Fifth Graders Quizzed on Proper Condom Use

[CMatt25]

Yes. And of course, they should know what a gun is and how to use it… (???)

As if parents, my guess maybe some Catholics included, no not a guess I know of some, haven’t gone out and bought their kids toy guns, bb guns, other guns and showng them what a gun is and how to use it.

 

[CMatt25]

As a product of the ‘olden days,’ I can only offer my personal experience. In my high school, we had no sex education whatever. In my high school, there were no teen pregnancies. None. Zero.

True you can only offer your personal experience.

 

[Rence]

Does your fifth grader know how to use a condom? They may soon learn if they go to school in Washington, D.C.

The District of Columbia Office of the State Superintendent on Education is pushing out standardized tests for sex education. The District takes its authority to administer sex education tests to fifth, eighth, and tenth graders from the Healthy Schools Act of 2010.

Here’s how it works: Children as young as 10 will be asked 50 questions. One of the questions reads: “TJ wants to remain abstinent, but also wants to know how to properly use a condom in case he is ever in a situation where he might become sexually active. Give TWO reasons why using a condom properly is important and describe THREE people or places that could give TJ accurate information about condom use.”

“The guideline questions necessitate age-inappropriate instruction for 10 and 11-year-olds.
​

While there very well might be age-inappropriate content in the 50 questions, I don’t think the above questions are inappropriate at all if the testers are able to get one pregnant or able to get pregnant. At ten, I was able to get pregnant. At ten, my parents explained the birds and the bees, and what the Church teaches. At ten, my fellow students were having visits from the boys at home while their parents were working. At 12, our first student got pregnant.

Though, it should be the parents’ job to teach their children Catholic moral values, I can undertand why the State is taking a more proactive role. I mean, they are the ones doling out WIC, food stamps, free prenatal care, free cost of delivery, free insurance for the baby, until 18 years of age, free school lunch when the child(ren) start going to school, etc. If parents were doing their job, and they’re quite simply not doing their jobs, the State wouldn’t have to try and prevent kids from getting pregnant and then footing the bill.

Previously, comprehensive sex education advocates would have the minimal—but insufficient—courtesy of allowing parents to opt their children out of their classes,” says Emmett McGroarty, executive director of the Preserve Innocence Initiative. “Now, parents are being informed that a non-mandatory class is being replaced by a mandated test.”

charismanews.com/culture/32033-fifth-graders-quizzed-on-proper-condom-use

What were the questions pertaining to condom usage exactly?​

 

[JimG]

True you can only offer your personal experience.

Yes. The schools then were not intent on teaching ten year olds how to have sex, and so they didn’t. Neither did the high school kids. Now, of course, we expect them to have sex, and so they do.

 

[jediliz]

As if there were no out of wedlock pregancies back in the olden days.

Not of TEN YEAR OLDS.

 

[TheTrueCentrist]

Not of TEN YEAR OLDS.

Actually, the highest rates of teen pregnancy in the US occurred in the 1940s through the 1960s.

faqs.org/childhood/So-Th/Teen-Pregnancy.html

The 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s included the twentieth century’s highest teen birth rates (respectively 79.5, 91.0, and 69.7 per thousand). By 1960, nearly one-third of American females had their first child before reaching age twenty.

The rate of teen pregnancy outside of wedlock increased up to the 90s, and it has been on the decline since:
hhs.gov/asl/testify/t990629b.html

 

[TheTrueCentrist]

Why is it that public schools seem to be insistent on pushing immorality on children? It is bad enough that schools teach “comprehensive sex education” in which kids are basically taught that it is okay to fornicate and everything so long as you do it in a “safe” way. Never mind the fact that it is immoral and sinful to fornicate! It is even worse that some schools actually promote the homosexual agenda. The above are definitely good enough reasons why if I ever get married and have children that may child won’t step foot in a public school.

So you’re ok with schools teaching that things are sinful? That to me seems like a religious position which does not belong in the classroom. What if there were a public school that taught kids morality according to sharia law?

 

[TheTrueCentrist]

Again, this is an outlier situation. It should not dictate the norm. The majority of nine year old girls aren’t anywhere near puberty, yet.

For doctors to be concerned about precocious puberty a girl would have to have menarche before age 8. In other words, a 9 year old girl hitting puberty is not unusual enough to warrant scrutiny from doctors. Overweight girls have an 80% chance of reaching menarche before age 12.

Condoms don’t really “protect” anybody from anything. They have a very high failure rate among teens, which means that if we tell kids, “We don’t want you to have sex, but if you do, wear a condom for protection,” the message the kids get is, “If I wear a condom, it’s okay for me to have sex,” and the next thing you know, his condom breaks, or falls off (because I’m pretty sure they don’t make child-sized condoms), he gets his 12 year old “girl friend” pregnant, and voila, another teen pregnancy statistic - and/or another STD, and/or another victim of AIDS.

There are a lot of parenting failures between sex ed class and teen pregnancy, and there is no evidence that education encourages kids to have sex. Schools are reaching out to the kids without good parents so that these children will at least have a chance at avoiding pregnancy and/or disease. If you look at what programs are effective at achieving this goal, the answer is fairly clear:

sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1054139X07004260

Adolescents who received comprehensive sex education were significantly less likely to report teen pregnancy (ORadj = .4, 95% CI = .22– .69, p = .001) than those who received no formal sex education, whereas there was no significant effect of abstinence-only education (ORadj = .7, 95% CI = .38–1.45, p = .38). Abstinence-only education did not reduce the likelihood of engaging in vaginal intercourse (ORadj = .8, 95% CI = .51–1.31, p = .40), but comprehensive sex education was marginally associated with a lower likelihood of reporting having engaged in vaginal intercourse (ORadj = .7, 95% CI = .49–1.02, p = .06). Neither abstinence-only nor comprehensive sex education significantly reduced the likelihood of reported STD diagnoses (ORadj = 1.7, 95% CI = .57–34.76, p = .36 and ORadj = 1.8, 95% CI = .67–5.00, p = .24 respectively).

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/pam.20324/abstract

This paper examines the impacts of four abstinence-only education programs on adolescent sexual activity and risks of pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). Based on an experimental design, the impact analysis uses survey data collected in 2005 and early 2006 from more than 2,000 teens who had been randomly assigned to either a program group that was eligible to participate in one of the four programs or a control group that was not. The findings show no significant impact on teen sexual activity, no differences in rates of unprotected sex, and some impacts on knowledge of STDs and perceived effectiveness of condoms and birth control pills.© 2008 by the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management.

 

[TheTrueCentrist]

Yes. And of course, they should know what a gun is and how to use it, and they should also know what bombs are and how to use these bombs to blow up buildings and such. After all, they see this all the time on TV and this is something that parents should be dealing with since they are allowing their children to watch TV. (???!!!???)

Some schools do have/want hunting safety classes, although they are not mandatory:
newsandsentinel.com/page/content.detail/id/501705.html?nav=5061

Bombs are illegal, they are similar to the previous poster’s comments about drugs,

 

[TheTrueCentrist]

Let me offer you this perspective, perhaps you won’t agree with me but it may better explain my way of thinking. I beleive that there can be actual damage done to a child by giving them certain information before they are emotionally and psychologically ready. I beleive some topics (not all) need to be explained to children gradually over time. Take for example the topic of sexuality. Certainly over time my children will need to know not only what sex entails, but they will also learn many thing associated with it such as orgasm, masturbation, different sexual positions, prostitution, exotic dancing, pornography and other matters.

That is a valid concern, but do you have any evidence that sex ed does cause damage? Perhaps to begin with, you should try to define exactly what damage you think it might cause.

I think sex ed classes do tune their message to the age groups; I do not think they are (or should be) teaching 5th graders all the graphic details of sex, STDs and pregnancy anymore than I think they are (or should be) teaching 5th graders all the graphic details of calculus. By 5th grade, however, I think kids should at least be aware that sex, STDs, pregnancy and calculus exist (even if the kids are not sure what exactly they are.)

 

[jmcrae]

That is a valid concern, but do you have any evidence that sex ed does cause damage? Perhaps to begin with, you should try to define exactly what damage you think it might cause.

Logically, it seems as if it should cause exactly the same damage that doing these same things outside of school would cause - and it’s illegal outside of school because it causes mental trauma, so …

It just makes sense that the same action should have the same result, whether it’s taking place in the school, or not.

Showing kids pictures and movies of people having sex is illegal outside of school, so it should also be illegal in school - but it’s not. It’s considered “sex education” when it’s in school, and it’s considered a felony when it’s outside of school.

 

[jmcrae]

So you’re ok with schools teaching that things are sinful? That to me seems like a religious position which does not belong in the classroom. What if there were a public school that taught kids morality according to sharia law?

In Islamic countries, they do teach Sharia law in the public schools.

Here in the Christian countries, though, we seem to bend over backwards trying to deny our culture and heritage, to the point where children aren’t taught anything at all about the difference between right and wrong.

 

[CMatt25]

While there very well might be age-inappropriate content in the 50 questions, I don’t think the above questions are inappropriate at all if the testers are able to get one pregnant or able to get pregnant. At ten, I was able to get pregnant. At ten, my parents explained the birds and the bees, and what the Church teaches. At ten, my fellow students were having visits from the boys at home while their parents were working. At 12, our first student got pregnant.

Though, it should be the parents’ job to teach their children Catholic moral values, I can undertand why the State is taking a more proactive role. I mean, they are the ones doling out WIC, food stamps, free prenatal care, free cost of delivery, free insurance for the baby, until 18 years of age, free school lunch when the child(ren) start going to school, etc. If parents were doing their job, and they’re quite simply not doing their jobs, the State wouldn’t have to try and prevent kids from getting pregnant and then footing the bill.

What were the questions pertaining to condom usage exactly?

Rence, mathematically at 10 you were pretty close to 9 and from what has been explained to me here, you were probably then what has been described here as an “outlier situation”. I’m not sure what the 12 yr old student was. Other than 2 short yrs beyond 10.

 

[CMatt25]

In Islamic countries, they do teach Sharia law in the public schools.

Here in the Christian countries, though, we seem to bend over backwards trying to deny our culture and heritage, to the point where children aren’t taught anything at all about the difference between right and wrong.

I thank God, living in a country of multiple faiths and beliefs that religious law is not taught in public schools.

 

[jmcrae]

I thank God, living in a country of multiple faiths and beliefs that religious law is not taught in public schools.

“Thou shalt not commit murder” is a religious law. too. Do you think it should be taken out of the schools as well?

 

[CMatt25]

“Thou shalt not commit murder” is a religious law. too. Do you think it should be taken out of the schools as well?

I’m not even sure many atheists who don’t believe God commanded Moses to write a tablet of 10 Commandments, believe in murder.

 

[jmcrae]

I’m not even sure many atheists who don’t believe God commanded Moses to write a tablet of 10 Commandments, believe in murder.

What have the atheists got to do with it? If the atheists are following a religious law, more power to them. It doesn’t make it any less of a religious law, however.

 

[JonNC]

Does your fifth grader know how to use a condom? They may soon learn if they go to school in Washington, D.C.

The District of Columbia Office of the State Superintendent on Education is pushing out standardized tests for sex education. The District takes its authority to administer sex education tests to fifth, eighth, and tenth graders from the Healthy Schools Act of 2010.

Here’s how it works: Children as young as 10 will be asked 50 questions. One of the questions reads: “TJ wants to remain abstinent, but also wants to know how to properly use a condom in case he is ever in a situation where he might become sexually active. Give TWO reasons why using a condom properly is important and describe THREE people or places that could give TJ accurate information about condom use.”

“The guideline questions necessitate age-inappropriate instruction for 10 and 11-year-olds. Previously, comprehensive sex education advocates would have the minimal—but insufficient—courtesy of allowing parents to opt their children out of their classes,” says Emmett McGroarty, executive director of the Preserve Innocence Initiative. “Now, parents are being informed that a non-mandatory class is being replaced by a mandated test.”

charismanews.com/culture/32033-fifth-graders-quizzed-on-proper-condom-use

As a fifth grade teacher, I watch very closely and am vocally involved in what the 5th grade boys learn in the brief and very plumbing-oriented sex ed classes they receive here. We it to go to the point you relay in DC, I would voice my disapproval, and take sick leave (to prevent being sick to my stomach) on the days this is taught and “tested”.

Interestingly, considering the hideous job the DC schools do in teaching reading and math, I can’t imagine them doing this “right” either.

Jon

 

[JonNC]

“Now, parents are being informed that a non-mandatory class is being replaced by a mandated test.”
​

What are they gonna do? Retain them? They won’t retain them for not being able to read in the 8th grade.

​

 

[Rock_Happy]

Does your fifth grader know how to use a condom? They may soon learn if they go to school in Washington, D.C.

The District of Columbia Office of the State Superintendent on Education is pushing out standardized tests for sex education. The District takes its authority to administer sex education tests to fifth, eighth, and tenth graders from the Healthy Schools Act of 2010.

Here’s how it works: Children as young as 10 will be asked 50 questions. One of the questions reads: “TJ wants to remain abstinent, but also wants to know how to properly use a condom in case he is ever in a situation where he might become sexually active. Give TWO reasons why using a condom properly is important and describe THREE people or places that could give TJ accurate information about condom use.”

“The guideline questions necessitate age-inappropriate instruction for 10 and 11-year-olds. Previously, comprehensive sex education advocates would have the minimal—but insufficient—courtesy of allowing parents to opt their children out of their classes,” says Emmett McGroarty, executive director of the Preserve Innocence Initiative. “Now, parents are being informed that a non-mandatory class is being replaced by a mandated test.”

charismanews.com/culture/32033-fifth-graders-quizzed-on-proper-condom-use

Nothing wrong with giving age appropriate info to kids. Since they are starting to have sex at this age, they need the info. Simple as that.

The moral issues are another matter which should be taught at home. I don’t think that kids should end up with diseases because their parents are irresponsible in educating them, if the schools can fill the void. If a parent is doing his or her job, then this is a non-issue. If a parent is derelict, then the kids need this info.