The parent that declared that sex education “rapes children of their innocence” is entitled to her opinion, but I disagree.
Nice use of hyperbole but off the mark in a big way.
Still, I am not in favour of compulsory sex education in schools. Below are the reasons I come to this unpopular conclusion.
It adds to a ridiculously over-crowded curriculum – People sometimes forget that teachers have a job, and that job is to cover the curriculum, with a focus on the fundamentals. By adding programs, which sound good on the surface, such as anti-gambling, gender issues, drug education, anti-smoking, resilience and diversity, we are being hamstrung in covering the very material we are specifically charged to teach.
You do realise they are learning this stuff at school? – All the programs that are mentioned above and others such as anti-bullying as cyber safety are wonderful programs, but do they work at school level? My experience has been – no. One of the reasons I have taken such an interest in the How to UnMake a Bully series is its ability to transcend a classroom preachiness and get students to make healthier choices without it feeling like a school subject. But this series is in the minority. Most programs are preachy, condescending and written by academics with no real insight into how children really think and feel. Most are full of classroom exercises, which may as well be code for “tune out activities” as far as school students are concerned. What you are left with, for all its good intentions, is a train wreck. Kids approach these lessons with either sarcasm or boredom. It may as well be another mindless trigonometry lesson as far as they are concerned. Whilst the intentions of these programs are sound, we should judge these initiatives by the results not its intentions.
Let’s expect more from parents – Let’s not make our teachers pseudo parents. Let’s be a society that expects our parents to, well, actually “parent”. It is not the job of the teacher to educate the students in this area. That is the job for the parent. Parents are entitled to hold views about sex that are unique and unpopular, and they are similarly entitled to hold their children to those views, until the children can form their own beliefs. It’s not the job of the teacher to interfere in these matters. I realise that some parents choose to forgo their duties and omit these important discussions, but that is where society should step in. Instead of enabling them to be so lax, they should be reminding them about the need to address these issues with their children. If they don’t, it’s simply not good enough. Telling parents that if they don’t do it someone else will enables them to be mediocre. Do we really want to encourage our parents to be mediocre?
Click on the link to read Sex Education is the Job of Parents Not Teachers
Click on the link to read It’s Time to Scrap Sex Ed in Schools
Click on the link to read Teacher Takes Class on a Field Trip to a Sex Shop
Click on the link to read The Five Day School Trip that Resulted in 7 Students Getting Pregnant
Tags: benefits of sex education, downside of sex education, Sex Education
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