Where do we draw the line between school and the personal sexual health of a student?
So many schools have issues with the topic of sexual health. Some have programs to educate students of sexual protection, others go into details of intercourse. Some schools even give out sexual protection, but where is the line? With some students having sex with teachers, I believe that schools have gotten out of control. There has to be a line drawn where sexual health is left in the hands of the parents and their children. Permission slips or none, why is this the educators job?
A lot of the sexual conterversy has come from King Middle School in Portland, ME circa 2007. They had voted 10 to 2 to supply birth control pills and patches to students. Only 5 out of 134 students said they were sexually active so why is this school accomodating to them?(Education portal.com) I remember in 6th grade we were offered a sexual health course under parental permission. This class was very vague and tip toed around the subject. The teacher was nervous and untrained and left several answers fromm students unanswered. I recall specifically a student asking "What is masturbation?" The teacher was baffled that a student would even know the word at such a young age. Her response? "Ask your parents, i'm not sure." Of course she was sure, she was at least in her late 40's, but to have the school force her into this awkward position? Unspeakable.
By the time I hit high school we were all required to take a sex ed course with parental permission (even if we were 18.) In this course we learned details on oral sex, pregnency prevention, and the day after pill. It seemed like an open invitation for all students to have sex. Those who weren't mocked it, and those who were took it as an "easy" course because of course they already knew everything. Did anyone really LEARN anything though?
"According to the National Assembly on School-Based Health Care, nearly 30 percent of the 1,700 school-based health centers in the country currently provide birth control to students. "(Education Portal)
I mean it'd be silly to assume students aren't having sex with 46.8 percent reporting they have (SADD), but when did it become the schools responsibility? It is the job to keep kids healthy, but they are practically giving students a hotel room and free reign. It seems the line is being pushed further and further toward letting students have sex at the school. I know this seems drastic....but their was a day when giving condoms out to teenagers was drastic. To inform students and educate them is a job of the school, but to supply them with the materials to have sex when there are public health systems that will do it is a little bit out of line. I know this is only an opinion, but I don't understand how it's came to this.
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