I don't believe these programs work in the long run. As KappaKittyCat said, we are doing our children a disservice by not teaching them all aspects of sex.

Side note: When I first looked at this thread, all I could think about was the "90210 pool analogy."

A question for those whose schools did offer sex-ed...

was it mandatory, or an elective? If it was mandatory, did the schools offer parents the opportunity to not have their children in the class?

Ginger,

For us it was a mandatory "Health Class" that covered nutrition, drugs, and sex. Parents could opt out of the sex part for religious reasons.

Ok I think Im going to have to go along with alot of others in saying that I believe sex eduacation should be taught. not abstinience. because that just flat out tells them not to do it but most kids arent going to listen to that. I know that when I finally even thought about having sex I went to the health clinic here and talked to a dr and we discussed birth control methods and she gave me condoms and all of that. and I decided to start a birth control method even before i decided to ever have sex. I think kids need to be informed of all of the risks and also differnt methds of protection and birth control b/c no matter what we teach I know alot of them are still going to have sex and its better that they are safe than not. I know that about 15 people that i went to high school with have children now and none of them are even 21 yet!

Nichole

LeslieAGD, I never watched 90210. What's the "pool analogy"?

What about for non-religious reasons? I mean, I'm not terribly religious... but I wouldn't want my kid in that class.

I think a good program should include abstinence but not exclude other sex ed issues. I also think that parents should have the right to opt their kids out of any program (not limited to sex ed) that they find contrary to their belief system.

Correction: It doesn't have to be religious; I should have said "for personal reasons," but most of the kids I know whose parents opted them out of the sex part were very, very religious.

For us, it was mandatory and taken for a semester your sophomore year. Parents could have their children opt out of the part on birth control, and that was it. My class was fabulous - taught by one of the football coaches, who would laugh and joke to avoid some of the uncomfortable-ness that you feel when you're 15 and discussing things in mixed company. He told us stories about himself and his wife, former football players, etc - he made it so much fun that we actually looked forward to the class!

ours was mandatory starting in middle school and through sophomore year of high school. i don't believe that parents could have the opportunity to not have thier children in the class. i don't recall anything like that being offered.

It was mandatory. Sex Ed was part of health class which we had in fifth grade, sixth grade, ninth grade and senior year.

Fifth grade taught the basics of how our bodies work (egg and sperm, periods), and sixth grade continued that.

Ninth grade focused on drug use (the consequences of everything from tobacco to heroin)although they also covered sexual topics. They didn't get graphic, they just laid out the basic facts of the pill, diaghrams, spermacide and condom use.

Senior year was hardcore in terms of consequences. It was really centered on diseases- the most moving class occurred when a teacher came in and told us about a friend who had died of AIDS (in a really small secular private school setting we could do things like this). By the end of the class both the teachers and the class were in tears. To this day I remember the occasion as the most influential sex education I ever had. It became real. I would never ever ever even think about having unprotected sex and I credit that class. That year they also had a lot of women's issues classes- what a pap smear is, the equipment used, etc. (it was an all girls school).

College was a whoooole different story. Freshman year orientation included a seminar where everyone had to practice putting a condom on a wooden prop. I know I wouldn't have been able to handle that with a straight face in high school....

Health class in college?

There was an episode on Beverly Hills 90210 in which student groups wanted to distribute condoms at school as part of a safer sex campaign. There was parent backlash which resulted in a PTA type meeting at the Walsh house. Tori Spelling's character Donna (the virgin) came out and made this speech about "if you have a swimming pool in your backyard, you can ignore it, tell your kids not to go in it, build a fence around it; but, if you know your kids are going to find a way into it anyway, shouldn't you teach them how to swim?" That's the sex/pool analogy.

Ah, got it.

Yeah, that makes sense.

I am very opposed to abstinence only programs. I went to a public school and we were taught that abstinence is the best way, but if you're going to have sex, use condoms or other birth control, get checked and be careful. they did use the scare tactics of the std pics ("barnicle dick anyone"? *shudder*) and video taped births. alot of my friends who went to catholic schools often seemed very out of touch when they were having sex at 14 and 15 becuase they were only taught that sex is bad, and had no real idea of what to do. i figure, chances are, teens are gonna have sex, no matter what the schools tell them. they might as well teach them how to be safe and take care of themselves, than let them find out the hard way.