Schools and Sex Education
by Schools are not teaching sex education to the children who need it most. Children are reaching puberty without any sex education.33 percent of ninth graders have had sex, and a number of girls are pregnant before they finish grade school.Shouldn’t our schools start sex education early to teach students how to keep themselves safe? We all know that "just saying no" is not working.
Should schools provide sex education for our kids, or should it be left up to parents? Many believe it is vital that schools provide this service to our youngsters. Kids need reliable age appropriate sex education to counteract all the misinformation about reproductive issues and sexually transmitted disease they get from their peers. The basic facts will arm kids with skills to avoid risky sexual behavior, and help them avoid disease and pregnancy in their school years. It will assure more kids stay in school, avoid life long problems, and go on to a higher education.
Expectations were high in Georgia that the new health education standards would provide students with up to date information and skills to reduce and prevent sexually transmitted disease and pregnancy concerns among the young. The standards integrate “Adolescent Risk Behaviors” outlined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. They include, injury and violence, poor nutrition, inadequate physical activity, risky sexual activity, obesity, high cholesterol, tobacco use, alcohol and drug use.
Be that as it may, the New Georgia Performance Standards does not go far enough. It does not provide the skills to be able to take care of the body that is sorely needed. The basics of the new standard provides only broad guidelines for states to develop their own curricula. The guidelines are vague and provide little guidance. It leaves more than enough room for substandard health education, and that is unacceptable.
In the new standards growth and development is not mentioned after second grade. So where does that leave puberty education? Many children reach puberty unprepared, just when they need information about their changing bodies. Too many girls become pregnant before leaving grade school. Since the new standards do not teach reproduction and puberty, it’s not surprising that pregnancy isn’t mentioned at all.
Teachers have a hard enough time teaching sex education. Why make it harder by practically leaving it out of the new standards altogather. Just look at the statistics. Of the national average according to surveys, 33 percent of ninth graders have had sexual intercourse. By the twelfth grade that number goes up to 65 percent. Georgia isn’t doing any better. In DeKalb 14 percent of students have sex before the age of 13. Georgia ranks 10th in the nation for teen births.
When the state standards finally talks about sex, the kids are already in high school. By that time it is too late for many youngsters. The States Health Standards need to be revised. Educators, parents and health officials need to contact The Department of Education and let their voices be heard. Our children are our most important assets. Children need to be taught about sex at home and school.
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Post CommentMuhammad Sohaib Roomi
On February 24, 2010 at 12:38 pm
Great Information
ganeshgolha
On February 24, 2010 at 12:43 pm
nice one…
amandeep13
On February 24, 2010 at 12:44 pm
Good Stuff
Keep the good work on
chellsy
On February 24, 2010 at 12:48 pm
interesting
pearl2010
On February 24, 2010 at 1:03 pm
Parents are always responsible to take good advice to their kids for this matter.Then I think during high school sex education is already teach.
ken bultman
On February 24, 2010 at 1:27 pm
Somebody needs to teach something. According to a segment on a recent Good Morning America, oral sex is new goodnight kiss among many teenagers now bringing on an increase in STD of the throat in young females.
Brenda Nelson
On February 24, 2010 at 1:27 pm
parents are also to blame I think, not just schools. If the parents are too busy and not showing love to their kids, the kids look for it elsewhere, even having sex just to feel loved. So many parents work and kids come home to lonely empty houses… plus our society seems to but rewards on women for having kids, in terms of attention and gifts, its no wonder girls with low self esteme get pregnant…
I blame the parents even more than the schools, sex education starts at home with honesty.
T. S. Lewis
On February 24, 2010 at 2:11 pm
Ruby you are right. This discussion needs to take place at both places and the earlier the better.
bailieman
On February 24, 2010 at 3:06 pm
This is a tough subject and it is difficult to know what is the right age to start sex education. In Irish schools, children are introduced to a simple style of sex education at the ages of 9 or 10 and the parents meet with the teachers beforehand to understand what is being taught and back it up.
CA Johnson
On February 24, 2010 at 3:18 pm
This was a very interesting article. I agree that it is difficult to know when to start talking about sex education at home and in schools.
sloanie
On February 24, 2010 at 7:15 pm
Hi both my daughter and son-in-law are teachers in England where sex education is taught in the schools. Unfortunately many parents now take little interest in their children’s education, or what there children are doing. It has to be a two way street.
Hepsi.M
On February 24, 2010 at 7:56 pm
We have the same issue in India. People fight to decide whether it needs to be taught to in school or not and it never reaches the decision of yes or a no.I think teachers can also take an initiative and stat talking about it as open discussions or wirting,get a little creative and explain about of sex to adolescents.This would help a lot. Very well written article.
Thanks for sharing.
Paul Roberts
On February 24, 2010 at 8:06 pm
We can all blame and we can all exclaim, either way answere this question…who put this child on this earth first!? Then the ultimate task to teach is the original teacher. Great article Ruby. Friend, fan, smile.
8Shei8
On February 24, 2010 at 8:49 pm
I think it is the school responsibility to educate minors about sex but parents need to be aware of this and participate. Kids nowadays, like it or not, are having sex. I saw a 12 years old girl already french kissing a boy. Scary! Another great awareness Ruby.
joyhyena29
On February 24, 2010 at 9:20 pm
great share^^
Eunice Tan
On February 24, 2010 at 10:38 pm
I like your idea. Sex education is very important.
albert1jemi
On February 24, 2010 at 11:09 pm
excellent share
PR Mace
On February 24, 2010 at 11:47 pm
I really think sex education should be taught at home. I know my husband and I did with our children plus we had a loving relationship to show them. But I know that many children will not receive the teaching at home so they have to have it somewhere.
ML Sheldon
On February 25, 2010 at 12:31 am
Oh my goodness, I didn’t realize that the statistics were like that at all. I’ve always thought that kids needed to be educated about sex at a younger age, but I never realized that it was THAT big of an issue. Good article. Perhaps you should send a copy to a few school boards?
Antonette Ramos
On February 25, 2010 at 1:02 am
excellent share:)
sambhafusia
On February 25, 2010 at 5:39 am
excellent share…thought provoked greatly.thanks for sharing.
Christine Ramsay
On February 25, 2010 at 6:58 am
You are quite right, Ruby. Over here children are first taught about sex at the age of 9-10 years. However I think it needs to be revisited annually as well as being taught at home. A very good article.
Christine
kate smedley
On February 25, 2010 at 6:59 am
It’s such a difficult area, in the UK we have the highest number of teenage pregnancies in Europe so something’s definitely not working here! Thought provoking stuff.
Frances Lawrence
On February 25, 2010 at 7:27 am
Here in UK children have personal health and social development lessons from age 5. At first they learn about relationships and taking care of themselves but by 8 they are given all the basic information. This continues and they learn about sexually transmitted infections, keeping themselves safe etc. They also have a lot of time to discuss the moral and emotional issues and they are made aware the potential problems of early sexual relationships/pregnancy. What is done in school is very good, but you can’t rely on school alone, parents have a role in setting an example, providing a moral framework, providing information and guiding the young person in the right direction. If parents allow their young teens to roam the streets it shouldn’t come as a surprise when they get into trouble.
Daisy Peasblossom
On February 25, 2010 at 8:39 am
Unfortunately, when it is taught, it is so watered down by “just say no” policies that it is pretty much useless to the children as actual information.
Darla Cooke
On February 25, 2010 at 9:58 am
I believe parents should talk to their children about sex.
BeatsMe
On February 25, 2010 at 10:56 am
I think that it’s the children’s impulse that gets them pregnant. Their innocence is just a secondary factor. There are children who are naturally more daring than others.
Judy Kaelin
On February 25, 2010 at 7:45 pm
The parents should begin the teaching and the schools can teach the fundamentals of how the body works, however, the teacher should stay with the curriculum and not give their personal opinions on the subject. I have met teachers with low morals and would not want them teaching my child on sex education.
subhashlaxmin
On February 26, 2010 at 12:09 am
nice and interesting one
Shirley Shuler
On February 26, 2010 at 2:04 am
Excellent article, Ruby and very thought provoking to say the least.
wonder
On February 26, 2010 at 2:59 am
It is schools , only schools they learn from.
Mark Gordon Brown
On February 26, 2010 at 1:40 pm
I completely agree with your statement that it needs to be taught in the home and at school. I hear it is different now, but when I had health in JR High, the boyswere ushered out when it was time to talk about female issues, IE monthly cycles and such and we were not taught about how that affects girls, although there are more serious sexual issues, had they taught us a bit about it we could have been more understanding in later life, if we knew more about it. At home it was a mystery as well, all we knew back in the 70s was that a “hot water bottle” hung off the shower rod in the bathroom. More seriously how many children of my generation did not understand when an adult was behaving inappropriatly towards them. Such a serious issue on so many different levels. Good Job!
qasimdharamsy
On February 26, 2010 at 1:43 pm
Interesting post…Nice one….
Pigazzo
On February 26, 2010 at 1:56 pm
great share
metro7
On February 28, 2010 at 1:25 pm
I wud go with hepsy it is v difficult to teach this in india more so as it is v conservative society out here v good article thought provoking n
thxs for the share
alok saxena
On February 28, 2010 at 5:38 pm
nice point to discuss
http://www.kotacity.webs.com
LoveDoctor
On February 28, 2010 at 7:08 pm
I agree with Frances Lawrence and with B. Nelson. Interesting what Ken said. This is an excellent article by the way and you do make some very good points. I also believe that parents are not disciplining their kids properly. Discipline starts from the moment a child opens his eyes. What alot of parents are interested in is having a good relationship with their kids and allowing them to get away with murder. No child of mine is allowed to have a boyfriend at 12 or 13. Why are parents allowing this? and then they wonder why their kids got pregnant.
EmilyLambert
On February 28, 2010 at 8:26 pm
Parents play a huge part when it comes to teaching their children about sex. Parents should not only teach the risks but the benefits as well. Telling a child that sex is wrong and to stay away from it only makes it that much more appealing to them. Teens rebel. We were all teens once so it shouldn’t be news to us. I feel that the key to helping children make intelligent decisions about things like this are teaching them self-confidence and respect while showing them honesty and trust. If you tell your kids, “Sex is bad and your penis is going to fall off when you do it!” and then they find out that it’s not true, they’ll see that you view sex as taboo and will only make them more likely to see what the fuss is all about. That’s just me.
sam9953
On March 1, 2010 at 12:53 am
A splendid article and it has something very meaningful in it.
Uma Shankari
On March 1, 2010 at 1:46 am
You have emphasized an important point.
pattiann
On March 1, 2010 at 7:17 pm
My daughter went to Catholic school and got how to do it in 10th grade. Then in senior Religion they learned how to take care of babies with flour sacks.
Joe Dorish
On March 1, 2010 at 9:04 pm
Agree with you Ruby girls should be taught all about how their bodies work and what they can expect to happen before the fact.
ecrivan wordwizard
On March 1, 2010 at 9:05 pm
re: high teen pregnancy rate:
Every now and then children need to be informed before they become teens, because there is always going to be a new batch of kids that don’t know what precautions are nor why they should be prudent especially when they’re under age and irresponsible.
Yusuf2554
On March 2, 2010 at 1:58 am
Nice article. I agree that sex education should taught at school
but here they already do.
V rank
On March 2, 2010 at 3:11 am
I am somehow worried that one day will come when everyone will consider sex as casual as talking. This has to be seriously considered in school.
Shafiq, Kabul
On March 2, 2010 at 4:40 am
Gud article but its just wasting of time talking abt it here, share it with someschool boards or somewhere in public…
saifkhan0202
On March 2, 2010 at 7:38 am
GuD 1
MartineP
On March 2, 2010 at 9:00 am
It is true that more and more parents are just using school to raise their kids and not just for purpose of education. I believe parents are indeed more responsible of the lack of elementary education at school.
rwlovett
On March 3, 2010 at 12:10 pm
How to make yourself smarter!
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b-stakes
On June 1, 2010 at 3:58 pm
this brings good hope for the worlds future