myurbandream (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
myurbandream) wrote2011-03-28 05:53 pm
myurbandream) wrote2011-03-28 05:53 pm
Entry tags:
Writer's Block: School days
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Ooh, that's a tough question. I feel really strongly both yes and no. (For reference, I am a believer in abstinence and always have been, but also a believer in informed consent and people being able to make their own decisions for themselves.)
The part of me that feels "yes" remembers how awkward it was to have "The Talk" with my parents. It's a very personal subject and I realise, in retrospect, that my parents were pretty biased about what they told me. (I say 'parents'; really it was just my mom.) In a similar vein, I would guess that some parents either don't care about educating their children, or they do a poor job of it for whatever reason, and then their children might make uninformed judgments and decisions about sex. I remember one girl I knew in high school who had already had one baby, and after taking the school's sex ed program she said she would be living a completely different life if she had known even half of that information before. I think schools should definitely provide sex education because: a) parents may for whatever reason give an incomplete or biased picture, b) the awkwardness of a parental "Talk" is mostly avoided, and c) school-sponsored sex education has the weight of an institution behind it, which to impressionable children might be more socially driving.
On the flip side, school-mandated sex education has a lot of deficiencies, so a part of me really wants to say "no" to it as well. One of my main reasons is that I really don't think it's the place of the school to be the primary material resource on something so important to a person's future life choices. Parents should be taking an active role in the lives of their kids, not depending on the school to take care of and nurture them. Another thing: it's just as possible to have bias in a school program, except that's worse because then it's affecting every kid in the class, not just one or two. Another plague of the school-run program is giving too much or too little information, regardless of what the kids involved are ready for. I personally feel that my school-run sex ed program came about six years too late - I was a precocious kid - but my younger sister's program was a bit earlier and a LOT more graphic. Basically, the reasons here are the opposite of the reasons I gave above. Schools shouldn't be the sole provider of sex education because: a) a school program can't personalize the information it gives to each student's level, b) the school program is often impersonal and scary, and c)institutions shouldn't be responsible for the social well-being of someone's children.
My opinion: there should be both.
Ooh, that's a tough question. I feel really strongly both yes and no. (For reference, I am a believer in abstinence and always have been, but also a believer in informed consent and people being able to make their own decisions for themselves.)
The part of me that feels "yes" remembers how awkward it was to have "The Talk" with my parents. It's a very personal subject and I realise, in retrospect, that my parents were pretty biased about what they told me. (I say 'parents'; really it was just my mom.) In a similar vein, I would guess that some parents either don't care about educating their children, or they do a poor job of it for whatever reason, and then their children might make uninformed judgments and decisions about sex. I remember one girl I knew in high school who had already had one baby, and after taking the school's sex ed program she said she would be living a completely different life if she had known even half of that information before. I think schools should definitely provide sex education because: a) parents may for whatever reason give an incomplete or biased picture, b) the awkwardness of a parental "Talk" is mostly avoided, and c) school-sponsored sex education has the weight of an institution behind it, which to impressionable children might be more socially driving.
On the flip side, school-mandated sex education has a lot of deficiencies, so a part of me really wants to say "no" to it as well. One of my main reasons is that I really don't think it's the place of the school to be the primary material resource on something so important to a person's future life choices. Parents should be taking an active role in the lives of their kids, not depending on the school to take care of and nurture them. Another thing: it's just as possible to have bias in a school program, except that's worse because then it's affecting every kid in the class, not just one or two. Another plague of the school-run program is giving too much or too little information, regardless of what the kids involved are ready for. I personally feel that my school-run sex ed program came about six years too late - I was a precocious kid - but my younger sister's program was a bit earlier and a LOT more graphic. Basically, the reasons here are the opposite of the reasons I gave above. Schools shouldn't be the sole provider of sex education because: a) a school program can't personalize the information it gives to each student's level, b) the school program is often impersonal and scary, and c)institutions shouldn't be responsible for the social well-being of someone's children.
My opinion: there should be both.
no subject
Yes, I do believe public school curriculum should include sex education, but I also think the way that we as a society veiw sex ed needs to change, too.
In my ideal world, the normal thing would be to start sex education early. I don't mean teaching 7 year olds about condoms, but I think a huge amount of the awkwardness you describe (which has led to a truly sad amount of failed communication, which in turn has caused so many negative consequences its sickening) is mostly due to the fact that we teach our kids that sex is shameful and something to be embarassed about. Maybe not in so many words, but the hushed tones, the terse instructions, the red-faced-private-conversation approach all point to that attitude. I think a far healthier approach would be to start teaching children the basics of anatomy and body ownership (i.e., when it is appropriate and with whom it is appropriate to discuss and/or display certain body parts) early.
For one thing, its a safety issue. A child who has been taught anatomic vocabulary and body awareness is more likely to report sexual abuse sooner, because they can clearly recognize it as abuse. For another, laying a groundwork of sex ed in kindergarten(ish) and building slowly up to condoms, STDs, safe sex practices and the benefits of abstinence means kids will be more comfortable discussing those very things when it becomes important that they do so. I had to take one of my best friends to planned parenthood and hold her hand through an abortion because she was too embarassed to discuss condoms with her boyfriend. She was a 20 year old college student. There is something very, very wrong with that.
I think the physical mechanics of how intercourse works, the facts on STDs, pregnancy, protection and abstinence need to be taught BEFORE puberty. I totally think we need to keep teaching kids that abstinence is the safest way, because it is, but I also think it's moronic to the point of evil to pretend that horny teenagers aren't going to get into each others' pants.
All that having been said....I think its terribly sad if the first body and sex education a child gets is at school. I feel like all the above should just be the way our society handles sex education, and that school curriculum should merely mirror the information we give our children in the home. Clearly, the place for religious views, sexual values and the like is in the home. Nobody but me has the right to teach my child sexual morals and values, and I would never try to teach someone else's child mine, but there is a huge wealth of information that all human beings need to know, whether they've taken vows of chastity or work as prostitutes.
Okay, rant over, back to your regularly scheduled programming.
(also, it was rather difficult at a few points to not type the phrase "seriously, don't you *remember* our freshman year of college?!" : P)
no subject
Note to everyone - forget my post up there, just read this instead, it says everything I was trying to say but hadn't clearly thought about how to put into words.
And, yeah, I do remember our freshman year of college. *hugs you* Thank you from the bottom of my heart for all the theory lessons you gave me. :D
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