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 What would you do? 
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I have a question for us all to think about. My boyfriend is in his first year of teaching. He is a pe/health teacher for middle school kids. He was telling me about how they are not allowed to teach or even speak about safe sex. They can not mention birth control or even condoms. I do not understand why it is like that because students need to know about that especially with the pregnancy rate in our schools today. Other school systems give their students condoms, so they can make sure they have protection. How come in some school systems they cannot even talk about safe sex. Does that make any sense? What would you do in that situation? Would you still tell them about safe sex or just follow the roles?

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Shannon Lynn


Tue Oct 30, 2007 9:55 am
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While I feel that it is important for teenagers to know about sex and ways to practice safe sex, if it is against school policy for me to tell them about it I would not teach it. If the school system feels so strongly about a certain subject that they do not want their teachers talking about it, they had to have gotten some persuasion from parents as well. There are a lot of parents out there who do not want their children learning about sex at all, so I feel that I should not overstep my boundaries to teach them something I personally feel that they should know. While a teacher should be looking out for the well being of their students, it is not up to them whether they can or can not teach safe sex in the classroom.

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-Tiffany Mease


Tue Oct 30, 2007 12:48 pm
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I believe we should teach students how to protect themselves if they are sexually active. Students are going to have sex, so we should, as responsible adults, make sure they understand what they are getting into and what are the consequences of their actions. The only thing is, as a teacher, if I am told to teach abstinence I am going to teach abstinence and not mention condoms or the pill. I want to tell them about the several ways that they can have a safe experience, but when my boss tells me to say it this way...that is what im going to do.

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Zachary Beam


Tue Oct 30, 2007 4:00 pm
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I think that a lot of parents and Churches believe that they shouldn't teach about safe sex because it encourages sex. I know that my church youth group spent so much time talking about abstinence.
I personally believe that this is a bad way to teach about sex because most teenagers are gonna do it whether or not they sign the true love waits commitments. They need to know to be safe as well and judging by the amount of STD's and teen pregnancys I can tell that something needs to change.

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Nikki Gardner


Wed Oct 31, 2007 11:07 pm
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I agree that students should be taught about safe sex, and the dangers of unprotected sex because of the raising number of teen pregnancy and STDs. It is very bad to act as if teenagers will not have sex, and a lot of school systems are under pressure from their communities to leave the topic of safe sex out of their lessons. If the school system has rules about teaching safe sex then you would have to follow those rules. I wish there was a clear answer to the problem.

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Luke Eggers


Thu Nov 01, 2007 9:57 am
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I agree with the other posts. I strongly think that schools should teach about safe sex. I think that if the school system doesn't want teachers to discuss this subject, teachers should obey their wishes. Although it is so very important for children to learn about their options if they do chose to have sex, it is also important to follow the rules as a teacher.

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Melanie Wright


Thu Nov 01, 2007 10:29 am
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I agree with all of you about the safe sex teachings. I know some schools allow it and some do not. I think they should implement a policy of sending home a permission form of whether or not the child is allowed to participate in these discussions. This way it can be taught without toes being stepped on and those really picky parents can have their way....do you think they are going to speak to their child about sex? Probably not...and if they do... do you think most children are going to listen to their parents? Probably not...the reason?

Most of these parents are probably going to say DON'T DO IT, and not present the dangers of safe sex....kids rebel if parents say NO.

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Nikki Ballance


Thu Nov 01, 2007 1:16 pm
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I guess I understand what some school systems are thinking; they must be thinking that if we don't teach kids about safe sex, then they will just practice abstinence. Of course, we all know better. I believe schools should teach abstinence, but then also teach about safe sex because not all students will abstain.
I know in my middle school, we were taught abstinence and nothing else in sixth grade. Then in seventh grade, they said that if we chose not to be abstinent, then we need to practice safe sex. In eighth grade, we participated in the "Baby Think It Over" program where students take a baby doll programmed to cry for a weekend.
I think my middle school had a good program. I think more schools would benefit from similar programs.

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~Victoria Hayes


Sat Nov 03, 2007 3:58 pm
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I agree that, as a teacher, there wouldn't be much you could in this situation because breaking the rules could result in getting fired. But I feel that you could inform students of resources in their community where they could get more information, such as planned parenthood clinics, so that they know they have options. So in your classroom you are teaching abstinence and helping your students without "technically" teaching them about safe sex since the people at the clinic would do this for you. I wouldn't think you could get into trouble for this because you were just teaching about places where your students could get help without mentioning the programs offered.

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Candace Carpenter


Tue Nov 06, 2007 9:45 pm
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I cant really remember exactly what our sex ed classes taught, but I think they did talk about contraceptives as well as abstinence. We were presented with the consequences of having sex, but I remember them talking about using condoms to protect ourselves from STDs. I think that it is important to teach more than just abstinence because there are students who are having sex and they should have the opportunity to learn about how to have safe sex.

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Elizabeth Ashley Harris


Wed Nov 07, 2007 11:01 am
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If this type of teaching was not allowed, I would not teach it directly in the classroom. I would, however, offer help, suggestions, and counsel to students who have questions or concerns. I would do this after class or even offer websites and literature that could help direct the students to people who are allowed to talk about such practices and topics. I don't feel that this is going against the rules and I think it would also be beneficial to the students.

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Chelsey Minish


Thu Nov 08, 2007 10:33 am
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My first sex-class was in 6th grade and by then I already knew about safe sex because my parents were very desciptive with me from a young age. I feel like my experience was very different from others and many of my peers in that class had no idea about the risks associated with unprotected sex. Kids are going to start having sex at earlier and earlier ages due to the sexual abundance in today's media, so we as teachers should provide them with information and materials to practice safe sex.

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Jonathan Chase Weaver


Thu Nov 08, 2007 10:35 am
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I feel that the teaching style that is held in most school systems of abstinence is outdated, as has been said. Looking at the topic of students and sexual experimentation with "the 50's Pleasantville perspective" is turning a blind eye to the matter. School systems complain about their drop out rates and some these days have to be related to teen pregnancy to some degree. No, not may be related but it has to be seen that some are. Can the school systems really complain if they're partly at fault for not educating their students? Isn't one role of education to be in loco parentis or take on the parental responsibilities of students while at school (so why not teach them something greatly useful to their maturing lives)? It's a stretch, but classes are urged to teach things that are currently going on and up to date...why the lag in sexual education? Are the politics behind changing the way this is taught that conservative or idealistic? I guess so.

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Chris Walz


Thu Nov 08, 2007 12:33 pm
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So, I would definitely follow the curriculum set out by the school even though I think it is outdated and not helpful. If questions came up during class I would suggest that they discuss it with their parents. However if a student came up to me individually with a question about safer sex practices I would try to find some information for them, whether it be a book that discussed it that they could get from the library or a website that gives information.

My only "sex-ed" class was in fifth grade and we talked about puberty. I never got a sex talk from school, though I did get one from my parents. I'm glad my parents discussed it with me, however not all parents are willing to breech that scary subject of sex with their kid, so I think that schools should be able to teach safer sex. I liked Nikki's idea of sending home a permission slip to parents about having their kids talked to about safer sex. However in that letter I would also encourage parents to talk to their kids about sex and safer sex practices.

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Abby Bishop


Wed Nov 14, 2007 3:41 pm
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