Now, after reading this, or at least getting the basic concept, what do you think about our Sex-Ed programs today?
Should they be changed?
Removed?
Why?

The ones in my school are dumb. Abstinence-based ones don't teach you anything and they have horrible exaggerations. And considering drugs are taught with Sex-Ed, both are blown out of proportion. We need a fair educative stance in schools on that issue, not a protective veil.

I read a similar article in the Providence Journal. This year we didn't have health class about that stuff and they need to be better. They should go more in depth.

I think the current sex ed curriculums, that focus on abstinence are embarrassingly stupid and poorly thought out.

What the classes are basically implying, even if it is not said directly, is simply not to have sex. Is it really a shocker that telling kids not to do something, doesn't prevent them from doing it? Seriously, no matter how hard you try to convince people to wait until they're older, or how much you exaggerate the dangers, try to scare people with statistics and numbers and STD rates and teen pregnancies and all that, teens will continue to have sex.

Instead of accepting this and basing the course around real, usable information about safe sex and how to protect yourself, abstinence is still continuously rammed down people's throats and proclaimed to be "the only 100% safe sex". Which is true, but only in the same sense that never playing sports equals "100% safety from sports injuries", or that never going outside is the "100% safe sunscreen".

What pisses me off even more is that you just know that if abstinence was removed from the curriculum and it was taught properly, it would be met with angry response from at least some overly conservative, uptight parents who think that their kids are being encouraged to have sex, when they are merely being informed properly instead of having it implied that sex is bad and to avoid it.

"Disease rates were significantly higher among black girls-"
Reeeaaaaally?

Well, frankly, I like abstinence only programs that teach that you shouldn't have sex until you are married.

The humongous problem is that everyone assumes that:
"Been through abstinence-only Sex Ed" = "Will obey completely"
Then they are shocked when it doesn't happen and people start going apeshit about "Oh, my gawd! It isn't working!"
And they tend to start attacking that particular program.

See: Silver Ring Thing

(Plus, I always love the "Blame the Government" spin a lot of people put on it.)

Frankly, yeah, kids should be educated in personal protection, but should also be taught not to have sex until they are legally married.

It isn't one or the other; it's a combination of the two that will tie together the best of both sides and have the most effect.
The problem is that people always want to have a "Them vs us" mentality, which doesn't help at all.

Quote from Doomdooer

Well, frankly, I like abstinence only programs that teach that you shouldn't have sex until you are married.

The humongous problem is that everyone assumes that:
"Been through abstinence-only Sex Ed" = "Will obey completely"
Then they are shocked when it doesn't happen and people start going apeshit about "Oh, my gawd! It isn't working!"
And they tend to start attacking that particular program.

See: Silver Ring Thing

(Plus, I always love the "Blame the Government" spin a lot of people put on it.)

Frankly, yeah, kids should be educated in personal protection, but should also be taught not to have sex until they are legally married.

It isn't one or the other; it's a combination of the two that will tie together the best of both sides and have the most effect.
The problem is that people always want to have a "Them vs us" mentality, which doesn't help at all.

You can't teach marriage as a standard of morality in schools. That would be even worse than the current abstinence programs. I mean, I understand why you would like them, since they support your personal beliefs about marriage, but you have to accept that your standards of morality are by no means

What I believe is right isn't a defining standard either, nobody has "perfect" morals because right and wrong are all a matter of personal belief and perception. All I'm saying is that schools need to ditch any implied morality whatsoever and teach kids FACTS, plain facts with no spin on them whatsoever. Same deal goes for, as someone mentioned, the way schools teach about drugs and alcohol. Ditch the preaching about how bad drugs are, even if their reasons for opposing drug use may be valid, and just give kids the plain, no bullshit, factual information.

I mean, we may never agree regarding our opinions on pre-marital sex, but you can't really believe that kids need to be specifically "taught not to have sex until they are legally married". You act as if kids would be any more likely to be influenced by that suggestion as they are by that of abstinence.

I certainly wouldn't want a program that encourages kids to not marry, and encourages pre-marital sex either, so don't act as if I'm being biased as well. Like I said, I think everything taught in school should be bullshit-free factual information, no strings attached.

Then they are shocked when it doesn't happen and people start going apeshit about "Oh, my gawd! It isn't working!"
And they tend to start attacking that particular program.

As opposed to attacking what? Why wouldn't it make sense to attack a system of education that clearly isn't working? Where do you figure blame should be placed instead?

Sex ed is a futile way to replace parental and student responsibility with government intervention.

Laughable, in my humble opinion.

Wait. So, do they lose the common sense to take a condom and use it due to the abstinence based programs? I think it's their fault, the programs aren't stopping them from thinking before they act.

I think they should change some of the situations that they potray in the sex-ed classes. In almost every situation, it's always this "peer pressure" bullcrap. Oh Johnny thinks you should get knocked up, or Yeah you should really try, or come on please!! That's not reality, because all teens aren't like that. They should come up with some real problems. Some adults, not all of them, but some of them think if they see one teen pressuring someone then all of them do it. I hate it when people stereotype things they don't understand.

at my school, they tell us why we shouldnt have sex and about having safe sex though they obviously want us to be abstinent. condoms really dont help that much. if they arent just flat out lying to us, the only STD that condoms help prevent is HIV. and condoms can break and shit.

Quote from notmaggot

condoms really dont help that much. if they arent just flat out lying to us, the only STD that condoms help prevent is HIV. and condoms can break and shit.

yeah they basically have come under fire for flat out lying about those types of things. condoms are more than 99% effective against STDs. some, like herpes and genital warts, are transferred by contact with the skin and not necessarily through semen, so condoms won't help much with that, but it's extremely moronic to say that "condoms really dont help that much" and you should probably learn a bit more about this before you try to **** a girl without one.

yeah condoms can break, but that isn't an argument against their effectiveness... they only break if you're doing something wrong or overexerting them, so taking that into account when you talk about how effective they are at preventing disease is like saying a toaster oven isn't that effective at making bread into toast because it might short-circuit and set fire to your house if you **** around with it.

EDIT: also i wrote a satirical essay about this for school and it got an A, so maybe i'll post it here if the mods and readers don't mind and if i feel like it.

I was going to post my opinion, but it looks like The Pirate already did it for me.

My sex ed is nothing like this. They talked about condoms and even mentioned masturbation. Sure they pushed abstinence, but condoms was also up there in what they talked about, and they told us how effective condoms are (99.9%) when used properly.

I enjoyed the portion of sex ed in my Heathy Paths class.

yeah, the teacher of course suggested abstinence as the best way of not getting a STD or getting pregnant, but she also said all the other birth control methods and shit.

I don't believe in abstinence, and I think it's stupid to wait until you're married to **** someone.

And teen girls who get STDs were either raped, or just stupid ****ing sluts that don't have the dude ****ing them with their puss-ey, molding, boil covered dick have them put a ****ing trojan on.