sex education be a mandatory class in high schools

kaci_beeler · Post by **kaci_beeler** » February 7th, 2009, 9:32 am

This sounds like a topic for a paper for a class.

Matt · Post by **Matt** » February 7th, 2009, 10:19 am

In Florida, it was mandatory as part of a health class. Thanks to the lovely voters of florida not realizing the consequences of the people and things they vote for, the state no longer mandates teaching health education AT ALL. Combined with a constitutional amendment capping class sizes and huge budget cuts to education, finding a quality health class in a high school is getting next to impossible.

This saddens me, as a health class (you know, the one where they teach you what eating at McDonald's every day will do to you or how to prevent the transmission of HIV) is the only class from high school that everyone can actually use in their lives.

Post by **bradisntclever** » February 7th, 2009, 12:53 pm

kaci_beeler wrote:This sounds like a topic for a paper for a class.

Agreed.

GuiceGirl · Post by **GuiceGirl** » March 25th, 2009, 12:19 am

Is that true? Never heard of that.

mpbrockman · Post by **mpbrockman** » March 25th, 2009, 7:18 am

This should be taught in schools in a matter-of-fact way in biology (or health if you prefer) classes.

I would also introduce it fairly young.

Anecdote time: When I was 5 or 6 I saw my friend's rabbits mating. I went home and asked my folks what that was all about. They gave me some reading material on sexual reproduction and my response was a pretty low key "Oh, that's what that's all about - OK, then". No big deal.

Until I broached the subject with another friend whose parents came over and read my mother the riot act.

The biological aspects are easily understandable and shouldn't normally be frightening or damaging to a child. The more delicate part is dealing with the emotional aspects, and honestly I'm not comfortable with Miss Religiofrigified Spinster the 5th grade teacher having that conversation with my daughter. I'll handle that bit - thank you.

"Sex education" as a class unto itself seems to me like having a separate class in "Digestion" or "Respiratory education". Silly to single it out of a fully rounded biology curriculum.

ratliff · Post by **ratliff** » March 25th, 2009, 7:53 am

Matt wrote:This saddens me, as a health class (you know, the one where they teach you what eating at McDonald's every day will do to you or how to prevent the transmission of HIV) is the only class from high school that everyone can actually use in their lives.

I didn't get a health class. The high school class I wound up using the most was typing.

Oh God, how different would my life have been if I'd taken sex education instead of typing?

Brian Boyko · Post by **Brian Boyko** » March 25th, 2009, 9:14 am

Sex Education: Like Chemistry, British History, or Calculus, just proof that you never get to use the things you learned in high school in the real world.

apiaryist · Post by **apiaryist** » March 25th, 2009, 9:19 am

Brian Boyko wrote:Sex Education: Like Chemistry, British History, or Calculus, just proof that you never get to use the things you learned in high school in the real world.

Boyko!

But seriously: There are a lot of people out there that are clueless about their health. Those people are raising children. Those children are in proximity to my nieces. Those children need to know about sexual health, birth control, and an Uncle in a rocking chair, cradling his double-barrel.

ratliff · Post by **ratliff** » March 25th, 2009, 9:27 am

apiaryist wrote:But seriously: There are a lot of people out there that are clueless about their health.

Hence the existence of an entire television show called I Didn't Know I Was Pregnant.

(Thanks to Lisa Jackson for alerting me to this fact in graphic detail.)

acrouch · Post by **acrouch** » March 25th, 2009, 12:54 pm

Spambot!