Teachers cannot teach condom/birth control use.

[HERBIE1]

Well, here's an opposing opinion. Sort of.

As was mentioned, teachers are already overwhelmed, and I really do think this is an instance where the parent should be taking the lead. That said, I realize that for religious, cultural, and personal reasons- and yes, simply being uncomfortable about the subject), many parents do NOT give enough information. So- what happens when your beliefs conflict with what the school is teaching? IE-abortion, premarital sex, birth control, masturbation, etc? If you let the kid opt out of this at school, then who is the one who suffers? The kid does not get the information they need, and they are marginalized.

Of the kids who "get into trouble", I would love to see numbers on how much and what they learned in their sex education classes. I submit that the sex ed information- or lack thereof- too often is not the problem, but a lack of parental involvement/supervision is. I think these days, kids are much more aware of the consequences of unprotected sex- far more than when I was growing up. We were given very rudimentary info, yet I can think of only 1 student in my 4 years of high school who became pregnant, and this was in a school of several thousand.

These days kids are exposed to so much- TV, movies, etc, and there are countless instances of teen moms and their problems, STD's, and now we even have HIV and AIDS etc. We NEVER had movies or TV shows that discussed these things on a regular basis.

I think the attitudes of today's society towards sex is FAR more of a problem than a lack of available information and options, but that's just my opinion.

[Richard B the EMT]

"Teachers of Sex Education shouldn't give homework."

(Archie Bunker, Forest Hills, NY)

[aussiephil]

Well, here's an opposing opinion. Sort of.

As was mentioned, teachers are already overwhelmed, and I really do think this is an instance where the parent should be taking the lead. That said, I realize that for religious, cultural, and personal reasons- and yes, simply being uncomfortable about the subject), many parents do NOT give enough information. So- what happens when your beliefs conflict with what the school is teaching? IE-abortion, premarital sex, birth control, masturbation, etc? If you let the kid opt out of this at school, then who is the one who suffers? The kid does not get the information they need, and they are marginalized.

Of the kids who "get into trouble", I would love to see numbers on how much and what they learned in their sex education classes. I submit that the sex ed information- or lack thereof- too often is not the problem, but a lack of parental involvement/supervision is. I think these days, kids are much more aware of the consequences of unprotected sex- far more than when I was growing up. We were given very rudimentary info, yet I can think of only 1 student in my 4 years of high school who became pregnant, and this was in a school of several thousand.

These days kids are exposed to so much- TV, movies, etc, and there are countless instances of teen moms and their problems, STD's, and now we even have HIV and AIDS etc. We NEVER had movies or TV shows that discussed these things on a regular basis.

I think the attitudes of today's society towards sex is FAR more of a problem than a lack of available information and options, but that's just my opinion.

While I do agree with you to a point, is the best option, many of the shows you talk about do not give an acurate or representative of reality verion of what we are talking about.

When was the last time you saw a movie with the male putting a condom on?

Pre-marital sex is always going to be on the up, to deny this is to deny reality. Like it or not, it is happening more & more. Knowing this, if protection is taught as well as absinance, what is the problem, i would much rather know my son is responsible enough to buy & use condoms than come home to tell me he has an STD or has got a girl pregnant while still at school.

If that makes me immoral, then so be it, i think it is far more responsible to educate & teach all of the alternatives than pretend it wont happen.

Lets go back to the 50's & earlier. While the incidence of STD's was lower per capita i believe, they were still there. If a girl fell pregnant, she was sent awat 'to stay with an aunt', had the baby & it was adopted out.

I would rather see sex ed opened up & taught as part of a complete package.

Oh, there are reasons why married people wear condoms as well remember. When was the last time you or a friend had a needle stick? How does that fit in with Mr Evangelical Christian DA or the Catholic Church? Maybe we should, as married people, abstain until we are cleared.

[HERBIE1]

While I do agree with you to a point, is the best option, many of the shows you talk about do not give an acurate or representative of reality verion of what we are talking about.

When was the last time you saw a movie with the male putting a condom on?

Pre-marital sex is always going to be on the up, to deny this is to deny reality. Like it or not, it is happening more & more. Knowing this, if protection is taught as well as absinance, what is the problem, i would much rather know my son is responsible enough to buy & use condoms than come home to tell me he has an STD or has got a girl pregnant while still at school.

If that makes me immoral, then so be it, i think it is far more responsible to educate & teach all of the alternatives than pretend it wont happen.

Lets go back to the 50's & earlier. While the incidence of STD's was lower per capita i believe, they were still there. If a girl fell pregnant, she was sent awat 'to stay with an aunt', had the baby & it was adopted out.

I would rather see sex ed opened up & taught as part of a complete package.

Oh, there are reasons why married people wear condoms as well remember. When was the last time you or a friend had a needle stick? How does that fit in with Mr Evangelical Christian DA or the Catholic Church? Maybe we should, as married people, abstain until we are cleared.

I really don't think kids are suddenly discovering that sex feels good. What I do think is their attitudes towards it have become far more cavalier about it than in previous generations. It used to be a small segment of the population, but now thanks to music videos, TV, movies, and ads, sex is the number one thing that sells damn near every product. Instead of it being used sparingly, in very specific circumstances, sex is everywhere. As prehistoric as it may sound, in some ways I think it was a good thing when being young, single and pregnant was not something to be proud of or something to aspire to.