Sex Education Eliminated From Schools in PA
- Thread starter MisterMark
- Start date
Ah, exactly, Mindseye! In software development -- where testing is often thrown to the curb -- I tell them that it'll be tested in a lab or tested by their customers.
Some things are inevitible. Deciding when to relinquish control and responsibility is what differentiates the smart formthe not-so-smart.
Yeah, just the other day, I was telling friends at the coffee shop that Milton Berle has the biggest...
Oh. Friedman. Well, economics always fascinated me, geek that I am, I never thought of him that way. The labels all get jumbled for the reasons I mentioned, and those you expanded on. Kumbiya.
TripodMillenium: Hey.... I'm not saying that they shouldn't learn....
I think that they would be doing themselves an injustice to opt out....
But I also understand that if someone is religious enough to still adhere strictly.... then they believe strongly ((or follow blindly... But... that is another matter entirely...)) enough that it will offend them greatly when its taken from them to be able to do that... I figure it'd look like QUITE the double standard to them that allowances are made for other religions in their self-limitations and not their own...
So, I take a kinda l'ezzais faire (sp?) stance on this... What they don't wanna do is what they don't wanna do -- I wouldn't wanna leave someone feeling spiritually raped because they were forced to participate in something they believed they shouldn't.....
But, I wouldn't take that on all such things.... as sometimes something HAS to be done for the greater good... But, having seen what it did to the girl who had to opt out at her parents' request from my health class... I think that most would not decide to... Since she seemed horribly embarrassed, and other kids started talking about her... So, recieving an education would, most likely, be preferrable to such suffering...
I think that they would be doing themselves an injustice to opt out....
But I also understand that if someone is religious enough to still adhere strictly.... then they believe strongly ((or follow blindly...
But... that is another matter entirely...)) enough that it will offend them greatly when its taken from them to be able to do that... I figure it'd look like QUITE the double standard to them that allowances are made for other religions in their self-limitations and not their own...So, I take a kinda l'ezzais faire (sp?) stance on this... What they don't wanna do is what they don't wanna do -- I wouldn't wanna leave someone feeling spiritually raped because they were forced to participate in something they believed they shouldn't.....
But, I wouldn't take that on all such things.... as sometimes something HAS to be done for the greater good... But, having seen what it did to the girl who had to opt out at her parents' request from my health class... I think that most would not decide to... Since she seemed horribly embarrassed, and other kids started talking about her... So, recieving an education would, most likely, be preferrable to such suffering...
Dude..
The point that I was attempting to make is that the framers of the constitution thought freedom of religion was: 1) No public money should be used to support an established church [at that time, the government gave the Church of England money], 2) The government would not tell a church what to teach, 3) Civic duties take precedence.
Support of public health initiatives is a civic duty. A century of so ago, the right of the state to quarantine to prevent the spread of disease was established by laws and ordinances and upheld by the court. To me, sex education and the use of condoms is exactly like quarantine; instead of being "confined" to a house, an attempt now is made to confine disease to a tube of latex and further limit the spread of STD's by education. To be effective, the sex education should include pictures of sores, warts...whatever on the genitalia. Why? So that kids know what to look for and know that they need to get their ass to a doctor if something pops up.
Whether or not sex ed is taught, Christians are going figure out the mechanics; what they may not figure out until they begin to live a lifetime with herpes, HIV, or whatever is that precautions and education may have prevented this suffering.
So do I think anyone attending school has the right to opt out of sex education? Certainly. However, I would suggest that maybe they should not be eligible to graduate with a diploma. Why? They did not fufill a graduation requirement and a civic responsibility. [There is always the GED route.]
In short for sex ed to be effective, I think it should be marketed as a civic responsibility.....Good Citizens Do Sex Ed or something.
jay
P.S. I think you and your classmates were right in being uncomfortable when you saw someone opt out; howver, this was an individual/family choice. Sorry for being preachy.
Well, I believe that Mindseye made a very compelling point in this thread -- even if students/families are allowed to opt out does *not* mean that they don't get sex education someplace. Something in me believes that in a conservative family that opts out, that education wouldn't happen at home.
Jay is right: the spread of disease (regardless of *how*) and the increase of unplanned pregnancies is a civic issue with far-reaching effects to the broader society including increased governmental welfare, unemplyment, kids growing up in non-nuclear families/institutions, etc, not to mention individual effects including abortion, poverty, unplanned marraige, etc.
Sounds a bit rightist on the abortion comments, but my point is that if kids knew more about sex, then they're less likely to get pregnant and thus wouldn't have to answer the question of abortion, adoption, unwanted marraige, or single parenthood.
Jay is right: the spread of disease (regardless of *how*) and the increase of unplanned pregnancies is a civic issue with far-reaching effects to the broader society including increased governmental welfare, unemplyment, kids growing up in non-nuclear families/institutions, etc, not to mention individual effects including abortion, poverty, unplanned marraige, etc.
Sounds a bit rightist on the abortion comments, but my point is that if kids knew more about sex, then they're less likely to get pregnant and thus wouldn't have to answer the question of abortion, adoption, unwanted marraige, or single parenthood.
Pony and Mindseye..
Perhaps, sex education can be taught at home. Somehow though I can't imagine my family sitting around the kitchen table discussing anal sex, looking at pictures of genital warts, syphillus sores, and other STDs, or holding a practice for me and my bros putting a condom on a wooden dowel. I think any of these would be a little more graphic than my parents could handle. <<just thinking about this causes me to LMAO>>
I think I had a decent understanding of the mechanics of screwing and the way that an embryo develops from a fertilized egg a couple of years before we first had sex ed in the sixth grade. My friends, older brothers, and family discussions at the kitchen table covered the basics pretty well. I also knew that there were diseases that were associated with sex...period.
In school, we watched videos of birthing, the development of embryos, and what are the characteristics of various STDs and what they looked like in the genital areas and orally. The last vid was so gross that some of us swore off sex and the thought of sex for a good 10 hours....hey, we were 15 or so.
Until I went to college, I assumed everyone had a similiar course. Not so. One of my roomates missed swim practice two days in a row, and when I got back to the room to tell him the coach wanted to see him tomorrow, I found him crying. After a few minutes of talking and reassuring him I would keep my lips sealed forever, he told me that he had gotten drunk during the holidays and had sex and caught something. "My life is ruined."
"What did the doctor say?"
"I have not been to a doctor."
huh? "How do you know?"
"I am certain that I have syphillis. I have two large sores on my penis. My life is ruined; I can't tell my parents. yada, yada. I can't go into the doctor's office and pull out my dick and show him."
After about ten minutes of talking, he dropped his shorts and showed me the two large sores on his penis. They were monster pimples [I am sure they have some name.] that hurt like hell. I went down and bought a sewing kit, alcohol, and gauze pads so he could lance them. End of problem.
On spring break this year, he came out to visit and reminded me of this event. He told me that he had contemplated suicide for a couple of days....because of two pimples. From his sex ed, he remembered that syph sores were the size of a dime or lagrer with a bright red ring and a white center. In mine we saw color pictures, gross! Which sex ed was better in the longer term?
jay
Perhaps, sex education can be taught at home. Somehow though I can't imagine my family sitting around the kitchen table discussing anal sex, looking at pictures of genital warts, syphillus sores, and other STDs, or holding a practice for me and my bros putting a condom on a wooden dowel. I think any of these would be a little more graphic than my parents could handle. <<just thinking about this causes me to LMAO>>
I think I had a decent understanding of the mechanics of screwing and the way that an embryo develops from a fertilized egg a couple of years before we first had sex ed in the sixth grade. My friends, older brothers, and family discussions at the kitchen table covered the basics pretty well. I also knew that there were diseases that were associated with sex...period.
In school, we watched videos of birthing, the development of embryos, and what are the characteristics of various STDs and what they looked like in the genital areas and orally. The last vid was so gross that some of us swore off sex and the thought of sex for a good 10 hours....hey, we were 15 or so.
Until I went to college, I assumed everyone had a similiar course. Not so. One of my roomates missed swim practice two days in a row, and when I got back to the room to tell him the coach wanted to see him tomorrow, I found him crying. After a few minutes of talking and reassuring him I would keep my lips sealed forever, he told me that he had gotten drunk during the holidays and had sex and caught something. "My life is ruined."
"What did the doctor say?"
"I have not been to a doctor."
huh? "How do you know?"
"I am certain that I have syphillis. I have two large sores on my penis. My life is ruined; I can't tell my parents. yada, yada. I can't go into the doctor's office and pull out my dick and show him."
After about ten minutes of talking, he dropped his shorts and showed me the two large sores on his penis. They were monster pimples [I am sure they have some name.] that hurt like hell. I went down and bought a sewing kit, alcohol, and gauze pads so he could lance them. End of problem.
On spring break this year, he came out to visit and reminded me of this event. He told me that he had contemplated suicide for a couple of days....because of two pimples. From his sex ed, he remembered that syph sores were the size of a dime or lagrer with a bright red ring and a white center. In mine we saw color pictures, gross! Which sex ed was better in the longer term?
jay
