What is being taught in school and at home these days?

Question

Okay, I admit that at 42 I'm probably older than most of you on here. But I am appalled by the questions and answers as they pertain to sexual reproduction. Don't the schools or your parents teach sex education any more? No wonder so many kids get pregnant these days. Where have we failed to educate our youth?

Answer 1

I know many kids who get pregnant and they have unprotected sex because their parents are too scared to talk about that touchy subject with their child.

Most schools teach about the science of sexual intercourse. How its done, how STDs and HIV are transmitted, and they teach about the cycles of pregnancy.

It is the parents' "job" to teach their young ones about teenage pregnancy and about the emotional effects of sex. If your kids do not know about what sex is, then how will they know if what they are doing is right or wrong? Schools will not teach our kids about the emotions that come with sex.

"What happens if my partner leaves me after sex and after I get pregnant?"

"What happens if I get pregnant, what are my options? What if my parents will kill me?"

"Does sex hurt? What are the reprecussions of having unprotected sex?"

"If my partner wants to have sex, does that mean I should just do it?"

These are questions that only a parent can answer. Schools do not have the authority or the "legal rights" to answer them since they can only teach students the science of it.

Answer 2

I'm 41, soon to be 42, and most of the sexual questions on here are asked by young people bent on providing shock value. If you keep up with the headlines you'll find that the teen pregnancy rate has gone DOWN dramatically. Kids are getting more detailed and comprehensive sex education than they did when we were in school, and they're having no more or no less sex than kids in school did in the 1970's and 1980's. We just didn't have the resource of the internet to air all of the sexual thoughts; doesn't mean they weren't there.

The sex education my daughter and her peers received in her freshman year revolved around a combination of teaching abstinence and instructions on avoidance of disease and effective birth control. We parents had to sign a release to allow our daughter to attend the class.

We started talking to our daughter about sex before she reached middle school, and still address the issue periodically now that she's going into her senior year in high school. I believe there are many responsible parents out there who just don't happen to be aware of what their kids are talking about online; at some point in time parents can only hope that their teachings didn't fall on deaf ears and allow their kids to grow up the way they will.