Mandatory sex lessons for every 15-year-old

Sex education is to be made compulsory for all pupils, prompting fury from faith groups which said that the move would contravene the right for children to be educated in accordance with their parents’ beliefs.

All 15-year-olds must receive at least one year of sex and relationship lessons, Ed Balls, the Schools Secretary, said yesterday. Those whose religious or moral values prevent them from attending will be classed as truants and may be punished by the school. Until now parents could opt out of lessons about contraception, sexually transmitted diseases and homosexuality until their children were 19.

Roman Catholic and Muslim groups said they would strongly oppose the move. Shahid Akmal, chairman of the Muslim Council of Britain’s education board, said he would challenge the laws, which he called an imposition. “It is always better for the parents to talk to children about sex rather than the school over which the parents have no control,” he said.

The Catholic Education Service for England and Wales said it was “disappointed” that the “blanket right to withdrawal” had been removed.

www.timesonline.co.uk...

Sex education aT 15? Seems a little late. Most 15 year olds already know most of the important things regarding sex and more than likely they are experimenting, learning the subtleties on their own.

I do agree that sex education should be a parental responsibility and it should imo be exercised at least by age 8.

[edit on 8-11-2009 by whaaa]

agreed..... in the area i live most of the mothers are about 15 .!

i would say thats very late!!

Im not going to go on a limb and say when i think kids are ready to know, like every person is different every child is different, and will be ready to know at different times in their life. I dont think its something that should be forced on a child at a young age, my thinking.. let kids be kids

then, when you as a parent see (of hear) the signs that they may be entering that part of life ... then its time for "the talk" .

15 though, thats probably a bit too late!

Originally posted by whaaa
I do agree that sex education should be a parental responsibility and it should imo be exercised at least by age 8.

It blows my mind that it's now considered normal for a female of 8 and a male of 9 to hit puberty. While my first thought is that 8 is way too young for sex education, if they're hitting puberty it's time for them to know. Jesus, WTH are we doing to our bodies with all these chemicals?

reply to post by whaaa


15 does seem to be a bit late for today's youth.

However, a much deeper problem arises that is very alarming:

Those whose religious or moral values prevent them from attending will be classed as truants and may be punished by the school.

Schools do not own children. Even if one personally thinks the parents are wrong for wanting to disallow their children from attending such sessions, that is the parent's right. The state should not be above the family.

We begin to venture down a scary road when the school punishes the children for a decision made by the parents on their behalf. The school is trying to supersede the parents' authority.

The issue here is that the sex ed is to be compulsory at age 15 & that parents won't be able to exercise the "opt out" that they can when their child is younger. Pull your child out of these classes and they'll be chased up by the truant officers.

But it's not just the basic mechanics of it all, these classes. They'll also consider relationships plus the emotional/social side of sex too. I assume it'll touch on same sex relationships, which some parents aren't so keen on telling their children about.

I think it's a good thing.

reply to post by AshleyD


Yeah. What you said

Wasn't it California that just passed the law for sex ed to begin in Kindergarten? That includes same sex, transgender, everything.

People are pulling their kids out and homeschooling them, that can.

Unsure if private schools are mandated to do this too.

At 15 most kids could probably tell ME a thing or two...
Honestly I don't think many kids are unaware of the 'nuts and bolts' of sex by that age.
But I used to work for a city council in UK, and I remember being quite shocked at the material being used. I thought I had lived life but there was reference to practices I hadn't realised existed! Sorry but a big WRONG in my book. As adults, we are all free to explore these things - but I think they should be left out of the equation when educating young people.
What I would support is education about the realities of sexually transmitted diseases - also having a baby - especially as a single parent. And yes, information about birth control. I'm not sure about homosexuality but I would guess most teenagers already know or suspect their inclination. So why not?
Most parents don't handle these things at all well. Much better it comes from someone impartial. And just consider, if there was 'opt out', how it would make the opted out student feel? Would there be ribbing from other students? You bet.
The fear of many parents is that 'information about' = 'encouragement to' .. And these fears need to be allayed.
So I agree with it being mandatory. With reservations.





[edit on 8-11-2009 by unicorn1]

[edit on 8-11-2009 by unicorn1]

Originally posted by unicorn1
At 15 most kids could probably tell ME a thing or two...

And a shocking amount of it would be dead wrong. I did sex ed with my kids at age 13, and at age 14 or so they took a "sex quiz" that was popular with the other kids. My kids scored 90%, their "aware friends" scored in the 40's or 50's.

Sex ed could be a lot of things, from respecting the right to say "no", from encouraging to report abuse, from understanding the difference between play and abuse (while I wouldn't teach them BDSM, it would be okay to say that roleplaying sometimes happens and as long as both agree to it, it's okay.)

A good lecture on the economics of families and what happens to "keep the baby, Faith" type families. Recognizing that some people are gay and that "gay" isn't to be used as a bashing word (my daughter is gay, so I get rather huffy about this), and that some people may change gender (I know four transgendered people) and that doesn't make them insane or whacked out, etc (and that some change their minds before surgery and go back to the original gender.

In short, I don't know what they're planning to teach. I'd like to hear more about it before giving an opinion.

Originally posted by AshleyD
Schools do not own children. Even if one personally thinks the parents are wrong for wanting to disallow their children from attending such sessions, that is the parent's right. The state should not be above the family.

Ash - in the UK it is the parents responsibility to ensure that their child receives an appropriate education. Any kid in state education therefore has to comply with the national curriculum, and as sex ed is a part of it, the parents have no right to disallow - hence the truancy ruling.

Home ed kids, and private schools at the moment have no such compulsion to comply, although I'd wager that such subjects are discussed earlier, and more intelligently in home education.

reply to post by Byrd


Ah well
I came from an earlier age - when you thought babies might be a result of kissing...
As for BDSM, my personal opinion is that this sort of thing should be adressed in 1:1, not mainstream. Not that it's 'wrong'...
At 15, kids are just short of being adults anyway. So my take is let the education take place. But parents need to be informed and consulted beforehand as they are still legally responsible.
The big problem, as I see it, is that talking about things is seen as sanction/encouragement to do it.
In my city council days, there was reference to use of animals. I am not going to go further.. But I remember being quite disturbed at the whole matter of fact approach.
The pc thing seems to be that 'whatever you feel' is ok.
The whole thing is a minefield...


[edit on 8-11-2009 by unicorn1]

reply to post by AshleyD

Schools do not own children.

neither do parents, yet again we are in agreement we merely ahve stewardship of our children.
When we send our children to school we hand over parental responsibility to the school, if the educators decide to teach what we disagree with in relation to sex education we have every right to remove the child or not send the child there to begin with, we withhold parental responsibility.

Things change somewhat when there's money involved though like in divorce. In this instance most often the child becomes the property of the parent with breasts.

I tell ya man I am as non-Christian as you can get. I think Christians are repressed and need to calm down. Why do I say this? Because I'll be damned before I ever tell a Christian mother how to teach sex to her children.

Freedom ya'll!

practice it. I think the compulsory part is a bit much

-Kyo

Sex education?

On the job training was my preferred method of education at 15 yrs of age.

Sex education should be by the parents at a much earlier age than 15 but many parents are uncomfortable about talking sex with their kids. That leaves the street and school. School would probably be the wisest choice.

Rather then teach sex ed to 15 year olds, we need to change what is seen in the media (movies, TV, magazines, etc). Kids are exposed to sex in just about everything - sex sells! Watch the DisneyChannel sometime. Parents are stupid and kids run the place. Most kid fashions today were considered "hooker" outfits 20 years ago. If are going to dress them like prostitutes, then we need to educate them the same.

Kids need to be treated like kids, dressed like kids, and expected to act like kids. It's not the chemical's fault, it's the parent's fault. Parents need to act like parents! Take control and responsibility!

Originally posted by veterator
Kids need to be treated like kids, dressed like kids, and expected to act like kids. It's not the chemical's fault, it's the parent's fault. Parents need to act like parents! Take control and responsibility!

Unfortunatly kids just don't have that luxury any more.

By 13-14 we are already asking children to decide what they will do for the rest of their lives, seriously, because they then choose 'options' for some lessons in school.

I chose ICT, but I could have chosen triple-science, or Geography. But not all three, at 13 I had to decide which would most benefit me in the future.



We also no longer live in a world where parents dieing is just a sad event...there is so much debt in peoples families now, a parent dieing now has a huge chance of throwing you into even more debt on top of the suffering...


Our education is done on computers alot of the time, not child friendly at the best of times.

The adult generations are so brainwashed by the media that children simply receive no respect any more and give up trying.



You can't treat kids like kids until theyre 16 or 18 anymore...that time has come and gone. We have to grow up faster or we wont stand a chance...and thats just socially

I'm pretty sure I've read somewhere that physicially children are starting puberty at a much younger age now, I'm a guy and I know I started at about 8 or 9...which is young. They are getting the 'urge' younger now than they did before, and media or not they will act on this urge unless they are educated about the consequences...and even then they will act on the urge just as millions of adults do everyday because if nobody acted on the 'urge' the world would be a very quiet place.

You can't stop a natural act from happening... yes natural. Just because society decides a 14 year old girl or boy is too young to have sex, nature does not...and not so long ago society didn't either and people were fine with it. This isn't combatting some new problem, it's combatting nature. And that is a fight that can't be won.

[edit on 27-11-2009 by StevenDye]

reply to post by whaaa

All 15-year-olds must receive at least one year of sex and relationship lessons, Ed Balls, the Schools Secretary, said yesterday.

Says ED BALLS =

Kids don't have sex, they think its icky


[edit on 27-11-2009 by Janky Red]

Our child was educated around 5yrs old to know 'the basics' of reproduction, etc. This is fairly common in non sexually repressed countries. It you know... helps your child KNOW HOW TO COME TO THE PARENTS IF A KIDDY FIDDLER TRIES ANYTHING. But watch out in USA.. I mean good lord uncle johnny is mortified that his little niece might know what he's been doing to her! And this is all extremely bizarre as red states have the highest porn surfing statistics, divorce and abortion. But what do I know!? lol

I believe this is way too late. The amount of young girls pushing prams in my local town is shocking and if I'm honest it's always been like it. we have the highest rate of teenage pregnancy and sexually transmitted disease in Europe, we are one sexually repressed nation, yet we have pictures of naked women in one of our most popular daily newspapers, magazines that are obsessed with sex, yet we don't like to teach our kids about it in a mature fashion.

we need to start thinking a bit more progressively about these sort of issues. rather than worry how the Daily Mail reading morons will react.

My issues on religion in school is, there should be none. All kids should be treated the same and if missing an important lesson is viewed as truancy, then so be it.

Oh I'm fine with religion in schools so long as they spread ALL religion equally.. Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, etc (yeah right.. sure that would go over well!)

Did you guys know that in North Carolina it is illegal to hang clothes on a clothes line? Can't have those panties corrupting everyone!