If/when it is taught in school; at what age should educating children about sex begin?

Question

I believe around 3rd grade would be good as most 3rd graders are around 8 years old and are beginning to be more cognizant of the opposite sex and sex acts.
If you wait until what some call middle school; which is generally when the child is going into teenhood; many of them these days are already sexually active and it may be too late for a sex-ed class.
When parents register a child for pre-K or Kindergarten, the parent(s) should be given a syllabus of what the child will be taught in that schools sex education class(es) so that the parent can better PRE-TEACH the child at home in accord with the parents beliefs.
I believe sex education should be mandatory and it should cover EVERYTHING sexual that THIS society considers to be legal; INCLUDING the fact that there are others that pratice, what some like to call, alternative lifesyles; i.e. homosexuality and lesbianism.
I believe that ALL BEHAVIOR IS LEARNED.
Physiologically, sexual urges are natural but the act of sex can be perverted and abused if/when one is left to his or her own self teaching; the misguided teaching of others or their own machinations and not taught our cultural and societies accepted *what and how to's* to manage the urges, temptations, misguidance and peer pressure that will come with puberty.
It shoud be psychological development as well as age appropriate
beginning with 3rd grade until graduation from high school.
There should be psychological testing throughout the school year and years to monitor the childs psychological development as well.
That might prevent some from becoming rapist, robbers, murderers, drug abusers and engaging in other miscreant behavior.
I also believe that there should be some fundamental parenting classes taught beginning with freshman year in high school until graduation.
Let us all take an honest look at your child(ren) and see if he or she or they are exhibiting behavior not conducive to your and societal values.

Answer 1

I think it should not be taught until puberty BUT what people are not realizing is that puberty is not starting in the way it did when we were kids aged 13 and up but much younger. It is becoming more and more common for puberty to start in girls as young as 9.
We have got to get away from the chronological age hang up we have and be practical. We can no longer bury our heads in the sand. We are seeing younger and younger mothers because they had no sex education. We keep hearing that it should be left to the parents but they have the same age hang ups, " oh my baby is too young for that". We cannot act like an ostrich and don't contemplate it.
I was blessed my late mother taught me early so I was able to know fact from myth and was prepared for body changes, hormonal swings, sexual urges etc. Hell, I was still the baby until the day she died. My aunt still calls me the baby when she is with my dad ( I'm 39). The ingrained mentality of a parent to just think of age, not maturity, will hamper our kids.

You have parents out there that don't even want to talk to their kids about not smoking much less about sex.
We can't wait til high school, for some that will be way too late.
Morals teaching is best left to the parent but morals teaching should start from an early age.
I teach my son right from wrong and he is almost 4. He won't know about sex education until later but I have to start watching for body changes, not quite yet of course but once that happens, got to sit down with him .
Kids tell kids all the stupid things like, " you can't get pregnant doing it the first time" yadda yadda yadda. Now there is a golden oldie. I heard that one when I was growing up, my friends' kids have heard it.

Answer 2

You are Correct Sex Education is a very important issue and should be done At home and at school no later than age 10. Children are maturing faster than in earlier days and they need to be educated. When my Kids were growing up I always talked to them about Sex, because I wanted them to know the Truth and not just speculations about it, that they had heard from classmates. There are still alot of parents that are uncomfortable discussing Sex Topics with their children and so the Kids are gonna learn on their own by experimenting. I spoke with My neice last week who is in the 6th grade and she told me some of her classmates are already having sex. Parents we need to take the Blinders off and start educating these Children as soon as possible, because they Will search for the truth and the consequences are not always very pleasant.

Answer 3

It should be taught early, honestly and openly.
My siblings and I, and my kids all grew up in farming families. Animals mated regularly and naturally. No one ever had trouble with a "Heavy" subject because it was as normal as eating and shearing. None of us ever had unintended pregnancies, all have healthy, normal relationships and we were all able to understand when behavior was inappropriate or sexual so we were not molested, although several of us were certainly in positions to be.
It is called information. You can't go wrong by teaching, or allowing teaching of anything. It doesn't cause behavior. It offers the opportunity to our children to learn how to think and to potentially to protect themselves.
So while I agree that this should be mandatory, I don't believe that it should be up to the government/schools. Mostly because they can't do anything without bending to the will of the noisiest and most narrow segments of society, and I firmly believe that diversity is the the most important element of society. And of life in general. Teach parents that kids understand and can deal with life quite easily.

Answer 4

Pyschologically testing everyone on a regular basis for most of their school years for the purpose of rooting out potential sexual predators is expensive, impractical, and irritatingly invasive to the normal kids. Mandatory parenting classes in high school is also a bad idea; alot of us have enough sense to not get ourselves knocked up during highschool because we are using every last one of our alloted time slots to pick classes that would actually be useful for getting into good colleges. Sex education at third grade would be too much to handle for conservative parents, although if it didn't go into explicit detail, I think the kids could handle that they are different and how their bodies work. Actually teaching them what to do with their bodies should come up a little later, when the majority are just beginning to face questions of rationality, personal morals, and religious convictions. You aIso forget that not everyone conforms to the ideals and values of this society as a whole-some people are really conservative and believe sex should wait until marriage with someone of the opposite sex, others believe in a free love approach to anyone who loves them back. Writing out a curriculum that would dictate one set of values and teachings to a group of kids with incredibly diverse views on sex and sexuality is asking for trouble. I like the idea of at least explaining the concept of homosexuality to them-maybe education would diffuse some of the hostility towards the gay community.

Answer 5

I don't think it should be taught until a child reaches puberty and can handle such a heavy subject. Also feel it should be a choice. I didn't take sex ed in school but I knew right from wrong. I think it should be taught at home (that's what I did) I want my child to learn from me and my values - not someone I don't know