Sex Ed Sucks

I have always signed the consent to have my kids attend the yearly sex ed part of school. I think its funny how embarrased they become when I sign their forms and  say "have fun" or "pay attention". It's a pretty open topic in our house, with nearly five teenagers it can't be any other way. Dallyn announced with a certain gleen in his eye at the dinner table last night "I got a ten out of ten on my sex ed quiz." And Alex thought it was hilarious that her sex ed teacher had the same facts of life pop-up book that we do.:). There is rarely a dinner that goes by with out some penis joke or reference and I still at 38 can't keep a straight face if someone says naked.

That aside, I have strong beliefs and standards about when sex is apporperiate and its not a secret where I stand.  Many who believe what I do would not choose to have their kids attend these classes. I however have felt that sex ed (and many other things) from a public education perspective, is just that another perspective, and gives my kids and I an oppurtunity to discuss what, why and how we believe what we do....It's what works for us.

I was taking a nap (don't judge me) when Alex came in the door from school. "Look what I got in class today!!!" She wakes me from my slumber....

On a button pin the size of a quarter "dancing the horizontal mambo" (with a 1-800# {I looked it up....offering birth control, the morning after pill and std and pregnancy testing} almost unreadable on the bottom)

Alex thought I would find it hillarious. I didn't.

How is a button like that meant to educate? It promotes sex, plain and simple. And has no place in a classroom of 13 and 14 year olds. The 1-800 # maybe? But the text above that is ridiculous and can you imagine what would be at their finger tips if they googled such a term.




Why are we so unwilling to hold our youth to the high standard they deserve and are more than capable of?




It makes me think of this poem (yes it's long but seriously read it.)

The Fence or The Ambulance
Joseph Malines

‘Twas a dangerous cliff, as they freely confessed,
Though to walk near its crest was so pleasant:
But over its terrible edge there had slipped
A duke and many a peasant;
So the people said something would have to be done.
But their projects did not at all tally:
Some said, "Put a fence around the edge of the cliff"
Some, "An ambulance down in the valley."

But the cry for the ambulance carried the day.
For it spread to the neighboring city:
A fence may be useful or not, it is true,
But each heart became brimful of pity
For those who had slipped o’er that dangerous cliff,
And the dwellers in highway and alley
Gave pounds or gave pence, not to put up a fence,
But an ambulance down in the valley.

"For the cliff is alright if your careful," they said,
"and if folks even slip or are dropping,
it isn't the slipping that hurts them so much
as the shock down below-when they're stopping,"
So day after day when these mishaps occurred,
Quick forth would the rescuers sally
To pick up the victims who fell off the cliff,
With their ambulance down in the valley.

Then an old man remarked, "it's a marvel to me
that people give far more attention
to repairing results than to stopping the cause,
when they'd much better aim at prevention.
Let us stop at its source all this mischief, cried he.
"Come neighbors and freinds, let us rally :
If the cliff we will fence, we might almost dispense
with the ambulance down in the valley."

"Oh, he's a fanatic." the others rejoined:
"dispense with the ambulance Never!
He'd dispense with all charities, too, if he could:
no, no! We'll support them forever.
Aren't we picking up folks just as fast as they fall?
And shall this man dictate to us? Shall he?
Why would people of sense stop to put up a fence?
While their ambulance works in the valley?"

But a sensible few who are practical too,
Will not bear with such nonsense much longer
They believe that prevention is better than cure
And their party will soon be the stronger
Encourage them, then with your purse, voice and pen
And (while other philanthropists dally)
They will scorn all pretense, and put up a stout fence
On the cliff that hangs over the valley.

The Best Loved Poems of the American People

 

 

I vote fence!