BBC News: parents lose sex ed opt-out for kids 15+

Broadcast on 5 Nov 2009, The Christian Institutes Mike Judge criticises the Governments controversial plan to force children aged 15+ to attend state sex education classes regardless of their parents wishes.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Sex
• Education
• Compulsory
• Government
• Parents
• 15
• Year
• Old
• BBC
• Christian
• Institute
• Mike
• Judge
• yt:stretch=16:9

[davemakesawave]

Recent sex ed has led to worse probs, that is a statistical fact that idealists won't like.

Family, love and marriage is the best way.

[republicofheaven]

The sexualized society is already here; improved sex education is a postitive response to it, I think.

I realize that there is a correlation between the rise of teen pregnancies, STDs etc in the last thirty or so years and the point that sex education started to be common practice, but I think that it is the increasingly sexualized society of that time period that is responsible for said rise; the sex education that was taking place has probably prevented the problem from being worse than it is.

[republicofheaven]

I think there are certainly positives to this culture; it is less repressed and I think there are probably less people in this generation who experience feelings of profound guilt because of their sexuality (used in the general sense of the word - not just in relation to homosexuality). But then the negatives manifest themselves in obvious ways such as teenage pregnancies and the spread of STDs - which sex education can help to clear up.

[davemakesawave]

Yeah, I agree its all bad isnt it? Porn, explicit TV, PC games and so on. We would be way better off without them, this would help children to enjoy being children; as you have said, They are not emotionally ready and sex is more than physical enjoyment. One wrong doesnt justify another wrong.

[republicofheaven]

You need to think about my point applied to the subject to understand my meaning: teenagers know a lot about sex, in that they are aware of explicit sexual practices - e.g. the majority of teenagers have watched porn at least once, and a large percentage of boys watch it regularly - and are made constantly aware of it by the media and their hormones, but they don't necessarily know about safe, 'real' sex in relation to themselves; it is the latter that they will be taught in schools.

[forzaitalia2]

@republicofheaven your right. fair point actually. thanks

[davemakesawave]

they are not emotionally ready but at age 15 they already know a hell of a lot about it; more than some adults

You contradict yourself buddy. If they already know more about sex than those who have been doing it for years then there is no need to go over it to the extent that the government wants to in class.

[republicofheaven]

Also, they may not be emotionally ready, but they are physically capable of having sex if they so chose; and adults telling them that sex is not for people their age won't stop them.

[republicofheaven]

Sarcasm; sorry, it's a bit difficult to pick up on via text sometimes!

Not all children are blessed with parents who are willing, or think it necessary to teach their children about sex. For example: parents who became pregnant when they were underage are surely more likely to have a detrimental effect on their children's sex education; a sensible, factual sex education in school may help to break this cycle.

[republicofheaven]

It is not a case of 'letting' the kids be kids; you may like to think that there are plenty of people below the age of 18 still innocent of sexual knowledge, but at age 15 they already know a hell of a lot about it; more than some adults, I would wager. Having a sensible environment to convey the facts of safe sex and clear up misgivings they may have picked up is incredibly important in the age of information.