ERO has reported that New Zealand is still not doing well at properly teaching sex education in schools. But what does doing well mean? According to them the curriculum is too repetitive and not “assessed” properly.
Having achieved the second highest number of teenage pregnancies in the OECD we must be doing something wrong. Last year the fertility rate for teenagers in New Zealand was 28.4 in every 1000 women aged 15 to 19. The United States was the only country with a higher teenage fertility rate – 45 pregnancies in 1000 women aged 15 to 19 years.
But is teaching kids everything there is to know about std and sex and then “assessing” them really the answer? While arguably needed, somehow I don’t think amazing factual knowledge of sex will really help those stats. And on top of that you have the emotional destruction of so many young adults who don’t realise that there are any emotions involved with what they’re doing until it’s too late.
The problem is sex is taught like it is something that has no emotions attached. It’s not something sacred that requires committment. Why don’t we teach about the emotions surrounding sex? Why don’t we talk about how screwed up a young girl’s self esteem will get when she gives herself to some guy with no strings attached then is wrecked emotionally, till eventually she has de-sensitized herself to the whole thing. But instead we teach it’s fine as long as you’re using contraception and get std checks.
You can check out the story below:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10459600
Just got home 20 mins. ago.
What a great night. Thanks to all.
Also enjoyed a great night.
Great to meet up with you all.
My wife was most impressed with the passionate faith of the largely young Catholics who attended.
I think we should do it again sometime.
God Bless
Ditto on the Being Frank catch-up. An enjoyable evening.
Now, to eW’s post. I was talking to my flatmate today about the state of New Zealand (I know, pretty heavy for a Sunday) and found an analogy between food and sex. No, this isn’t something I discovered at the Erotica Expo this weekend.
I live not far from a site that’s being proposed for a McDonalds restaurant. It’s supposed to be really big, open 24 hours etc, but it’s close to schools and is deemed a health hazard because some/most of the food is high-fat/high-calorie. There’s no sense of responsibility to make correct decisions when it comes to food. Rather than build a restaurant that will hire lots of people, people are opposing it because others won’t have the strength of character to make better food choices or only go to Maccas for special treats every once in a while.
I think sex education is a bit like that. The Family Planning Association (and others) seem to think teenagers are too stupid to make the right choices when it comes to sex, so they explain everything to them and give them condoms or other forms of birth control. I read the various stories on this ERO report and the word abstinence didn’t appear anywhere. It’s too hard to expect people to make the right decision; let’s not even put it in front of them.
I’d like to think Catholic schools have a better track record on sex education than state schools, but I’ve heard some unfortunate stories that suggest there is much room for improvement in “our” schools as well.
eW.
Back on topic, I agree with your post. I did not experience any of the “New Age” sex ed. in schools in my day the way they do it now, (being of the ‘aged’ class) – or did it recently -, but a young man who works for me has told me how it was given.
-the mechanics of having sex.
-the ways of avoiding pregnancy – includng being given condoms – at 14 years of age, and training given to boys and girls how to “instal” them’
-the advice that hetero-, homo- or bi- sexuality was all cool, and all the same; just a matter of making your own choice .
It all seemed pretty shocking to me, and he was pretty disgusted, coming from a Baptist background.
But of course, the Family Planning Assn, has told us we must redouble our efforts to educate how to avoid pregnancy, have safe sex yaddayaddayadda. They just can’t see that their policies and ideas have failed.
BUT—- Y O U M U S T C O N F O R M
(Spare me)
Just another little bit of Marxism in practice.
It’s too hard to expect people to make the right decision; let’s not even put it in front of them.
There is a lot of wisdom there.
It is said that a good society is one which is contructed in such that a way that it is easy for people in it to be good.
The Jewish Rabbis constructed an elaborate system of customs, rituals and laws designed to remove temptation as much as possible. Only married couple were ever allowed to be seculded together in private, men would walk in front of women to avoid the temptations of the eye etc.
These days we’ve done the polar opposite by saturating society with sexual temptations.
God Bless
Just another little bit of Marxism in practice.
Actually, Marx and Lenin opposed sexual promiscuity.
Modern sex education owes more to the god of capitalist, free market, anything goes, open slather, free choice than to Marxism.
The sexual decay in Marx’s time was caused by the breakdown of the family due to rapid industrialisation and exploitation of workers working very long hours for little pay.
God Bless
Did everyone see this:
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/ED0708/S00074.htm
I’d have to agree with FLI’s press release (see post #7).
Being a secondary school student myself I’ve been through the sex ed- which goes;
a) don’t do it,
b) if you do use a condom, and
c) don’t do it with multiple partners or you’ll get an STD/I
-looking around my classmates I know it doesn’t work.
And yes, I go to a Catholic school.
In my opinion, and I only have personal experience to go on, the problem is that adults don’t trust us to understand anything and have adopted a damage-control attitude -standing at the bottom of the cliff with a stretcher instead of at the top with a little bit of wisdom. Unfortunately, many of our teachers do not know why you shouldn’t have sex until marriage- and if they don’t know, how can they teach us?
The most valuable sex ed I’ve had is through reading theology of the body stuff- although I am repeatedly told I’m too young to understand- and through talking to other Catholics who share their experiences. Catholic sex ed programmes like CFLE (Catholic Family Life Education) for intermediate students are a good start, but perhaps a secondary equivalent is desperately needed too, and a little bit of trust in the intelligence of our teenagers..
hi daughterofTheKing
you’re right. In my experience students very quickly see through teachers who fudge stuff, or who don’t really believe what they’re saying.
Unfortunately, Catholic secondary schools are not doing the job they ought to be.
I don’t think the problem lies in the lack of intelligence in teenagers at all. I think it’s in the dumbing down of the culture, which is really the fault of the older generation. It breeds a culture of laziness, instant gratification, narcissism, and degeneration of moral standards.