vital part of life, though one that requires more thought and care than most other things.

I loved the line, "Southworth is trying to censor what students learn, usurping the role of parents." I don't really get this. Teaching your children about sensuality, sexuality, and eroticism is the role of parents, both through instruction and example. If you've left that to the schools, yet find that they will no longer be doing your job, then I'm afraid you'll either be forced to step up to the plate, or send your kids out into the world unprepared. And we know the decision that the majority of parents are making by the abhorrent attitude on these subjects many young people are expressing. Too often they're expressing it with unwanted pregnancy, casual sex, sexual disease and sexual crime.

Tell kids that they have options. That sex is awesome and amazing but that it comes with responsibilities. Explain those responsibilities, how to approach them responsibly and how to mitigate the possible consequences and most kids are going to listen. They truly aren't the ignorant little beasts that the adult media would lead one to believe. In many, if not most cases they are kind, intelligent, inspired young people that have been left adrift by past generations that have 'cared' for them by censoring necessary information from their upbringing,

I vote a pretty much straight Republican ticket. But just watch, it won't be long before Mr. Republican, Christian, church going "Don't teach kids about condoms because it will make them have sex" will have pics of him being spanked on his bare ass by a transvestite wielding a Ken doll floating all over the internet. A byproduct of the "Sex is dirty so let's not talk about it" generation.

Great article Matty. I hope it generates the discussion it deserves.

Dwayne

[akflightmedic]

It's unavoidable with the constant exposure to sexuality in our popular mediathis thing we call life. Kids were having sex long before today's media existed.

Fixed it for ya.

I agree with you Dwayne, biologically we are programmed to have sex at early ages. Unfortunately we do not have the mentality to handle that responsibly yet because we do not have the life skills at that age, we need to be taught. We teach our children everything there is about their life to help them be complete, competent, productive adults in the world yet we fail to educate them on an act that is primal in nature, a very strong desire which can have far reaching consequences that may affect them and ourselves for the remainder or their lives...foolish indeed.

I am not advocating sleeping with or allowing them them to sleep around. I am advocating upfront, direct communication. This is not the one area to use cutesy names, avoid sensitive areas or to leave gaps in the education. They need to know it all and they need to hear it from the parents. If not you, I guarantee they will hear or see it from someone else.

As for the constant "media exposure", do a little research on the pornographic cave art. Yes, the cavemen had many, many depictions of sex in motion. Then fast forward to the Egyptians, they had tons of sex art in your face as did the Greeks and Romans. Even the early Catholic Churches were adorned with what today would be deemed pornographic art. And these are just the pictures I am talking about, I have yet to delve into all the songs celebrating sex, or the endless erotic dances of almost every culture. Seems to me the "constant media" has been around forever...

[Kiwiology]

Bloody hell this is a bit extremee, but look at who is behind it and I am not suprised.

I mean in like our first year of high school here during "health and sexuality" we got taught how to spank off, best class I ever took can still get an A a decade later!

[DwayneEMTP]

As for the constant "media exposure", do a little research on the pornographic cave art. Yes, the cavemen had many, many depictions of sex in motion. Then fast forward to the Egyptians, they had tons of sex art in your face as did the Greeks and Romans. Even the early Catholic Churches were adorned with what today would be deemed pornographic art. And these are just the pictures I am talking about, I have yet to delve into all the songs celebrating sex, or the endless erotic dances of almost every culture. Seems to me the "constant media" has been around forever...

I get what you're saying here, and certainly agree, but am not sure how it applies to my post unless you believed me to be saying that those images were 'causing' kids to have sex. I don't believe that at all. But I do believe that it keeps sexuality in the main stream of societal consciousness. For example I had never given a thought to skydiving before it became a popular television topic. Since then I've thought of it a gazillion times. The images certainly didn't force me to go skydiving, but it did create a curiosity and keep that curiosity fresh in my mind. And you're right of course, that kids are going to be physically curious of each other even if raised in a vacuum, it's the curiosity to discover why the world seems to think it's such a big, evil, secretive, deal that I was meaning to point to.

I like also your comment about partial information or cutsie names. There is a book called, From chocolate to morphine that was written in the same spirit as this discussion a long time ago. It began with the point of view that people were going to do mind altering drugs. It chose to examine each of the more popular drugs and explain the dangers, as well as the way to do them safely. The country was in an uproar!! But it's published still today and you know what? I grew up in the biker/drug culture and there is a mountain of stuff in there that I didn't know. Even things that I should have been taught in medic school but wasn't. Do we believe because they created this book that many more people began doing drugs? Or were the ones most prone to that lifestyle simply in less danger, and thus, less of a burden to society than they had been before? I'm going with the latter.

I think that's what we need, is a "From anal sex to Uriphillia, an around the world guide to safe and entertaining ways to exchange bodily fluids" ('round the world, get it? 'roun....Oh, never mind.)

Have a great day Yeti, thanks for your thoughts.

Dwayne

[akflightmedic]

No, I get your thoughts Dwayne, I think we are in sync on this one.

I simply used your words to spin off and target others, so my comments were not directly related back at you.

For those interested enough, the link provided has some great comments for pro and con. I like the one where the lady says "we teach kids how to write checks in school (hers does), does that mean we are teaching the kids to go out and write fraudulent checks?"

Two topics that are severely neglected in most family discussions are Money and Sex. Keeping that in mind, can someone please tell me what the two top reasons for divorce are? Anyone...? Anyone at all? Yes that's right, MONEY and SEX!

Is there a correlation here? Should we look a little deeper and see where education needs to be improved on, education is the sense of general knowledge, not just readin, ritin and rithmatic.

[Chief1C]

Great, take away their condoms, we need more pregnant 14 year old's. I think the lack of pregnant teenagers in our rural school district, was because of a massive bowl of condoms in the nurses office. In rural areas, you often see more pregnant teens, just because there's nothing to keep bored teens busy. Only knew one that was pregnant in my senior year, but I knew eleven that had under-age DUI's. Now if they pressed for keeping better control of alcohol, that I would support. Screw religious feelings, control the goddamn population.

[Lisa O]

I plan on printing out all the full color, in detail pics of STD's that I can get my hands on and showing my kids!

And, then after all the vomit is picked up, and everyones heads are done spinning....we are going to talk. Honestly, openly, with NO BS. I would love for my kids to "wait" till they find the special one, or they are married, or in their 40's, whatever comes first..lol But, crossing my fingers, and hoping for that will not make reality go away. They need to know, and will know all the aspects of sex including risks on all levels; physical, emotional, mental, etc.

[emtannie]

Some excellent posts so far!

I agree with Dwayne and AK in their thinking..

I will add my two cents to it though. I know I have said this in other posts, but I will again. For too long, many parents have used the schools as their excuse for their own children not behaving as a well-adjusted member of society. My kid drinks/smokes/has sex, it must be the school's fault.

Parents have a vital role in teaching their children about life, and in relinquishing that role to schools, they leave their child open to whatever actually sinks into that brain via osmosis. Kids are like sponges - they soak up what is going on around them - and if we don't teach them, someone else will, and it may not be what we or they want.

One of the things that I see more and more of is that many parents no longer teach their children that there are rewards and consequences for actions. I suspect we all know of parents who defend their child to the last breath on something, even when they know that child was wrong "I know little Johnny vandalized 6 cars and smashed windows, but he is a good boy at home! It must have been hit little friends - he was just there." Open and honest discussion about sec, the rewards and consequences of it, shows our children that we expect them to consider their options, and the consequences of the options they choose.

LOL Lisa - a friend of mine did that with his son not too long ago. He showed him some nasty STD pics, and had the talk. Now, he didn't just scare him with that, but he also discussed the positive side of sex, and the joys it brings in a relationship. This friend of mine is an excellent father, and his three boys are growing up to be excellent members of society, because of the effort he puts in as a parent.

As for school cirriculum... if it is as bad as the material taught in the dark ages when I went to school... don't bother. Some of the girls my age might remember that really bad video we all had to watch on "Becoming a Woman - Your Menstrual Cycle." Yeah yeah, that was always the high point of my month - that video was obviously written by someone without a uterus. Give the kids the information in a factual manner, no flowery innuendos, and give them the knowledge they need.