Sex Ed in schools

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I had a thought and would love to know your view. I just finished “The Good news about Sex and Marriage” and am amazed at the link between faith and sexuality.

What if sex ed and comparative religion were combined in public schools? Children could get the Catholic, Jewish, Hindu, etc. view of sexuality. This would make the topic much less clinical and much more practical. Students need practicality and ideas they can apply.

What do you think?
 
I had a thought and would love to know your view. I just finished “The Good news about Sex and Marriage” and am amazed at the link between faith and sexuality.

What if sex ed and comparative religion were combined in public schools? Children could get the Catholic, Jewish, Hindu, etc. view of sexuality. This would make the topic much less clinical and much more practical. Students need practicality and ideas they can apply.

What do you think?
I had been thinking the same thing for about a month now. But I have no clue how to pull that off. Who monitors the class information for accuracy? Which sects, denominations, etc are included? And Excluded? I had so many questions to which I am ill equiped to answer, I had to just put it on the table for a while.

But I’m glad you thought of it, too.
 
Personally, I don’t think it is the job of the school…especially the public school (ie state) to be teaching sex education. I think it is the parents’ responsibility…or the parent can choose a program (like True Love Waits) to enroll their children in. I think having the Church address Sex Ed. would not be out of line.

I dunno…I don’t have kids, and when and if I have them…I have no intention of enrolling them in school…maybe private/parochial if we can afford it…but doubtful.
 
Personally, I don’t think it is the job of the school…especially the public school (ie state) to be teaching sex education. I think it is the parents’ responsibility…or the parent can choose a program (like True Love Waits) to enroll their children in. I think having the Church address Sex Ed. would not be out of line.

I dunno…I don’t have kids, and when and if I have them…I have no intention of enrolling them in school…maybe private/parochial if we can afford it…but doubtful.
All children should be educated. And most adults. I know we have a few that object. But why should the few force the many to keep their children at home to educate them properly? Why should we have to UNDO what the school is erroneously teaching them? I agree, though, specifics might be better taught at Church, but let’s face it, not many spend all that much time there as it is.
 
Just my two cents but I think sex education is important. They need to stress that the only safe way to avoid pregnancy and STI’s is abstinence but that if people are going to do it anyways to use protection.

For those parents who dont want their children recieving education from the state there should be options of enlisting them in state accredited programmes advocated and taught by their respective denominations.

The fact of the matter is that the state does have a vested interest. Children who dont get educated about sex ed without a strong family background will have children, diseaseas etc and the state will have to fund them.

And the flip side is that there are alot of strict parent who will assume that their children will accept what they say and teach because of respect, love, dignity and all of that. And those will be the kids who will also get in trouble cause they havent been taught properly.

Parents should decide where their children get taught this, not IF they got taught it at all.
 
If you send your child to an American public school, you’re going to get the barnyard version of human sexuality from the “Teach”.

No Christian morality or any morality present in that class.

I remember 6th Grade rolls around in public grade school, and this chain-smoking Italian-American teacher told us boys and girls in the class to masturbate and wait “for later” (she died of lung cancer a few years later).

The subject was shelved for a year, and then 8th grade rolls around, and there is some funky class called “Health”.

The class dealt with a number of issues like euthanasia, teenage suicide, I think drugs and alcohol, dissecting frogs, some basic study of the human anatomy, the environment, and human sexuality.

The message about human sexuality was the same as 6th grade; they even talked about male homosexual sex (granted, I don’t think at that time circa 1981-1982 it was part of the official curriculum, but this one student asked about it, and the 8th Grade teacher went into all this unbelievable graphic (that would make a sailor blush) detail for several minutes.

If you ever wanted to know what an American public school “Health” class is like, that’s what it is like.

Although I imagine now the public schools probably have homosexuality and lesbianism as part of the official curriculum.
 
parents should have a choice of how their children are educated, the various denominations should even be allowed classrooms during school hours to facilitate the education.

But if parents do not care enough to decide/choose how their children are to be taught then the state has a right and a duty to teach sex-ed to standards of their choosing.

The standards ought to be higher though.
 
I can only provide my own sex ed experience to contribute to this discussion.

I did a majority of my public schooling in Georgia, where the sex ed programs teach abstinence only. The only facts they are allowed to give about contraceptives and birth control are the failure rates. The program was riddled with useless examples used as “scare tactics” (ie, having two people from the class draw a hershey’s kiss each out of a bag, unwrap and keep it in their mouths for a few seconds before wrapping it up and placing it back in the bag. The instructor [who was from a church - this was a public school] then said anyone who wanted a piece of candy could have one, but if you drew one of the two which had already been in someone’s mouth, you had to eat it. This was supposed to exhibit your lack of choice in getting an STD).

Just for consideration, Georgia has consistently fallen between 5-8 in statistics concerning the 10 states with the highest teen pregnancy rates in the nation since 2000.

Should abstinence be taught? Absolutely. It is the only 100% way to avoid diseases and pregnancy. Does this mean everyone will abstain? Absolutely not, and furthermore, providing one-sided stats to influence young people to think contraceptives don’t work does nothing but contribute to the amount of people having unprotected sex.

Point blank: abstinence should be taught alongside contraceptive methods. Individual morals behind sex should be instilled by the family, not the school.
 
Individual morals behind sex should be instilled by the family, not the school.
Why??
Religion was once deemed to be a function of the public school system.
The Northwest Ordinance of 1787, which antedated the First Amendment, and continued in effect for at least 100 years, provided in Article III that
“Religion, morality, and knowledge being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged.”
I would also like to mention that in the Federal Republic of Germany, today, religion is taught as a subject in the German government funded public school system.

Catholic and Protestant children go to separate rooms, and children who want to not attend, do not have to.

Muslim students are also exempt from attending.

It is in a watered down version, but Bible stories are told, and Christian holidays are explained.
 
If one were to combine comparative religion and sex ed, one would get this:

Christianity: No sex outside marriage, no gay sex, sometimes limits on birth control.
Judaism: No sex outside marriage, no gay sex, sometimes limits on birth control.
Islam: No sex outside marriage, no gay sex (apart from pederasty–but don’t tell anyone I said that).
Buddhism: No sex outside marriage, no gay sex.
Hinduism: No sex outside marriage, no gay sex.
Taoism: No sex outside marriage, no gay sex (although it’s tolerated).
Shinto: No sex outside marriage, no gay sex (although it’s tolerated).
Confucianism: No sex outside marriage, no gay sex (although it’s tolerated).
Neo-Confucianism: No sex outside marriage, no gay sex (apart from pederasty).
Zoroastrianism: No sex outside marriage, no gay sex.
Athabascan, Pueblo/Uto-Aztecan, Tlingit, and Algonquian Native Americans: No sex outside marriage, no gay sex.
Non-Greek Pagans: No sex outside marriage, no gay sex (although it’s tolerated).
Greek Pagans: No sex outside marriage, no gay sex (apart from pederasty).
Gnostics/Manichaeans/Cathars etc.: No sex, unless you’re a loser.

Gee, it’d save time just to tell them the Christian version.
 
Because public schools are secular. You can’t teach just a “Christian” way or a “Jewish” way, because then people of strong faith who don’t fall into the predominant category will feel discriminated against.

If you’re going to a private school affiliated with a specific religion, by all means - they have every right to teach sex ed however they see fit. Parents send their children there because they specifically agree (in the most part) with the teachings of that school.

Whether you like it or not, we’re a nation of separated church and state, so public schools should not be receiving any sort of religious guidance in the classroom. That’s not to say religions shouldn’t be studied - religion is fascinating, and a beneficial area of study. But someone from a church should not be allowed to enter a public school classroom and tell students that sex before marriage is a sin, or that sex before marriage is wrong, because you simply can’t count on everyone who is there agreeing with them.
 
If one were to combine comparative religion and sex ed, one would get this:

Christianity: No sex outside marriage, no gay sex, sometimes limits on birth control.
Judaism: No sex outside marriage, no gay sex, sometimes limits on birth control.
Islam: No sex outside marriage, no gay sex (apart from pederasty–but don’t tell anyone I said that).
Buddhism: No sex outside marriage, no gay sex.
Hinduism: No sex outside marriage, no gay sex.
Taoism: No sex outside marriage, no gay sex (although it’s tolerated).
Shinto: No sex outside marriage, no gay sex (although it’s tolerated).
Confucianism: No sex outside marriage, no gay sex (although it’s tolerated).
Neo-Confucianism: No sex outside marriage, no gay sex (apart from pederasty).
Zoroastrianism: No sex outside marriage, no gay sex.
Athabascan, Pueblo/Uto-Aztecan, Tlingit, and Algonquian Native Americans: No sex outside marriage, no gay sex.
Non-Greek Pagans: No sex outside marriage, no gay sex (although it’s tolerated).
Greek Pagans: No sex outside marriage, no gay sex (apart from pederasty).
Gnostics/Manichaeans/Cathars etc.: No sex, unless you’re a loser.

Gee, it’d save time just to tell them the Christian version.
Now this is a good lesson plan. But of course, no one will teach this, even as a matter of comparative religion, within the context of a sex-ed course. Why? Because our public schools now teach our own version of morality, which boils down to relativism. So why aren’t public schools unconstitutional because they promote a particular establishment of religion?
 
Because public schools are secular.
Why do you think American public schools are secular??

Were the public schools in the United States always secular institutions in the United States??

If you sent your children to school, wouldn’t a moral component to
your childrens’ instruction at the place they attended school be important to you??
that “there are very many by whom a satisfactory answer to the questions ‘can we educate our children there, and enjoy ourselves and secure to them the blessings of Sabbath instruction,’ would be demanded before they would determine to emigrate.”
Whether you like it or not, we’re a nation of separated church and state, so public schools should not be receiving any sort of religious guidance in the classroom.
That’s just some mens’ personal interpretations of the First Amendment of the United States Constitution, combined with a statement made by Thomas Jefferson.

That is is a rather very broad interpretation, if you study it.

And that interpretation does not necessarily mean it is a correct interpretation.

In fact, Supreme Court decisions like Dred Scott V. Sanford and Plessy v. Ferguson were specifically overruled by other U.S. Supreme Court Justices.

A lot of these U.S. Supreme Court Justices were Freemasons; sounds like they are imposing their Freemasonry on every American citizen in the United States: Justices Hugo Black, Stanley F. Reed, William O. Douglas, James F. Byrnes, Robert H. Jackson, Wiley B. Rutledge, Harold H. Burton, Frederick M. Vinson, Thomas C. Clark, Sherman Minton, Earl Warren, John M. Harlan, Thurgood Marshall, John M. Harlan, and Potter Stewart were all Freemasons.

That’s 15 / 20 of the U.S. Justices appointed between 1932-1962.

Talk about Equal Justice Under Law; sounds like a Lodge meeting to me.

Source: H. Paul Jeffers: Freemasons: Inside The World’s Oldest Secret Society, Citadel Press: Kensington Publishing Corp, New York, 2005 (pp. 213-221).

And public schools, at least in theory, were supposed to be controlled on a local basis and the Federal Government was not supposed to get involved (even today, the Federal Government minimally funds public education; they are state run and local School Board run institutions).
You can’t teach just a “Christian” way or a “Jewish” way, because then people of strong faith who don’t fall into the predominant category will feel discriminated against.
Do you really believe that??

Do you really believe that would necessarily be the case??

Following that line of reasoning, you couldn’t have a Homecoming King or Queen because other students might feel that they’re ugly, or sex education courses because religious students might feel funny or face some harassment because they’re not included in their fellow classmates’ contraception classes; you couldn’t have student picked teams in gym class because some students might feel inferior or be harassed.

Here’s the experience of a 20 year old German college student (a friend of mine from Berlin) who attended religion classes in the German public school system:
We did a lot of handicrafts or painted pictures while the teacher told us stories from the bible (but they never read FROM the bible).
So we learned what Christianity is about and why we celebrate the various holidays but we never actually read from the bible in fact I
never have seen a bible in these classes.
We didn’t pray or anything like that it was very superficial and the name “religion” doesn’t fit to well. It was always very relaxing.
I thonk we didn’t talk too much about other religions (execpt for Judaism) and there have never been any fights because of religions. I didn’t really understand as a kid why the other kids (the Catholics) had a different teacher and a different room. Many children didn’t visited the religion classes because they preferred staying at home or there were no classes for the religion they belonged to (muslims).
That would have meant that we would have four groups which had to fight each other 😉 that would never have worked.
Religion was never a issue for me (or my classmates) in school. We found other reasons to like or not like someone.
You see?? I don’t think WWIII is going to break out.

I think if religion and morality is handled in a tolerant and mature manner, with (name removed by moderator)ut from many groups, there would be no discrimination.

Religion and morality are important elements in a student’s education.

Without a religious or moral education, students can make poor choices that may affect their future:
Religion was once deemed to be a function of the public school system.
The Northwest Ordinance of 1787, which antedated the First Amendment, and continued in effect for at least 100 years, provided in Article III that
“Religion, morality, and knowledge being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged.”
I think you are right there’s a potentiality that a form discrimination could possibly develop (in the past, the King James Bible was the only Bible allowed by school officials), but if the program was administered with controls, checks, and balances, with (name removed by moderator)ut from many faiths and a spirit of tolerance, the discrimination would be eliminated.

We can go the route you’re advocating, but that is definitely not the principles this nation was founded on; it is not the United States with its historical, cultural, religious, moral, and traditional foundations.

What you get with what you’re arguing for is the materialistic, hedonistic, atheistic, relativistic, and politically corrupt society that we have today.
 
It is very important for people, especially tennagers, to know about sex. I think that sex ed., at least in my Catholic school, is way to short and uninformative. This can be very dangerous. One girl in my class thought that you could only get an STD by having sexual intercourse!!! I think that this is part of the reason why STDs have been spreading so rapidly…teenagers are uneducated about this topic.
 
Sex ed is up to the parents, and it should be. The government needs to get its long nose out of the way
 
Why do you think American public schools are secular??
Excuse me, let me reiterate - as a nation where church and state are supposed to be separate, schools shouldn’t be imparting religious beliefs on students unless it is a private institution designated with a religious affiliation.
Were the public schools in the United States always secular institutions in the United States??
I can’t speak for every school in existence, but technically, they are supposed to be.
If you sent your children to school, wouldn’t a moral component to your childrens’ education be important to you??
Of course, but I don’t think being religious is the only way to have morals.
That’s just some mens’ personal interpretations of the First Amendment of the United States Constitution, combined with a statement made by Thomas Jefferson.
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

I can’t think of any other way to interpret ‘congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof’ than to say that there will not be laws made to legitimize any religious view over another, nor will any religion be prohibited from being practiced.

It is fair to point out that this is a sticky ground - so what is the best way to go about protecting free speech, while at the same time maintaining a comfortable environment for people of different backgrounds?

I see no issue with a sex ed program saying “people of ___ religion take x as their viewpoint on sex”. It is when, however, that changes from being an objective statement to a personal one in which an authority figure is demonstrating to a class of people who are not their children that pre-marital sex is a sin or what have you that this becomes a problem. I wouldn’t care if my sex ed teacher had approached things from a viewpoint that, “if your religion plays a part in your decision making, then it is important to know that many religions are against pre-marital sex”. That way, the viewpoint is expressed in a non-biased way, and those people who either don’t agree or are not religious don’t feel discriminated against.
In fact, Supreme Court decisions like Dred Scott V. Samford and Plessy v. Ferguson were specifically overruled by other U.S. Supreme Court Justices. A lot of these U.S. Supreme Court Justices were Freemasons; sounds like they are imposing their Freemasonry on every American citizen in the United States
So wait, you’re saying only freemasons were the only racist people when slavery was legal? Correct me if I’m wrong, but people from all walks of life were racists then and today. I think it’s absolutely legitimate that politicians try to hold everyone in our country to their beliefs through their jobs, but if you want to make that claim then you must also accept that people of all faiths - yours included - do the same thing.
And public schools, at least in theory, we supposed to be controlled on a local basis and the Federal Government was not supposed to get involved (even today, the Federal Government minimally funds public education; they are state run and local School Board run institutions).
I don’t see how this justifies imparting religious beliefs in a public school. States can’t claim an official religion or anything of the sort, so there’s no reason to suggest that religion should be taught in any way other than an objective one.
Following that line of reasoning, you couldn’t have a Homecoming King or Queen because other students might feel that their ugly, or sex education courses because religious students might feel funny or face some harassment because they’re not included in their fellow classmates’ contraception classes; you couldn’t have student picked teams in gym class because some students might feel inferior or be harassed.
You don’t need a homecoming king or queen to make students feel ugly or inadequate - their fellow classmates do a great job of it themselves. I agree, and I think popularity contests are mindless wastes of time. The examples you bring up are legitimate problems in the way students get treated at school, and I agree that the way these situations are handled should be re-evaluated.

However, students will always be harassed by their peers, with popularity contests endorsed by their schools or without. By allowing an authority figure to potentially tell a class that if they don’t think or practice “x”, then their core belief on a certain subject is wrong, we can be looking at a slippery slope problem of teacher to student discrimination. Students face enough bullying in the gym or at school dances, so keeping discrimination out of the classroom seems to be one way in which we can give students some form of level playing field, even if it’s only concerning one aspect of their school day: the classroom.

(post continued below… was too long)
 
Here’s the experience of a 20 year old German college student (a friend of mine from Berlin) who attended religion classes in the German public school system.
So it was designated as a religious studies class, correct? While I’m not sure how religious studies would fly in public schools here, I can certainly say that going into a class with a mindset that I am going to study a specific religion is far different than going to a class, which is meant to inform me about human sexuality, and in turn receiving a lesson informing me that if I have sex before marriage I have committed a wrong. It is not the school’s call to tell students this.
I think if religion and morality is handled in a responsible, mature manner, with (name removed by moderator)ut from many groups, there would be no discrimination.
I agree. But until we can get an objective view of as many religious background as possible involved, I’m not sure how well imparting religion in the classroom is going to work.
Religion and morality are important elements in a student’s education; without a religious or moral education, students can make poor choices that may affect their future.
I understand where you’re coming from here, but I must respectfully disagree that everyone must be religious. Moral, yes, and religion does teach morals - but you can also be a moral person without religion.
We can go the route you’re advocating, but that is definitely not the principles this nation was founded on; it is not the United States with its historical, cultural, religious, and traditional foundations.
Our nation was founded on the grounds that people should have equal access to rights and opportunities regardless of their religion (or lack thereof)… as well as a host of other reasons as well. 🙂
What you get with what you’re arguing for is the materialistic, hedonistic, atheistic, relativistic, and politically corrupt society that we have today.
How so? I’m not saying we should throw condoms at kids and tell them to go out and have a good time. I’m saying that contraceptives should be taught alongside abstinence, and of course, it should be stressed that abstinence is the only 100% way to avoid pregnancy until you’re in a position to adequately handle it.*
 
My mum and dad where too embarassed to tell me about sex.
So i got my sex ed from watching the dogs in our street…
For years i went around sniffing girls behinds:D !!
 
Sex ed is up to the parents, and it should be. The government needs to get its long nose out of the way
I couldnt have put it better myself Mystic!!
But some parents are too lazy to educate there kids full stop.
Which is a shame realy.
 
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