What?!? Huh?!? Yes, really, let's talk about it! S-E-X. It's one of those issues that is simply always "out there" and the variety of thoughts, responses, and curriculum in circulation are many and varied.
In general, there are two major schools of thought: abstinence-only education and sex-education. However, those "schools" can be broken-down into a myriad of opinions, rationales, and ideologies that are attached to either school of information. As an educator, I strongly feel the bottom line about sex education and other "hot button issues" is this: It is the responsibility of an educator to provide appropriate, accurate instruction in the best way they see fit.
As a teacher who is certified to teach grades K-12, I fully recognize that this means a variety of different approaches depending on the grade-level of student. However, I am a strong believer that honest, engaging, emotionally and socially appropriate conversation about sex is imperative to developmental, individual, and social growth and understanding. In my opinion, the consideration of how to provide education about human sexual anatomy, sexual reproduction, sexual intercourse, reproductive health, emotional relations, reproductive rights and responsibilities, contraception and other human sexual behavior are all issues to be considered when deciding how, what and why to teach when teaching about sex.
Finally, I want to say that this is a HUGE, often heated issue and one that I fully recognize people have a strong emotional response to. I purposely wrote this article in a way that simply “opens the door” to dialogue and discussion, rather than taking sides. I intentionally did not make this article all-encompassing, with a multitude of facts and figures, rather, I wanted to begin the larger discussion of what we teach our students about sex and why. I welcome any and all comments, I just ask that they are respectful of individual experience and/or opinion and they allow for further discussion, rather than put a specific idea, person and/or organization in the “spotlight” and/or “hot seat”.
The following websites are just a few resources about sex education.
AVERT (An International AIDS charity)
http://www.avert.org/sexedu.htm
Advocates for Youth
http://www.advocatesforyouth.org/publications/stateevaluations/index.htm
Doin' It Right
http://www.doinitright.org/
Guttmacher Institute
http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/fb_sexEd2006.html
National Abstinence Education Association
http://www.abstinenceassociation.org/
Planned Parenthood
http://www.plannedparenthood.org/resources/resources-educators-86.htm
SexEd Library
http://www.sexedlibrary.org/
Teen Source
http://teensource.org/pages/
Wow. You hit the nail right on the head as far as the two trains of thought. I remember when I was in sixth grade and my teacher taught us sex education. She did a wonderful job of presenting both options. I hate to say it but I'd be quite nervous to teach it. I remember the questions that we used to ask her and she'd turn red.
ReplyDeleteThe articles have some interesting information. I personally believe that students should be taught to abstain until...... However, due to everyone having the ability to make conscious choices, we should educate them how to protect themselves if they do wish to engage in sexual activities.