Sex Education in Schools - Essay Example

Running Head: Sex Education Pastoral and social/personal education - is sex education contentious Sex education is an important part of our overall task of preparing children for the future. When we are stressing manners, responsibilities, satisfying curiosity or the concept of God's love, we are contributing substantially to a framework of attitudes and information which can assist us in helping children assimilate the story of growth and reproduction. If we approach sex education as separate and unrelated to other needs and expressions in life, we are saying to children that this topic does not really belong in our everyday adjustment. Feeling concerning children have about sex are controversial, and if we believe otherwise, it is an indication of how unwilling we are to face reality about it. If we do not talk with children about sex, who will We face a twofold responsibility -- presenting and listening to facts about sex, and discussing feelings about sex. Often our attitudes (feelings) give us more problems than factual information about sex. Stories and jokes about sex are common, in some degree, at all age levels. These reflect our curiosities as well as our anxieties. If we can first admit that discussing all aspects of sexual growth and development makes us uneasy, we can begin to learn by and thus be more helpful to children. Though there is great debate in favor of and against sex education. According to a national survey conducted for the Commission on Obscenity and Pornography, there appears to be a clear majority of citizens who do favor sex education in the schools. Sex education programs in public schools were approved by 58% of the men and 54% of the women, with an additional 13% and 16% of men and women giving a qualified approval. A minority of 23% were totally opposed to sex education in the schools. These data also suggest that a substantial number of parents are dissatisfied with the present methods for the transmission of sexual information and are looking to public education for a more effective solution. In a more recent poll that consisted of 1518 personal interviews of people over the age of 17 in 300 locations selected to represent the United States census, 77% felt that sex education should be taught in schools (Kirby, D, 1999, 195-209). The discussion of contraceptives in sex education courses was supported by 69% of the population. Of some note, given the Roman Catholic Church's official position on artificial means of birth control, Catholics were just as likely as Protestants to approve of sex education classes in the schools, approve of having these classes discuss birth control, and favor making birth control devices available to teenagers. Some puts a stigma on the subject of sex, with the implication that the relationship between the sexes is something to be hidden, to be ashamed of. The child often may need reeducation rather than new knowledge, to be freed first of the troublesome attitudes which he may have absorbed, the information he has picked up, and the anxieties and feelings which have developed as a result, before he is ready to understand and accept on a new and fresh basis. The debate over sex education in the schools always heated up. The arguments for democratic education are complicated in this context by the fact that adolescents and teens are legally minors, and hence, rarely accorded either legal or moral autonomy. Several layers of paternalism, therefore, smother students' rights to know how to protect themselves from HIV infection. Schools may act in loco parentis, to be sure, and could arguably decide that explicit sex education is in the students' best interests. But schools are run by school superintendents, school boards, and parents --not to mention state legislatures and county and city governing boards. And parents have traditionally been allowed authority in areas considered to be religious or moral instruction. Though, the majority now say they are 'in favor' of sex education. Many junior schools give information about childbirth and many secondary schools attempt to give some kind of sex education usually in the Biology or Religious Education periods under headings such as 'hygiene', 'human biology' or 'the family'. But some research found that masturbation and homosexuality were hardly ever mentioned and 90 per cent of schools gave no information about methods of contraception. The Longford Committee on pornography complained that sex education was too explicit. For some reason it is acceptable to arouse curiosity, but not to give plain facts. Thus anatomical drawings are to be found in most books, but not photographs. Some argue that Sex educators are often those who have had further education in pastoral care, if not medical or paramedical training and are used to the visual symbolism of the anatomical textbook. . . . Unfortunately many of the children receiving sex education do not possess these skills, and many have not perhaps reached the necessary level of mental development to enable these skills to develop. A large picture of a sperm revolted one class, as it looked more like a snake or a worm than anything which one would like to have in one's insides. . . . Others have had to be convinced that their Fallopian tubes were not purple and did not have white tacking stitches running down them. Relating the size of the uterus to reality and demonstrating its position in the body have also created difficulties, as the uterus in one much-used loop film looks as though it had been given wings and is about to take off in flight." (Atkinson, Elizabeth. 2002) Children are literally bombarded with attitudes about sex through a multitude of ways: television programs, advertising, news reports, movies, magazine and book displays, styles of dress, stories, songs, language, in addition to the quite obvious stimulus provided by their own bodily functions and growth. Thus stimulated, the child has feelings and questions stirred up. If we do not offer our help, where can he turn In defense of truth and the whole story, we are forced to present a more complete and honest exposure to the facts and to the context of these facts. There is nothing wrong or bad about the child's questions. The idea of "wrong" or "bad" is too often introduced by the adult's response. Let us vow to end the era where healthy questions are rebuked by unhealthy attitudes and begin an era where feelings of the child are given welcome expression. Sex education is one of the few areas (drugs may be another) where good, simple, honest questions are answered by a volcano of systematized lies, distortions, and plain avoidance. The latter is usually done by postponing an answer until later, much later. The reason some children keep asking the same questions is that their nose tells them that the truth has not yet been found. Children are acutely sensitive to how we feel and withdraw or suppress questions when they sense the adult is uncomfortable. The adult's rush to quell his own anxiety has been at the expense of the child's failing to obtain information then or later. Pastoral care just permits but actively encourage child coming to us for a discussion of sex information We must care enough to work hard at overcoming our discomfort to be of help to the child. We are in a strategic position to help place sex information in a broad context of life's goals and rewards. We are close by and available to teach when the child is ready and eager to learn. It is not easy to change one's attitudes, but it can be done. We will not make the effort until we are convinced it is actually in the best interest of the child. The basic principles in being helpful are present in sex education. We must listen, with our heads and hearts, to what a child may really be asking. We must recognize the question is important to this child at this time. We must attempt to keep our own feelings out of the way. A standing joke in the Army Medical Corps tells of the corpsman who injects himself with morphine upon discovering a severely wounded soldier. We obviously are of no help when our own feelings are so great that we cannot give our attention to the child. The Guidance Document suggests ways in which the health education curriculum may be implemented. The following approaches are thought to be most appropriate for secondary schools: permeating the whole curriculum; as a separately timetabled subject; as part of a PSE course/programme; or as part of a pastoral/tutorial programme. The document suggests the following programme at key stage 3: Key Stage 3-Sex education - recognize the importance of personal choice in managing relationships so that they do not present risks, for example to health or personal safety - understand that organisms (including HIV) can be transmitted in many ways, in some cases sexually - discuss moral values and explore those held by different cultures and groups - understand the concept of stereotyping and identify its various forms - be aware of the range of sexual attitudes and behaviors in present-day society - understand that people have the right not to be sexually active; recognize that parenthood is a matter of choice; know in broad outline the biological and social factors that influence sexual behavior and their consequences http://www.falmouth.cornwall.sch.uk/Policies/health.htm In many schools sex education is taught as part of the personal and social education (PSE) programme. One of the main advantages is that it has the potential to be taught by a specialist team of teachers. If the staffs are also personal tutors it has the added and very important advantage of being taught by those who have close relationships with their students. Yet surprisingly, sex education is still often the responsibility of the science department where it may focus on the cognitive and medical aspects and fail to tackle the work relating to attitudes and behavior. In other schools, the science department is responsible for teaching the 'plumbing' and work on relationships and attitudes is left to PSE. This arrangement may well be regarded as unsatisfactory by both groups of teachers. In an ideal world any teachers asked to teach sex education should themselves receive training. Work on HIV, sex and sexuality is more about the teacher than the student. How do you go about it How might you approach it If teachers do not feel comfortable, it is they who are the problem, not the children. It is therefore important to think through your own attitudes to sex and sexuality, to give consistent messages to the young people, to make the learning experience positive, enjoyable and informal (Harrison, Lyn, and Lynne Hillier. 1999, pp. 279-288). If one feels that masturbation is repulsive and horrible, how can one possibly really be helpful to a child who might want to discuss his own worries about it Any persistent non-constructive behavior in a child should be viewed as a symptom that the child is seeking to cope with something. Frequent and repeated masturbation over many months is actually a disguised cry for help. Too frequently it has been the event triggering adults who are troubled about their own feelings, to lash out with fury and stop the behavior at all costs. Our own anxieties may lead us to "shoot the works" and tell the child all we know. We make the mistake in assuming that one question means he is ready to hear the whole story. Preparing a turkey dinner with all the trimmings in response to a request for a cookie would be just as inappropriate and unhelpful. It is not easy to be honest with ourselves. Until we come to grips with answers to our own questions, we cannot be very helpful to a child. It may be difficult to accept as truth that not all couples who engage in premarital intercourse feel remorse or guilt. Many girls have been promiscuous and have neither contracted a venereal disease nor become pregnant. We may fear that to admit these as true would express our sanction. In reality, a child is more likely to be guided by our opinion when he knows we can face facts which do not represent our own attitudes. Every child must, as we did, decide for him what is proper and acceptable for him. To pound our own viewpoint home may result in silencing the child rather than converting him. References: http://www.falmouth.cornwall.sch.uk/Policies/health.htm Kirby, D. Sexuality and sex education at home and school. Adolescent Medicine: State of the Art Reviews 10(2):195-209 (June 1999). Atkinson, Elizabeth. (2002). Education for Diversity in a Multisexual Society: Negotiating the Contradictions of Contemporary Discourse. Sex Education, Volume 2 Number 2, July. Harrison, Lyn, and Lynne Hillier. (1999). What Should Be the Subject of Sex Education Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, 20(2), pp. 279-288. Read More