Sex Education In Schools - What A Farce!

I've only ever had one sex ed. lesson. Basically told us what we already knew. Always protect yourself. You shouldn't feel pressurised into doing anything.

We got a couple of lessons in Science about the male and female anatomy but that was it.

 

It was a unit in my school, for I think two weeks for about an hour and fifteen minutes each day...I found it boring as hell cause it used those old 80's movies about the female giving birth and such. There was also nothing on gay men. It was pretty pathetic.

 

My Biology lessons were more useful than sex ed

 

I think we all can agree though...our sex ed never got as bad as this:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpN7kNRO5jk]Don't have Sex !!! - YouTube[/youtube]

 

I think it's a little bit funny what people think is the "bare minimum." I went to a Catholic school my whole life, so my sex ed consisted of the your bodies are changing talk in 5th grade, and in high school, a lady who came in and showed us pictures of STDs and said if you have sex this is what happens, so don't do it. We learned that birth control and condoms were a sin, but never actually learned what either was or how to use them. In biology, we got the boys have these parts and girls have these lesson, but only because that is state mandated, and only in bare minimum detail.

 

Or as good as this?

[YOUTUBE]Grease 2 - Reproduction - YouTube[/YOUTUBE]

 

Mine at a public school was basic information about how our bodies would change, some info about STDs and protection/birth control. The key part missing was a basic explanation of human sexuality. Explaining the Kinsey scale (or similar explanation of the spectrum of human sexuality) would be a great addition to the curriculum for 5th graders since that was the time that kids started to find themselves attracted to others. It should be in high school curriculum for sure. I know the pro-discrimination people would be against it, but the fact that some people are gay or bisexual is critical information that some of us need to know.

 

At my school we seriously only got one lesson a year at most and all they ever told us was how reproductive organs work during pregnancy and about STD's...our school literally taught us the bare minimum!

 

Lol. The bulk of our sex ed was in biology, the sex ed class itself was more for ethics and morals and all that....some graphs maybe - completely boring though....lol. Biology is the shit!

 

We only talked sex-ed for a week, and I had health every other day so it was only 2-3 days tops...no exams on it what so ever. We only learned health risks for those who are going to be having "straight sex" and methods of prevention, no mention of members of the same gender having sex and how their risks can vary....I probably never would have learned a lot of what I know now if it weren't for this site and asking people I know for advice...but it is what it is you know?...In my 5th grade class we were split up boys went in one room and girls in another, we watched a video about puberty, I distinctly remember our teachers didn't talk to us at all, we didn't get to ask questions, nothing. (Not that a bunch of immature kids would dare to ask them anything.) Basicly everything I know now I have learned on my own...my school district is dumb. :dry:

---------- Post added 21st Feb 2012 at 04:47 PM ----------

Is this from "Mean Girls"?

 

At least it's better than 1950's America!

[YOUTUBE]Ehsg2UIMnHM[/YOUTUBE]

I have heard of police teaching students about sex and sexuality when something sexual happens in a classroom. For Example: Oral-sex charges in Oakland second-grade class

This makes no sense to me. Police are wonderful people, but hardly qualified to teach about sex. Where is the licensed child psychologist with the specialization in human sexuality? That's who needs to teach kids.

 

How did anyone survive the 50's? Sex ed does not start in my school district until 6th grade. I have heard reports of children engaging in sexual experimentation locally as early as 4th grade, but 2nd grade, sheesh.

 

There's actually a documentary about my hometown's dismal sex education system that was played at Sundance. Like most documentaries, it's very exaggerated. I went to the same high school and the same denomination of church as this girl though.
The Education of Shelby Knox

I knew my hometown was very behind the times in regard to sex ed, but reading these responses and thinking in retrospect has made me realize how it's actually completely backward. It had great schools, but when the population is composed primarily of Catholics and fundamentalists, all you get is an optional lecture from a staunch abstinence only speaker in 8th grade and a quick unit in health class.

Granted, it was a very well-presented and thought-out argument for abstinence only, but it was very heavily religiously motivated, and most look back on it as a joke. I remember the man saying condoms weren't very effective at preventing STI's because they only covered a small part of the anatomy; if you truly love each other, you'll wait until marriage; anal sex was degrading, and that the capillaries in your rectum burst when something is pushed up. Because of that last statement and my awareness of my attractions, I walked around with my buttcheeks clenched the entire day, swearing I would never be gay.

Anyway, it's a documented fact that my hometown has some of the highest teen pregnancy and STI rates in the nation. I still have a hard time believing that can be traced directly back to the sex ed. Most of us knew everything there was to know already. The fact is that every city with a high population of staunch Mexican Catholics has a high teen pregnancy rate, and most college towns have a high STI rate.

 

Our sex-ed in the 1990's was completely hetero-centric. There was no indication that gay sex existed, or that gay relationships were even a viable option.

There was not any abstinence-only rhetoric, though it was said to be safest, which is true.

 

In 5th grade, they taught us about puberty and stuff.
But otherwise they don't teach us enough. o.o (and when they do teach us, they completely leave out the idea of gay sex, which irritates me) My parents teach me about sex most of the time, not my school

 

I don't know what schools you guys were going to, but I was taught all about sex, including same-sex sex. >_>;

 

Yeah, my program was the same, it was also a joke. I bet it is hard teaching something like sex ed in public schools, especially 10 years ago. There is a strict bureaucracy but beyond that there is a culture of teachers and parents creating a tricky political dynamic. This reminds me of that one episode in Southpark where Mr. Garrison was teaching sex ed, it was so flippin funny but he also had a point.

 

In my sex ed class in 7th grade (note:this is immediately after the teacher said we could ask anything) this boy asked "can anal sex give you pleasure?" semi-jokingly. They basically locked the school down and canceled the sex ed program. So much for learning. And then our science teacher (who hated the school's administration) had to fill in the blanks for us.
Catholic schools suck.

 

Mine was as bad as this... Worse in fact!

Went to a catholic school, they never explained anything about sex, only that abstinance is the only way to to go because diseases. And this went on for hours, old women talking about how chastity is the only way to go and videos and falsified statistics. Except they didn't even offer condoms or anything, all we got we chastity pens.

 

Did the Chastity pens double as a pregnancy and Hep C test?

Honestly, I do not envy some of the baggage you must have had to work through because of the experiences with that culture, namely the negative ideas associated with sexuality.