According to The Columbus Dispatch, Ohio allows its schools to determine how students learn sex
education individually, adapting the course to the distinctive needs of its own
district. This means each school and the content taught in its sex ed classes
differ, creating an inconsistency throughout the entire state’s education on
the matter.
Students For Education Reform
believes that it is important for schools to have an academic standard on
topics like sexual education, and that information that might be more relevant
in one district than another, be included across the board.
I feel that sex education in schools is extremely important. It allows students to be educated appropriately on teen pregnancy prevention and STD prevention. I am confused at what would be defined as a distinctive need of a district. I understand that some people may not feel comfortable being as open about discussing sex, but I am not sure how that would be defined as a distinctive need? I believe all kids would benefit from some sort of sex ed standard of education in school. What are your thoughts?
I agree that sex education is extremely important. I also feel that consistency in the teaching model is important. The idea and act of having sex can mean different things to different people particular in relation to morals/values. If we are allowing individuals to decide how they want to teach sex education how can we be sure that they are not imposing their own morals/values on the students? I feel that a form of sex education that is based in educating students on all aspects of sexuality would be important in helping the students make decisions based on their own morals/values and not based on the morals/values of the one that taught them.
ReplyDeleteI also agree that sex education is very important to include in the curriculum in schools. I feel implementing a curriculum that would be considered standard sex education would be best. For reasons that have already been discussed, I feel this will help insure consistency among all students. I really like the point Maggie made about including all aspects of sexuality and allowing students to make their own decisions based on their own values! This still insures that all students are getting the same material.
DeleteI agree that sex ed is important and I like the idea of adapting curriculum to the school's needs but I believe every school should have a foundation curriculum so that there is a basic knowledge of what is necessary to know. I feel like that's a good solution to fix both problems, a foundation curriculum and then tailoring extras to the school's needs.
ReplyDeleteSo, kids at my high school are getting caught having sex in school on a regular basis ( I SHALL NOT MENTION THE NAME OF THE SCHOOL) therefore I believe sexual education is highly important in schools. Although teen pregnancy rates have declined in recent years STI's such as syphilis has become a epidemic, especially in Columbus in the age range of 15-19. According to the CDC in 2013 "Prevalence estimates suggest that young people aged 15–24 years acquire half of all new STDs1 and that 1 in 4 sexually active adolescent females have an STD, such as chlamydia or human papillomavirus (HPV).2 Compared with older adults, sexually active adolescents aged 15–19 years and young adults aged 20–24 years are at higher risk of acquiring STDs for a combination of behavioral, biological, and cultural reasons." (http://www.cdc.gov/std/stats13/adol.htm) The facts are speaking for themselves and are proving that many adolescents and young adults are not learning about safe sex and healthy behaviors in the communities. Ohio should make a set curriculum for sexual education that presents the facts and options and expose students to local resources. Ignorance is not the key to prevention.
ReplyDeleteHonestly, I am not sure how I feel about this topic. I can understand various arguments. On the one hand, it is an important educational topic that needs to be taught and discussed. The more open people are to talking about it, maybe the better off youth will be when it comes to risks. However, society has always viewed this as a very personal topic and somewhat taboo. Additionally, families function is so many different ways with different personal views, values, religious views, and cultural context. For that reason, I think it would be extremely difficult to create one universe curriculum or to mandate the material to be covered in a certain way. Although we can typically generalize communities to the cultural context that is the majority, it would be extremely incompetent to neglect the considerations of minority opinions.
ReplyDeleteI also have a question if you know the answer. Would this pertain to only public schools or to ALL schools (public and private), because I think that differentiation would play a major role as well.