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Originally posted by kronas
so called 'experts' have recommended that children from 5 years old should be taught sex education
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First of all, for those interested in this discussion, one take on the story can be seen at:
http://politics.guardian.co.uk/homea...996066,00.html
Now it seems that kronas has taken an "anti" position to this story because of his expression "so called" and putting "experts" in quotes, thus calling into question their expertise and knowledge from the start.
However these people are actually the Independent Advisory Group on Teenage Pregnancy, this group, quoting from
http://www.doh.gov.uk/teenagepregnan...ovresponse.pdf
"[...] was established in 2000, as part of the Strategyââ‚à ƒâ€šÃ‚¬ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚¢s action plan. Its terms of reference are to provide advice to Government and monitor the success of its Strategy towards achieving the headline goals. There are 30 members in the Group, appointed in accordance with the Nolan rules for Non-Departmental Public Bodies, and drawn from a wide range of individuals and organisations with experience of working with teenagers and teenage parents."
This rather implies that these people *are* reasonably qualified to be called "experts" and probably have some idea of what they are talking about.
Of course the writer of story itself doesn't help because they say that sex education for under fives will be "demanded", when I think the word "suggested" would be more appropriate.
> the scheme would not go in to too much detail but would start with basics so that the child would understand
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but family and youth group concern say that its a form of 'child abuse' which would rob them of there 'innocence'
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Which is a wonderful sound bite response from that group because it contains the loaded expression "child abuse" which will cause instant negative reactions amongst wide areas of the population and which is very difficult to counter without lots of explanation which will cause most people to switch off very quickly.
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my opinion i think its too early 10-13 years old is the ideal time IMO for them to be taught as children especailly taking in to account girls mature faster then boys they should learn the pitfalls of certain 'actions' they make take
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I would agree with this up to a point, however the report fails to emphasise that it's not just "sex" which is suggested be taught, but *relationships* which is a whole different matter.
Mostly children and teenagers find out about relationships by sheer trial and error and I think that teaching children how to relate to other people (and not just in a "sex" way) is something that *should* be taught to them as soon as possible because not only would it help cut down on teenage pregnancies, but also on abusive relationships etc.
IMO children need to be taught about sex *before* puberty, since by the time they get there they already have formed ideas and opinions based on stuff they've picked up from the playground or on TV etc and it's starting to be too late by that time.
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but most schools brush the idea aside of sex ed and not teach the 'real' issues youngsters can face........
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I think it's more a case that the schools are so loaded down with the amount of stuff in the National Curriculum they already have to deal with that they just don't feel they can spare the time to deal with all this as well, and that's just down to the Government being willing to spend more money on Education which they promised in the first place.