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Compulsory Sex Education
Former Member
Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
Well, that took long enough.
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Lessons about personal, social and health matters including sex and relationships will be compulsory in all England's schools from ages five to 16.
But the government is setting up a review of how best to achieve this, saying there are "complicated issues".
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Comments
Overall a good thing I reckon.
If it is age appropriate and taught well I cant see this doing anything but good. We desperately need to do something about our societies shocking sexual health record.
Exactly, we've had one or two parents complain. Expecially about the fact that it will be statutary for children from foundation stage onwards to learn the correct terminology for the body parts.
Lots of the proposed curriculum is focussed on relationships too.
I think that there is a very fine line that the state should not tread when it comes to personal relationships. This scheme completely over-steps it, and I therefore oppose it.
And how would the government have any idea what parents are telling their children?
I do believe it should mostly be up to the parents rather than the government to teach things like this but a lot of parents don't, and there's no reason why their children should suffer. The government have no idea what parents are saying to their children, the only way they could have is if they put cameras in people's homes. Talks about sex would always be needed anyway, becuase even though parents should be telling their children about the basics of sex how are they supposed to know the specific details of STI's and the latest methods of contraception when many of them have never been taught themselves? I think it's important for children to talk about things related to sex as soon as possible, too many people have their sex education years too late.
I agree. There is no guarantee that parents are going to even talk about the importance of safe sex with their children. As long as the info being provided at school is being closely regulated so that it is in no way biased (like those that are tutored in the U.S on how abstinence is best) then I don't see a problem. Knowledge is power and all that..
I think as a nation we need to stop being so uptight about sex. It's not like they're going to teach them about dildos in nursery, ffs. Why can't we just call a penis a penis? Half the population has one!
So you don't think that children should be equipped with around the same amount of sexual education? My opinion is that the education system is just assisting with what some parents may fail to do. I don't understand the big fuss about 5 year olds being taught about 'sex'. In every article I've read it's just a case of teaching the correct terminology like penis..vagina.
Sex is an act and carries whatever meaning we wish it to carry... I think that it's important to educate children about sex, but also about responsibility and respect in sexual relationships.
State tries to get parents to educated, state educates through schools, either way it's the satate.
Thankyou! Maybe I worded it badly but no need to be quite so defensive SG
It's not like we're teaching kids about sexual fetishes.
There is no pefect solution and somebody will always feel hard done by. In this particular case I believe it is in the child's interest to receive a balanced and rational dose of sex education even if the parents might object to it.
:yes: You dont what parents are teaching their kids so they need to learn the same knowledge on subjects through school.
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=U0kJHQpvgB8&feature=related
*sigh*
SG, a lot of laws and systems are in place in our society which work in a manner to protect the most vulnerable, like Gillick competence for instance. So without having to speak very slowly, no, I don't think all parents are like that, conclusion jumping does not a good debate make.
But our society and media would benefit from questioning why there is such a weird attitude towards talking about sex and relationships, especially to young children. Just some of the media responses foaming at the mouth assume that children are going to be taught how to be discriminating in their choice of vibrator and that all their 'innocence' will be lost. If that's how they feel I dread to think what *they* were taught, if anything.
Sadly though it is, who do you think pays for all the teens who get pregnant? Not only for all the health costs, but because of the lost tax revenue if they then dont fulfill they economic potential.
Not that this will make much difference to that
It may however, improve relationships, leading to less marital breakdown in later life.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/7687450.stm
I just think people see things like this as a panacea, instead of a very minor change to how society operates.
Sadly I'm inclined to agree, peer pressure has been shown to be more powerful than either education or parenting by the time the kids are teenagers. But is a move in the right direction I think.
I think the evidence in Holland suggests that the real results come when you get the first generation of parents who went through this system of education, rather than directly affecting the first lot of kids themselves. It's not difficult to imagine why that might be. And obviously, there are a number of other issues, such as actually giving the kids some sort of aspirations and self esteem, so they take getting pregnant as being something they really don't want to do.
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Possibly, though I'm sceptical that the results of one society can necessarily be transfered over to another society - there are too many variables.