Sex education in school - what's it about?

I wanted to focus more on the schools side of this issue so thought I'd open a new thread.

I'll have to admit some ignorance on this matter as back in my day sex education in school was considered a fairly minor issue.

What we had was that at around age 13/14 you were given the biological facts of reproduction only - a few diagrams perhaps but that was it, maybe a 1 hr lesson. (this covered standard intercourse only)

for myself that wasn't an issue as I had an older brother so really knew most of the facts by around age 10 at the latest anyway.

However, these days what do they actually teach in most state run schools?

I noticed on the other thread a few people talking about love - should that really be on the menu?

I think not - just the basic facts should be given plus perhaps a general overview of a few other issues.

How far off the traditional path should the teaching go?

As for age I'd say about 12 seems right for the general info.

anyone else?

As far as I remember our sex education class was simply about reproductive science and STDs. Nothing special.

I don't remember anything in the way of STD discussion, it was just like a biology class the same as you mention.

How is it in schools these days?

How much detail do they go into?

Being in education myself (on sexual diversity) I think sex ed is very important in the attempt to promote healthy relationships for coming generations. Both on the level of STD's and common risky forms of sex, and the level of romantic relationships concerning abuse and prostitution.

We should maintain a healthy attitude towards sex, which means openness and honesty.

I taught too. For me, the most frustrating thing was teachers who were too hung up about it to talk about it. So they sloughed their duties and showed some silly ancient film, with no discussion afterwards. Sometimes though, in recognition of this, we'd switch off. Generally kids were really interested and good about it. I always had the anonymous question box and occasionally got some 'interesting' ones. My only limit was personal questions. Generally the girls seemed more interested in pregnancy and that whole biological picture than sex itself.

But this is Canada, not the US where some states impose strict limits like, "Just say No" without even explaining what they're supposed to say 'no' to.

One colleague was hilarious at it. He had this great way of letting the kids know that they really didn't no much. One year he left the classroom door open as he walked in. So his introductory get their attention right off the bat question was a very loud with finger pointed, "Who hear can tell me what ejaculation is?" Half the school heard it, so later in the staffroom some of us made up false answers to share with him.

In the 40's and 50's I was taught nothing in class... Teachers did not do Sex.
I was beaten twice for talking to village Girls (age10)
However like all Children I knew as much as I was likely to learn by the age of 7.

I would say Biology classes should teach the mechanics and health issues and social studies the social and emotional aspects. From my experience, this should be before they leave primary school.

There's a huge to-do about sex ed in school here

Some upset at New York sex education - CNN

It's been a long time since I was in high school, but I had the misfortune (in this context) to attend Lubbock High, a distinction I share with Shelby Knox.

Sex ed wasn't even a joke, it was a travesty. We got SOME biology, consisting of a line drawing of a uterus, and an uncomfortable chapter on the fact that sperm fertilizes eggs... with no mention ever made of how the two encounter one another.

THEN we got a two hour presentation on "CONDOMS DON'T WORK!!!!!!" They didn't explicate the now infamous "nets" misinformation, but a full hour was taken drilling us with "the HIV virus is 1000 times smaller than a sperm, and therefore 1000 times more likely to 'slip through' any protection you use."

To top it all off, they didn't even mention abstinence! No mention of virginity (probably as that would require an explanation of mechanics), much less preserving it. The only message I took from my 'education' was not to bother with condoms.

At the time, Lubbock had the highest per capita rates of:
1) Teen pregnancy
2) STD transmission
3) Drug use
4) Churches.

That was in '97, so likely out of date, but things haven't improved much, if at all.

nnmartin said:

I wanted to focus more on the schools side of this issue so thought I'd open a new thread.

I'll have to admit some ignorance on this matter as back in my day sex education in school was considered a fairly minor issue.

What we had was that at around age 13/14 you were given the biological facts of reproduction only - a few diagrams perhaps but that was it, maybe a 1 hr lesson. (this covered standard intercourse only)

for myself that wasn't an issue as I had an older brother so really knew most of the facts by around age 10 at the latest anyway.

However, these days what do they actually teach in most state run schools?

I noticed on the other thread a few people talking about love - should that really be on the menu?

I think not - just the basic facts should be given plus perhaps a general overview of a few other issues.

How far off the traditional path should the teaching go?

As for age I'd say about 12 seems right for the general info.

anyone else?

Click to expand...

I have a good friend with a kid a little before bar mitzvah age-- I think like 11 or 12-- who's taking sex ed in public school. It looks like a good curriculum: very thorough. They cover the mechanics of reproduction; explanations of various common sexual contact methods; what are STDs, and how to employ condoms, dental dams, spermicidal lubricants, and such to protect oneself from them; some sexual ethics; some discussion of making relationships work; and some discussion of gender and sexual preference issues, with an aim to fostering tolerance.

The kid says that the class is very good, and feels like a safe environment, and kids discuss a lot. There's also an anonymous question box, from which the teacher takes 10 minutes every class to answer questions, which the kids find helpful, and, to me, also shows how little they have been able to learn on their own.

Apparently some sample anonymous questions have included: "Do gay people [have sex with] animals," "Will I go blind from [masturbating]," "What are testicles and do I have any," "Can I get a girl pregnant if I [ejaculate] on her hand," and other similar examples of profound ignorance or misinformation. Clearly, these kids are not getting any reliable information at home, so it appears these sex ed classes are desperately needed.

As for me, I got three different rounds of sex ed: one was in Orthodox day school, where they didn't actually educate us at all, they just told us to stay away from girls, and if we got "wrong feelings," we should study more Torah. One was in seventh/eighth grade, in a pilot public school program in Minneapolis, MN, where we got a lot of very helpful frank discussion about the mechanics of sex, including different kinds of sexual relations and the use of condoms. And the last was in public high school, in L.A., where we got the basics, plus discussions of gender and sexual preference, and some good tolerance education.

Storm said:

It's been a long time since I was in high school, but I had the misfortune (in this context) to attend Lubbock High, a distinction I share with Shelby Knox.

Sex ed wasn't even a joke, it was a travesty. We got SOME biology, consisting of a line drawing of a uterus, and an uncomfortable chapter on the fact that sperm fertilizes eggs... with no mention ever made of how the two encounter one another.

THEN we got a two hour presentation on "CONDOMS DON'T WORK!!!!!!" They didn't explicate the now infamous "nets" misinformation, but a full hour was taken drilling us with "the HIV virus is 1000 times smaller than a sperm, and therefore 1000 times more likely to 'slip through' any protection you use."

To top it all off, they didn't even mention abstinence! No mention of virginity (probably as that would require an explanation of mechanics), much less preserving it. The only message I took from my 'education' was not to bother with condoms.

At the time, Lubbock had the highest per capita rates of:
1) Teen pregnancy
2) STD transmission
3) Drug use
4) Churches.

That was in '97, so likely out of date, but things haven't improved much, if at all.

Click to expand...

From Copperas Cove, TX in the 80's I got the biology, both male and female (as medical line drawings), and the basics of the mechanics (e.g the male provides sperm which fertilizes the egg...implantation...amniotic fluid, etc, but not really so much as to how the sperm was provided exactly). Also much exposure to STDs. I don't remember if there was any discussion of birth control methods or not. As a kid going through puberty during the earliest years of the AIDS crisis (I first heard of it before it was called AIDS, it was still GRID (gay related immuno-deficiency) and Ronnie Raygun and his cronies Pat Buchanan and Jesse Helms were all proclaiming GRID (and the later name AIDS) as God's punishment for homosexuality), and trying to come to terms with being gay, it seemed to me all of the focus was on reproduction, without much that would be useful to me. 'Course at that period it was pretty much an assumption (at least on my part, there might have been some misinformation promulgated) that if you were gay you were gonna die of GRID/AIDS.

As I recall, there was the afternoon in like 4th or 5th grade where the girls and boys were split into separate classrooms and the biology part was covered. You know, internal workings, puberty, menstruation , and such. And then there were Health classes in high school that covered everything from diet and fitness and disease prevention, to pregnancy, condoms, STDs and so on. But that was how things were here in late 80s to early/mid 90s. I honestly have no clue how things are handled now. I don't think the set up was so bad when I was in school. If there was one change though I'd probably move the Health class into Junior High school and have it taught at a 7th or 8th grade level.

Draka said:

As I recall, there was the afternoon in like 4th or 5th grade where the girls and boys were split into separate classrooms and the biology part was covered. You know, internal workings, puberty, menstruation , and such. And then there were Health classes in high school that covered everything from diet and fitness and disease prevention, to pregnancy, condoms, STDs and so on. But that was how things were here in late 80s to early/mid 90s. I honestly have no clue how things are handled now. I don't think the set up was so bad when I was in school. If there was one change though I'd probably move the Health class into Junior High school and have it taught at a 7th or 8th grade level.

Click to expand...

I remember in 5th or 6th grade the split class. I think that us boys mostly played dodge ball, but we might have gotten to see pictures of untreated STD's. Certainly wasn't any teaching regarding puberty, internal workings or anything. The class covering all the mechanics and stuff was in 9th grade (84? or 85?).

Duck said:

I remember in 5th or 6th grade the split class. I think that us boys mostly played dodge ball, but we might have gotten to see pictures of untreated STD's. Certainly wasn't any teaching regarding puberty, internal workings or anything. The class covering all the mechanics and stuff was in 9th grade (84? or 85?).

Click to expand...

No wonder things are so debated. No consistency in the first place. I very much recall, and I lean more towards 4th grade if I remember my teachers correctly, being filed into separate classrooms for an afternoon and having the internal reproductive organs named and explained. Ovulation and menstruation was covered along with a few other female related things. AND the very basics of male genitalia. The boys were done before us (granted they didn't have to go into the workings of periods) and we met out on the playground for some recess time and then back in to our original classrooms for a bit of time before we let out.

I learned more about sex from watching Degrassi Junior High than from school.

My school had at least two "sex ed" classes... the first one to pre-teens (5th grade) explaining the basics of anatomy, puberty and general health concerns and questions.

Then teens got a second more in depth class... this one discussed STDs, birth-control, abuse prevention and so on.
This class was relatively new to the school... my guess is that it was instituted to address the very high levels of teen pregnancy. In my class there was a nearly 10% drop out rate due to teen pregnancy.

wa:do

we didn't have segregated classes... there were to few of us for that.

Yeah, I did the biology and reproduction bit in about grade 7. Maybe something else about menstruation earlier, but I don't remember. The grade 7 class also answered general questions about sex (as in "how to" and "what is"), and talked about consent. Key piece of any class on the subject, IMO. Then there was a new approach in high school that mostly involved nasty pictures of infected genitals. They talked about birth control, giving fairly accurate information while at the same time stressing that it's the only certain way to avoid those nasty infected genitals yourself is to be celibate and stay with your first partner forever.

I think the best class was the one in grade seven, mainly because I didn't have to look at close ups of pus oozing penises, but also because I didn't feel like I was being pressured to avoid sex at a time when I was pretty curious about it. The take home message was that the ultimate disgrace and misfortune in life is a bout of chlamydia or crabs. Forget cancer and obesity...

On the other hand, I think where there is a lot of pressure from religious groups to adopt a program that discourages premarital sex, the accurate info + pus oozing penises approach is a reasonable compromise. Better than teaching nothing, or teaching falsehoods.

When I went to public high school we had a Public Health class---9th grade I think it was--- given by one of our gym teachers who carefully avoided any reference to sex. Not even a mention of male and female genitalia---god forbid!!. Needless to say, it was extremely boring. :sleep:

Why do people keep reopening ancient threads? This one was over 2 years old. How do you even find them?