Let's Talk About Sex

Are public schools even the right place to be teaching kids about sex? Maybe not.
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Where else?

Are public schools the right place to be teaching kids about sex?
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Ask yourself this question, the first time a kid that goes to public school has sex the majority of the time where do they find their mate? If you are going to have teens with raging hormones in class together for the better part of most days of the week you might want to use some of that time to talk about what many of them are already thinkig about. I would think that is just common sense.

A better question than whether we should be teaching sex-ed in schools is why are we sending Federal dollars to local school districts in the first place?
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A whole lot of posturing and arguing goes on without questioning this core bipartisan assumption.

Paul Dirks
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I can answer that one, its because public schools are vital to the nations interest and because so many schools across the country have done such a sh*tty job of teaching our kids especially minority kids then its appropriate to have Federal dollars that come with strings attached poured into local school districts. If they didn't then you would see a gap in education between the haves and have nots that would eventually cripple our country.

Great article, proves that there -is- hope. Looking forward to Congress stepping up, helping out, and actually making a positive difference. (Yes, I did just say that with a straight face. Without hope, what else is left to us?)

Abstinence only programs do not work. The comprehensive approach, with abstinence being part of the solution is the best way to go. Federal money should be allocated for sex education because when these teens get pregnant, many of them give their children up for adoption or the children need welfare. Teen mothers also have a harder time finishing school. So sex education programs actually reduce the burden on society that these young parents cause.
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Nice article Amy.

I think it interesting to see where the lines are being drawn..
-who has the right to decide these 'moral' dilemmas?
Teaching children about sex has usually, historically involved some religious aspect (Jewish, Christian, and Muslim's all have strong beliefs on these matters) will, or rather, should these religious beliefs have some input in the discussion? would that make this problem more equal understandable, and accessible to every child involved?

I think it interesting to see where the lines are being drawn..
-who has the right to decide these 'moral' dilemmas?
Teaching children about sex has usually, historically involved some religious aspect (Jewish, Christian, and Muslim's all have strong beliefs on these matters) will, or rather, should these religious beliefs have some input in the discussion? would that make this problem more equal understandable, and accessible to every child involved?
I think this is an excellent article, and this just the beginning of a big debate.

some religious aspect , Christian, and Muslim's all have strong beliefs on these matters
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The problem is that many religious traditions also carry with them exceedingly unrealistic expectations. This is actually the source of the problem and why, as conflicts go, this one seems the most intractable.

Actual reportage!
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Grade: PASS

If you want to explore this further you will find that planned parenthood has numerous surveys on this issue and what parents and voters feel about comprehensive sex education. Funny thing, when parents are confronted with the worse case scenarios that aren't pregnancy by the way, the level of support increase dramatically.

Nor are many religious institutions walking the walk and getting involved.
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Ha! Ha! Ha!

I shouldn't even be posting right now, having just spent three hours trying to retrieve about 90 digital images I need for my book and getting all frustrated and weepy. Nevermind.
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Amy, as a Harvard Div grad and religion writer, I assume you already know about OWL (Our Whole Lives) comprehensive sex-ed program developed by the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations and the United Church of Christ. (Before that the UUA had AYS --About Your Sexuality, dating back to the 1970s.) Whenever someone posits the public school vs. faith-based sex ed dichotomy, I look for mention of OWl or AYS.
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crickets, again.
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Snippets from the OWL link above:
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Our Whole Lives is a series of sexuality education curricula for six age groups: grades K-1, grades 4-6, grades 7-9, grades 10-12, young adults (ages 18-35), and adults.
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Each level of Our Whole Lives Offers...

* Up-to-date information and honest, age-appropriate answers to all participants' questions
* Activities to help participants clarify values and improve decision-making skills
* Effective group-building to create a safe and supportive peer group
* Education about sexual abuse, exploitation, and harassment
* Opportunities to critique media messages about gender and sexuality
* Acceptance of diversity
* Encouragement to act for justice
* A well-designed, teacher-friendly leaders' guide
* Parent orientation programs that affirm parents as the primary sexuality educators of their children
* Sexuality and Our Faith, an optional religious component for Unitarian Universalist and United Church of Christ settings
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Our Whole Lives is appropriate for use in a variety of congregational, school, and community settings, including classrooms, after-school programs, and youth groups. Although developed by two religious organizations, Our Whole Lives contains no religious references or doctrine. Religious references are contained in a Unitarian Universalist and United Church of Christ companion publication, Sexuality and Our Faith.
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I've taught AYS and my kids -- now young adults both had OWL as teenagers, and credit it with helping them develop responsible attitudes toward sexuality. I wlould be interested to hear if any public school programs are using the OWL materials.
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BTW, so far the media has not been kind to either OWL or AYS. John Stossel did a rather nasty special on AYS about 12 years ago, and then there's the Bill O'Reilly "uterus" episode:
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http://www.uuworld.org/news/articles/43077.shtml

Joyo - At least Bill-o didn't call it a "felafel"
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Sorry about your images. I lost a resume, cover letter, and curriculum vitae last night. Java hate me.

joyomama - thanks for the info on OWL and AYS. I hereby take back my mocking laughter.

I finally managed to retrieve them, but that's it for me today. Makes me nostalgic for the days when my dissertation data was all on IBM cards and I only worried about dropping the box.
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On topic, it *is* frustrating to see "religion" assumed to be opposed to comprehensive sex ed, when there's a nearly 40-year history of liberal religious involvement in sex education curriculum. (AYS was published in 1970: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/About_Your_Sexuality). But it is so much easier, I guess, to see things in black and white.

Cliff -- That's ok, I understand. And as a UU, I am totally used to mocking laughter. http://matt.baya.net/jokes/uu.html

[...] upward, and spring is most certainly in the air. And, as Amy Sullivan at Swampland points out, the sex ed wars are emerging from hibernation. At odds is whether or not to renew about $170 million in funding for [...]

When will Amy Sullivan and the pagan/atheist/feminist/earth worshipping left get the message to keep themselves and their fundamentalist sexual preferences out of the bedrooms of other people's children? Said leftists should stick to peddling their own sexual preferences/religious cult on their own children and keep their desire to peddle their sexual preferences and ideology out of public schools and out of the bedrooms of other people's children. Got it?

*points and laughs at Textee*
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Now that that's out of my system...
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I got fired for a summer camp one year because in my cabin one night we had an honest and open discussion about sex. I decided that there would be no taboo subjects, and there would be no wrong answers and I would try to do the best that I could. The questions were not only numerous they were engaging and enlightening for me as well as for my charges. Unfortunately the conversation was terminated to the great frustration of the kids. I guess this is a note to parents as much as authority figures: the little stews of hormones WANT to know what's happening to them, and if you approach the subject without judgment they will open up to you.

When you link to PDF documents, please, let your readers know. It's a matter of netiquette.

When adults fail to honestly talk to juveniles about sex, bad things are more likely to happen.

Frank Wedekind recognized as much in his groundbreaking drama Spring Awakening.

School is a great place to discuss sexuality. School is supposed to prepare kids for adulthood. You can't be an adult if you do not understand your sexuality.

sgwhiteinfla, we do not need to rely on our intuition to determine the consequences of sex ed. It's an empirical question that can be answered with evidence.

The research shows that juveniles who enjoy a quality sex education are actually delaying sexual activity.

When you know what you're doing, you are more likely to behave responsibly.

[...] Sullivan wonders if public school is the right place to teach kids about sex.  She’s not sure it is.  I say: [...]