petitefrancaise

I bought eldest a book on growing up and sex when she was 10 and starting to ask questions. It was brilliant, covered everything very sensibly from starting to grow pubic hair to same-sex relationships and all the contraception, sex and diseases you never really wanted to know about.

I found out she had taken this "English" book into her french school and was translating bits for friends asking questions. I was worried about what the parents might say but actually it was fine and lead to some amusing conversations with them.....

sir_eccles

Absolutely, especially those in power writing and passing laws on abortion. it seems every day there is a new one reported which flies in the face of accepted science.

dc koop

Why would anyone expect schools to teach about sex? What are parents for ?

moneypenny20

Why would anyone expect schools to teach about anything? What are parents for? Schools imo should be teaching everything with backup from the parents whilst also backing up the parents. Parents should (but many don't for many reasons) be teaching sex ed but, as with religion, the schools should be there to give a more general overview.

penguinsix

Americans are taught to avoid their "throbbing biological urges" by the Simpsons.

ChocolateBabz

We left the UK just after the dude finished P5 so he didn't get it there and moved here to TX where there is no such thing as sex. I did 'the talk', to be honest we had been having 'the talk' for years in dribs and drabs as he started asking questions. I even went and bought him condoms when he started dating. I had a pretty open relationship with my mum and talked about everything and wanted the same for him.

dc koop

Teaching sex in schools raises too much controversy. Some parents would approve but there are other parents who would think it wrong. Therefore since it's impossible to please everyone the subject is better off being handled or not handled by the parents. Same goes for religion but religion is not taught in American public schools anyway.

In short sex and religion belong at home while academic subjects belong in school

dc koop

Ha ! A boy with great expectations from the girls I see. On the other end of the scale fathers of girls like me spend our time telling our daughters that sexual feelings towards boys are a natural thing but that boys are predators and many girls submit only to find that they've been used and dumped by some immature little weazel. Just about every boy in any high school knows the "easy ones" as do the "don't do it" girls know of them. It's not a pleasant situation for a girl with an "easy reputation" to be in as regards the opinion and respect of her peers. That said an open dialogue on the subject is the responsibility of any parent and the girl should be aware that if one day she gets into a serious relationship with a guy during the college years then she needs to know about birth control and the importance of condoms as a precaution against disease.

Wintersong

I. Just. Can't.

yellowroom

the 1950s are calling and want their attitude back.

Nutek

lolwut?

kodokan

Just on the off-chance you're not spoofing us...

- it's not the job of schools to avoid controversy and please everyone. Lots of people think any level of math above 6th grade arithmetic is pointless (with an insidious number of them being the parents of girls). Many people proudly declare how they haven't picked up a book since they left school 20 years ago. A sizeable number of Americans view the slightest hint of intellectualism or signs of being 'bookish' or academic as something to disparage. I propose not asking the masses what they want from a school system, because we'll otherwise be back to the days of just reading, 'riting, and 'rithmatic, and finishing school before your teens.

- religion is taught in public schools. My kids' middle schools in OH and even in the heartland of Mormon AZ have included a unit on comparative world religions. My son recounts how it was total news to a couple of kids in his class that there even WERE any religions other than Christianity and 'Muslim' (equated with 'Terrorist') let alone knowing anything about their beliefs, customs, etc.

- out of all the possible subjects to drop and leave to the whims of parental instruction, let's NOT make it sex ed. After all, nobody else is going to be especially damaged by your kids not knowing the Periodic Table or the finer details of the Monroe Doctrine; does it really matter to anyone other than them if they've read To Kill A Mockingbird? But if their ignorance leads to unplanned pregnancy and the spreading of disease - we're all on the hook for THAT problem.

SultanOfSwing

I'm happy to let the schools do it.

I can make knob gags with my son all day long and laugh about dirty jokes and that but there is no way on Earth you're going to get me to sit in front of my lovely little daughter and tell her some bloke's going to want to come at her with his knob out one day, and she might want to allow it. I am not prepared to do that

yellowroom

How about the idea SHE might be the one chasing after the bloke's knob, not the other way round? You know, because some girls quite like sex, and it's an equal world these days.

SultanOfSwing

Not if I tell her that all blokes have super-AIDS, she won't