More on this business with teen pregnancy rates going down. And the explanations from the self-satisfied “experts” that of course their kind of sex-ed in school caused teens suddenly to become more careful about not getting pregnant.
Sexual literacy (the result of sex education in schools) and access to contraceptives are cited as two key reasons Canada’s teen pregnancy rate fell dramatically between 1996 and 2006, according to a study by the Sex Information and Education Council of Canada.
Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty backed away from plans to introduce an expanded sex ed curriculum this fall, after a public outcry fueled by religious groups. Yet the research from the Sex Information and Education Council does seem to imply that arming young Canadians with information about sex has positive impact. Between 1996 and 2006, teen pregnancy rates in Canada dropped by 37 per cent — more steeply than in the United States, Sweden or the United Kingdom.
Bosh. This implies that 1) the only way to become “sexually literate” is by going through school-based sex ed; that 2) religious parents are against “arming” their own personal young Canadians with information about sex; and that 3) there is significantly less sex-ed in the US than there is in Canada, which I find surprising at best. I’m no expert on religion, but there is not one normal parent I know (religious or not) who’s in favour of keeping their pre-teens and teens in the dark about sex and sexuality (not that they could if they tried). It’s just that not everybody likes the way public sex-ed teachers go about teaching the kids, and I’m guessing a lot of the objections parents have to school-based sex-ed is that it doesn’t talk about morality, the importance of commitment, or anything much outside of pure sex mechanics. Being an expert at unrolling a condom but having no idea why committed, stable relationships are also the ones in which the sex is better doesn’t strike me as fitting the definition of being “armed with information about sex”.
But then, I’m not an expert.
by 
I think there needs to be balance in this, and co-operation between home and school. Sex-Ed in schools is lacking in exactly the areas you describe, but there’s also no guarantee that parents will cover ANYTHING at home if their kids don’t come right out and ask. Until we started sex-ed classes in high school, girls in my grade still believed you couldn’t get pregnant the first time you have sex (along with many other dangerous bits of misinformation)- their parents weren’t misinforming them, but they weren’t talking about mechanics or morals, either.
I agree completely that additional information about relationships is necessary, but for some reason, there are people who object to “morals” being taught in school.
I’d like to see school programs with more parental involvement- information sent home to parents re: what students are learning and things they might want to discuss at home. Even well-intentioned parents who don’t mean to leave their kids in the dark often put off having “the talk” until it’s too late, and having a class requirement to break the ice might lead to more discussion at home- though, unfortunately, not in all cases.
Oh, and it would have been great if in high school (or earlier) we’d had a few classes on sex in the media- morality and commitment don’t get much respect there, and people end up thinking that’s normal.
Barbara Kay comments on this here:
http://www.nationalpost.com/opinion/columnists/story.html?id=dd0c40a2-de98-484e-9e99-de76c307af06&p=1
Kids today are more sexually literate than the previous generation, for sure. They can’t help it, since s*x has permeated every area of their media consumption…and as their media consumption is exponentially higher than that same previous generation. School-based s*x ed only adds technical expertise, as has been said.
This literacy, has not created this decline in pregnancy, at least in my personal experience with the middle school set. I had the privilege to watch a podcast created in 4 days by two 15 year old girls. No specific assignment. No one whispering in their ears.
They came up with a script on their own where one of them was pregnant (total fiction in this case) and she was discussing her options. Abortion was the first option given by the “interviewer”. Immediately, the “pregnant” girl said that she would never consider it, since “obviously abrtion is murder”.
What the girls focussed on is how she got into the situation in the first place. How stupid she had been, how she had been used. How she wished she could take it back.
What the girls said behind the camera is that they would never NEVER get into that situation in real life, since they “aren’t stupid enough to have s*x before they’re ready for a baby, and with the person they want to be the father.”
These girls are not religious (trust me) and they are a pretty good example of the kids their age in our area: pretty average grades, one slightly lower than average income, one about average. They do not have superior morals in other areas of their lives… you should hear the language they use when they think no teacher can hear.
What they do have is a good understanding the connection between s*x and babies. What they have is more scientific understanding of how babies develop, not just how to stop them from developing.
Whatever gave them that connection, that understanding, it gave me hope for the future!
I had to type s*x to avoid being called a spammer….the nerve! 🙂