6th graders have sex in class w/teacher present

[StruckingFuggle]

Semantics are just word play.

In some cases, such as this, that's bullshit.

"Shame" is a rather mild term. Sure, you can abuse your kids and sure, that's worse, but not teaching them how to be safe its still a failure of your parental obligation (there's a better term) ... sure, abusing your kid is worse, but it's not a good thing at all to fail to educate them about things they may need to know. If you don't educate them about sex and protection and et cetera, it's certainly going to be easier to pressure them into sex (funny enough, even if you try to get them to be abstinent. You know who, among girls, are more likely to put out for anal or oral? The ones trying to keep their legs closed. Ah, irony!), and then what's going to happen? They're not going to be safe about it, because they don't know better. If they even think to use a condom, will they use it right?

The reason we have teenagers with stds, from the clap to pregnancy, isn't so much because they're having sex - that's pretty unavoidable, no matter how much people want to shove their heads into the sand ... but rather that they're having unprotected sex. Either deliberately or through one form of ignorance or the other. And why are they operating in dangerous ignorance? Because not only have too many parents made sure they don't learn these things in school, they've either failed or refused to teach it at home, too.

So ... Yes, I'd say that when your daughter gets knocked up because neither she nor her boyfriend knew how to use a condom, or catches something taking it up the ass, it's going to be more than just a "shame".

Seriously. How can you say that trying to ensure that people are safe is a bad thing? How can you say that trying to ensure that people are capable of making intelligent and informed decisions is a bad thing? How can you say that base ignorance (let alone deliberately adulterated ignorance) is better, especially in the face of all the dangers of that ignorance?

[Bigity]

I ensure my kids are safe, that is what my job is as a parent.

I don't count on the school to teach my kids about sex. They can't even teach students how to read before college, for crying out loud.

[Blaze]

Bigity:


Okay, so, I'm a teacher, and right there in the middle of class, while I'm writing something on the blackboard, one of my students suddenly pulls out a joint and lights up, before I turn around to notice and stop it.

I'm responsible for their being drugs in my classroom?

[adciv]

Related,

Given that I have read about 6th graders having Rainbow Parties, I am not surprised this is happening.

[Bigity]

Blaze,

Don't try to be stupid, I don't believe you are.

You would be responsible for stopping the behavior and making sure the school's authority figure (principal, whatever) knew about it after you stopped it.

[Blaze]

... which is exactly what happened in this case. As soon as he knew it was happening, he stopped it an alerted school authorities. What THEY decided to do about it wasn't his fault.

[Bigity]

The story leaves it vague as to when the teacher finally figured out what was going on.

Even so, he should have contacted other authorities when the staff told the teachers to keep quiet about it.

[Deacon]

Associate Superintendent Jeff Swensson told Eyewitness News off camera the teacher didn't know what was going on because another student acted as a "look-out." But once the teacher discovered the behavior, immediate action was taken.

You never know how accurate a story is, but taking it at face value, it's pretty straight-forward.

[Bigity]

His action could be immediate and still be a week after the fact.

I guess the wording just strikes me as off.

[Spongiform]

My high school has pretty good sex ed, but it's in 11th grade, which significantly damages its usefulness. For the kids who really need a sex ed class in school (those who are unlikely to have learned anything from a reliable source beforehand) most of the damage has already been done by that time.

[wocket]

Seriously. In my 11th grade health class, we had PARENTS learning their anatomy, and at least one "ohmygodIcouldbepregnant" girl who thought her baby would be poked in the head if she had sex after a certain point in the pregnancy.

[minsx]

Yeah that's the problem, sex ed is all fine and dandy (or not, as the case may be) but the earliest most people get it is Jr. High (and the earliest I got it was High School).

This is clearly not a failure of the Sex Ed. system, but I'd look long and hard at the parents.

P.S. I think the district handled it responsibly. Do you guys honestly think they SHOULD be screaming all the smarmy details to every media outlet? How would that help, exactly?

[StruckingFuggle]

This is clearly not a failure of the Sex Ed. system, but I'd look long and hard at the parents.

In part, sure it is. It doesn't start early enough and it doesn't cover enough... though you should still look long and hard at parents, they're a big part of the reason it doesn't. A system that's constantly having people try to shoot it in the knees and kick it in the balls and drive it into the ground is, usually, a system that won't work very well.

[BusteeQT]

At my school we had some basic sex ed in 5th grade. Granted most of it was the "whats happening to my puberty stage body" but there was a little bit about actual sex. Most of our Sex Ed came in 8th grade health class, although there were a few kids who had to sit out because their parents had signed the form saying they'd prefer to teach it at home. My graduating class had maybe two girls who were pregnant, though I know of at least 5 other girls who had had sex (probably more than that though).

[Deacon]

How the hell does two horny kids sneaking a quickie in a dark corner of the shop class building equate to a failure of sex ed?? The only way you could really say that is if the sex ed class was purely an abstinence program.