My 8th grade daughter came home yesterday and told me about her ‘sex education class’ at public school.
The following is what our 13-14 year olds are being taught about sex in school.
One half of all new HIV infections are among 15-19 year olds.
One in four teens have an STD.
One in two cases of STD’s are among people from 13-26 years old.
There are 5,000 reported cases of HIV in our county alone.
They were shown graphic photos of people with STD’s.
How STD’s are acquired:
• from mother to child in the womb
• sharing the razor or toothbrush of an infected person
• tattoos
• IV drug use
• oral sex
• ANY genital contact
My daughter’s class was told to ‘make sure you are ready’ if you want to have sex. If you can’t look at your partner with the lights on, you’re not ready. (What does that mean?)The teacher recommended abstaining from sex, but said if you’re going to have sex, use a latex condom because they offer the best protection. (When my daughter said that abstaining until you were married seemed to be the safest solution, the teacher admitted it was a good idea, but usually didn’t work.)
The boys (in a separate class) were given instructions on how to put on a condom.
The teacher told the class she gave her daughter condoms when she turned 12.
When I think back to what I remember of my sex education class in school, the only STD’s were syphilis and gonorrhea. We were taught the basics of how babies were ’made’ and how our bodies functioned. Birth control was barely mentioned, because 8th graders wouldn’t be having sex anytime soon. If they did, it was an aberration, not the norm. We were taught to respect ourselves and that we controlled what choices we made. We were not assumed to be out of control animals without intelligence and the ability to make good choices. When hormones raged, and they did, we didn’t immediately respond. Of course we were not without failure in our choices. We did have one pregnancy in our class of 800 seniors and 35 years later they are still married and are now grandparents. More was expected of us.
I suppose we should be grateful that our children are being informed about Sexually Transmitted Diseases at all.
Why not teach that abstinence is our goal? We are much more concerned with our children doing their best at sports. No one says to their child ‘There’s the goal. I will understand if you don’t reach it. No one really expects you to because it’s really hard to do. If you feel compelled to kick the ball toward it, go ahead but chances are you won’t reach it. And that’s OK.”
My Pastor compared this concept and giving children condoms to driving a car. Imagine saying to our kids ‘Here are the keys to the car, just in case you feel you want to drive it. You’ll know when you are ready. It’s right in the garage. No one really expects you to resist driving it. I know you don’t know much about driving and there is a one in four chance you’ll damage yourself for life or die horribly from your injuries but we have insurance and I’ll understand if you can’t help yourself.’
Why don’t we teach our children that we value and love them enough by encouraging them to set high standards for themselves? Why not place limits on one-on-one dating instead of letting them drive off into the night for hours with a person of the opposite sex? Why don’t we give our children a fighting chance when the consequences are life-long and life threatening?
Ask Mom, She Knows 