Deseret News | PTA, lawmakers tackling sex ed

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PTA, lawmakers tackling sex ed

this might do | 7:01 p.m. Oct. 28, 2009

better to teach the teachers since that is the group most in need!

Anonymous | 7:13 p.m. Oct. 28, 2009

I raised six children and opted them out of sex ed as often as I could and they are happily married with children of their own. The ones who went into the sex ed sessions had a lot of trouble. Sex and all that was on their minds more than usual and was sanctioned by the establishment. Some parents think it is preparing their kids to know everything about it...but someone else is teaching the kids their values, not mine. I'll stand by that, because I have seen it and lived it.

Anonymous | 7:13 p.m. Oct. 28, 2009

The teachers are the ones being given the responsibility to talk about sex with students!

Maybe that is why there are so many illegal and immoral sexual relationships between teachers and students!

Get sex education back into the homes and the alleys where it belongs!

Comments continue below

Anonymous | 7:25 p.m. Oct. 28, 2009

Anonymous, if you had six children, then YOU needed to attend sex education classes! It's called birth control. Look into it!

K | 7:33 p.m. Oct. 28, 2009

It think it's simple. Provide sex ed for kids. More than likely the parents who opt out wil take the opportunity to teach it in the home. While it's best learned from parents the truth is too many are not teaching it.

Dear Ignorance | 7:52 p.m. Oct. 28, 2009

Were you taught to breath as a child?

Were you taught to eat?

Would you do these things whether you had any prior education about them or not?

I'd like to think the answer is yes. Why? Because they're natural.

What you WERE taught is that you need to breath oxygen, and you can't do it underwater. That you need to eat a balanced diet to maintain your health.

Same principles apply to sex education. Sex is a natural occurrence, and the class isn't teaching students how it's done. The class is teaching about the very real dangers involved, and how to avoid them, starting with abstinence. Sex ed has absolutely nothing to do with values. It has everything to do with health and welfare issues. No one is stopping you from teaching your children values, and no one is trying to usurp the values you teach them.

As far as teacher/student relations go, it's completely unrelated. Unless they now teach sexual education as a caveat to Algebra or World History. Inappropriate student/teacher relationships don't happen disproportionately more between sex ed teachers and students than teachers of any other subject.

THEeyepatch | 6:21 a.m. Oct. 29, 2009

PTA, lawmakers, and sex are three words you never want in the same sentence. Three words combined that can't make sense.

Cosmo | 9:02 a.m. Oct. 29, 2009

Amazing, 6,000 years of recorded history, and people
knew how to reproduce, without a book, and a sex ed class. Even more amazing is that dogs know how to...
do the naughty thing. And they can't read!

Fredd | 10:09 a.m. Oct. 29, 2009

Sex ed teaches the facts. You learn all the myths about how to have sex without getting pregnant are false. You learn about the terrible diseases you can get. You learn consequences.

matt | 10:39 a.m. Oct. 29, 2009

"Educators are afraid to step over the line. They have to be so careful about what they say – so they don't say anything," Hemingway said. "It's a fear factor."

Well, I guess the current law is working well then. We don't want teachers to talk about contraceptives in school -- it's not their job to fill parental roles, whether the parents do it or not.

matt | 10:42 a.m. Oct. 29, 2009

Does anyone have actual evidence that parents aren't teaching their children about sex? I mean empirical evidence, not just anecdotal evidence from your family, your neighbor, or someone in your ward?

Just because STD rates are going up doesn't necessarily mean that parents aren't doing their job. They may be teaching their kids the same things they've always taught them and kids are just deciding to be more sexually active and/or deciding not to protect themselves.

Anonymous | 10:57 a.m. Oct. 29, 2009

The responsible parent will look at the program the school offers then fill in the gaps or the responsible parent will conduct their own comprehensive sex education program in the walls of the home. Why on God's blue green Earth would ANY parent rely exclusively on the teachers, teachers unions, PTA, and school administration to actually educate on this subject? Wake up people.

The school administration is in lawsuit prevention mode so they will always error on the side on preventing a lawsuit while all else is secondary. The unions and the PTA only care about giving the kids a free pass because we can't actually require kids to abstain that would mean the kid is smarter than a stray dog or cat with no self control. The teachers are caught in the middle what can they do but duck and cover. Yeah that works for the students.

How about hauling the kids to the hospital and let them see STD's and HIV/AIDS. Take them to L&D let them see what a birth is like. In short give them the Entire story. Let them see the effects let them talk to the infected.

Robert | 11:08 a.m. Oct. 29, 2009

I like the approach that educates the parents on the need for educating their children, but I don't like the idea of school teachers teaching the subject to students or for parents to be required to remove their children from a class when they don't think it's appropriate.

First, this is a subject that must be taught in the home to be successful. If some parents don't teach it, they would benefit in knowing that they have tools, such as literature and videos, available through the schools.

Second, school teachers are not trained to teach this subject. They are trained to teach reading, writing, math, science. Even school nurses don't have the training and are not better qualified than parents. Let's not kid ourselves into thinking that schools are the proper place for this kind of education.

Third, it's not right for a parent to have to take affirmative steps to have their children "opt-out" of a school program. That only serves to stigmatize the children whose parents don't want their children taught about sex by a math or science teacher, or even the school nurse.

stop teen pregnecy/STD's | 11:14 a.m. Oct. 29, 2009

Sex education isn't about teaching kids how to have sex, that's like saying DARE is teaching kids about drugs so they can do them!! Sex education is about making students aware of the lifetime consequents that can come if they choose to participate in sexual activity. I do believe it's the parents’ job, and I think it's important to get their written permission before sending them off to sex education. But I also think it's important that the school provide this service to those who do not feel comfortable talking to children about sex, or for those students who do NOT have anyone to talk to at home.

Anonymous | 11:44 a.m. Oct. 29, 2009

To Anonymous...that was really below the belt. I know what causes pregnancy and what prevents it. We chose to have six children. All have graduated from college and some have advanced degrees.

barfoot and pregers | 11:47 a.m. Oct. 29, 2009

they dont want girls or boys to know anything because then, they wont control things enough. when a girl gets knocked up young and keeps the baby they almost never get education and there parents can control them better.

Ed | 3:08 p.m. Oct. 29, 2009

Educate the parents on how to talk about sex without falling apart and leaving the kid wondering if they're going to go blind.

Karen | 4:44 p.m. Oct. 29, 2009

Why not combine both ideas? Sheesh, people, students are curious. Let's make sure they get all the facts! Parents and teachers could actually work together. What a concept!

Kitty Litter | 7:15 p.m. Oct. 29, 2009

Hey Anon it is parents like you that kills the policies in Utah. If you think teaching kids how to protect themselves causes them to have sex your crazy. your kids might have been lucky or possibly just homely.

Repsonsibility | 9:38 p.m. Oct. 29, 2009

Sex education is regularly taught in my home. I tell my sons, "son, remember if you choose to become a father, you will be legally, morally, financially obligated to support a human being for the first 18 years of their life. Now, do you want to review the how to or the, it can wait." I have a lesson prepared for and it has been given for both.

jimp | 3:43 a.m. Oct. 30, 2009

Parents also used to teach teens to drive...where did that get us, except hundreds of inadequately trained, driving into us on the freeways. One of the things the state did right was ordain drivers education, IN THE SCHOOLS...teach them the dangers of driving...of dying...of causing permanent injuries...of killing others...and darned even now some teachers and students do have accidents. See the analogy here ? Way too many parents are incapable or irresponsible to leave sex education in their hands. A very capable educational program can and MUST be developed if we are to stave off continually rising rates of STD's and HIV infections. Which, thankfully are far more common than unwanted pregnancies which sometimes lead to abortions and/or suicides.
We can't have it both ways...ABSTINENCE DOES NOT WORK, PERIOD ! Well, maybe, but most of the times it does are with those children lucky enough to get support information at home.

Terry Palmer | 12:32 p.m. Oct. 30, 2009

jimp, I was at the meeting and I agree with you, abstinence only doesn't work as training. As a PTA president and board member, I can say that the one place parents who you never otherwise see, always show for the Maturation training. Parents seem to really want help with this type of help/discussion. I am hoping that a combination of this training along with help from the schools and health workers, will protect our young people. It can't hurt!

Leave it alone | 7:25 a.m. Oct. 31, 2009

Why must the schools step in for the parent in every aspect of life? They check teeth, evaluate vision, conduct health exams, educate on sex....and since most schools in Utah are government-run, that translates to the government getting involved in the most minute areas of our life. Schools - stop being the parent.

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