sex education

I think that kids have to hear about sex sometime. Before you can drive a car you have to study it first so that you and everybody else on the road is safe. If you get knocked -up or contract an STD it affects a lot of other people besides you. Children need to know what to do to be safe. To Lena: My sex ed experience was similar to yours. It was just an aside during health class. We watched a lot of movies showing up close and personal pics of STDs and WAY too upclose and personal pics of woman giving birth. It was really very terrifying. However, since the 'sex-talk' was a conversation I never had with my mom (for which I still need to thank her), I guess its good I learned it somewhere. And it was effective. To this day I still don't want to give birth or catch V.D. Thanks condoms!

Let us take a moment to say thanks to the Department of Education, the teachers union, and the leftist morons therein. Who cares if a large percentage of kids graduate high school unable to read, write, or string together one coherent, complete sentence? By god...they know how to put a condom on a cucumber!

Apparently needed by the three people who gave the "Women" listing on this same list less than five stars.Although more seriously, this listing just says "sex education", not necessarily sex education classes. People need to learn from someone, whether from their parents or from school is an entirely different issue.

At the right age-maybe kiids should learn sex ed the way I did-from Hustler magazine-knowing about sex might not neccesarily lead to sex-abstinance is fine but birth control should be an option as well or you will end up with Sarh Palin's daughter!

I don't know first hand what sex education classes are like today, although from what my kids say they haven't changed much from my own highschool memories.They focus on explaining and exploding some myths (you can only get AIDS from gay sex, you can't get pregnant on the first time, etc...)I certainly didn't get any pointers on how to make my girlfriend have an orgasm (although at 17, I could probably have used some)

Kids will learn about sex, no matter how hard we try to shelter them from this awful experience.  And they will indulge their curiosity regardless of what their parents, teachers or religious leaders tell them, because Mother Nature intended it that way.  At least the schools are bringing to the table their skills as trained educators and a vested interest in seeing to it that their students move through the system and become good members of the school/education community.  If you are predisposed to believe that all teachers and schools are unqualified and screw up everything they touch, then what is your kid doing in the school system in the first place?  There are people living in camps in the foothills of Montana who will willingly welcome you into their movement.

The right sex education is "no sex before and outside of marriage." It has always worked and can work anytime. Anything else is "perversion education".

Depends on who is teaching what. Responsibile education without bias can be a healthy thing, but there is enough out there that doesn't tell the whole truth.

They basically explain everything, or close to it, that you need to know and debunk alot of common myths. However I believe this is still the parents job, I learned it a long time before they taught it in high school. However they still really press abstinence, which is annoying but in hindsight a really good idea.

Highly desireable, and necessary to prevent a number of problems: unwanted pregnancies, abortions, STDs, etc. The religious "puritan" and "sex is nasty" hangups are troubling and lead to unwarranted guilt about one of nature's most compelling instincts, along with hunger and sleep. Those hangups lead to resistance by too many parents to sex education. If kids raise religious questions in sex education classes, wouldn't the wise teacher refer them to their parents or mininster, priest, etc.? Concerning the curriculum, while my vote would be to include every topic, the school board and administration may reflect the consensus of the parents who give them input, depending on how agressive the input is. My advice to the school would be to err on the side of inclusion of topics in the curriculum rather than exclusion. I think educating kids as much as possible leads to better (including better-adjusted), more open-minded citizens.

If done well, extremely helpful, but the education is hindered by people with agendas.  Teaching teens the possible (and likely) consequences of sex is highly important. I think people are highly confused about what "sex education" entails.  I don't know how your sex education classes went, but as far as mine was, it's not a "how to make someone achieve orgasm" class.  They don't have a class on how to perform fellatio.  There's nothing in the curriculum to teach kids exactly how to have gay sex.  They don't assign kids to masturbate for homework or anything.   What I was taught in sex ed, and what should be, is that pregnancy can result from sex, that those myths like "you can't get pregnant the first time" is a load, and that you can still get STDs even without intercourse.  This is stuff that kids need to know, so that they'll be less likely to rush into these things.

The problem here is who is doing the education and what is being taught.  Should homosexuality be included in the curriculum, for instance?   What about other norms?  Believe it or not, folks, some religions have positions on sex.  How are you going to handle the religious questions of the kids?

I don't care what the subject: Education is everything! A lot of parents are uncomfortable discussing sex so lets please teach at least the fundimentals. I was lucky, my Dad is a Doctor. I not only got the talk but books and movies too! I was one educated kid!!!! And made good decisions because of it!

Lets be real.Teenagers are in thrall to their hormones.Telling them to "just say no" to sex is like leaving the cookie jar on the floor and telling the 3 year olds to wait until you get home to eat the cookies! Kids need to know what causes pregnancy,how sexually transmitted diseases are spread,and that they won't go blind if they relieve their urges "single handedly".I'd rather find out my kid was using a condom than end up with them dying of AIDS or being an underage parent.

Personally, sex education has kept me from making terrible mistakes. But I agree that our culture has some serious issues regarding things involving sex.

. . .problem is sex education isn't very good- if sex ed sucks, then it is hurtful. . .but the problem cuts deeper- this culture is backwards and uptight when it comes to sex. The culture has this ridiculous Puritan-esque streak that is in conflict with images, advertising, and sexual experimentation that occurs late or post-high school. . .there just isn't enough honest dialouge about sex to really judge it to be helpful or hurtful as a whole. . .