Obama Supports Sex Ed for Kindergarten Students

[DuEbrithil]

It seems that kids really are growing up faster than they used to these days. I'd much rather educate them on these things than have to deal with the mistakes later.

Or we could work to correct why children are considered "grown up" when it comes to sex by second grade. I think there is something wrong with that.

I personally don't have a problem teaching youths responsible notions about sex (ie it may be a bad idea to engage in sex outside of marriage/or committed relationship [and basing those reasons on concepts that aren't really religious], but if you do, take precautions A, B or C...)

Perhaps 2nd graders are a bit young...but if they're capable of understanding, why not start teaching them responsibility?

When they're that young, leave it to the parents.

the problem is that they parents are scared. they dont know how to say what they need to say.

kids have the right to correct information. they arent going to learn correct info on the playground. someone older, more experienced has to tell them. statistics have shown that sex ed is inversely tied to teen pregnancy. as one goes up, the other goes down.

[Smash255]

If they're going to be receiving the information any way I'd rather have them receive information that is accurate; instead of what they saw on the movie their mom and dad were watching that night or what little Jimmy told them his brother told him on the school bus.

Ha;f of the kids in these classes might not have heard anything though. Bringing in sex ed at such a young age then brings it to everyone and I don't think that's appropriate at such an age. I just don't agree with the mentality of "well they'll hear it anyway so let's just let them know now."

Comprehensive sex education and teen pregnancy tend to have an inverse relationship.  Schools in the northeast tend to have more comprehensive sex education programs, while schools in the south tend to teach abstinence-only programs.  The south has a MUCH higher teenage Pregnancy rate than the northeast, with the king of not teaching kids a damn thing about sex (Mississippi) leading the way.

[nlm]

Since it certainly appears that most folks responding here didn't actually read the 4 paragraph article linked at the start of the thread and simply accepted the misleading title of the thread as meaning something, I will save future posters the extreme effort of clicking on the link - and simply post the article.

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Well, we can safely say that this is a new topic in this presidential race... Yesterday's ABC report that Obama favors age-appropriate sex education for even kindergarten students has received a fair amount of play. Romney, in fact, used it to criticize Obama in a speech he gave yesterday. "I was shocked to hear that he thinks we need sex education in kindergarten," Romney said. "I don't think that's a problem. I don't think that's a need." Romney's campaign even put those remarks on YouTube.

But it seems Romney's criticism might be a bit overblown. The Obama campaign gave this statement to CBN's David Brody: "Barack Obama supports sensible, community-driven education for children because, among other things, he believes it could help protect them from pedophiles. A child's knowledge of the difference between appropriate and inappropriate touching is crucial to keeping them safe from predators."

Brody's analysis: "Obama doesn't want to hand out condoms to five year olds. He doesn't want cucumber demonstrations as part of show and tell. The legitimate reasonable discussion here is whether the federal government and/or local school boards should get involved in providing these five year olds information about inappropriate touching or should it be left up to families only."

Obama spokesman Bill Burton tells First Read: "You can teach a kid about what's appropriate and not appropriate to protect them from predators out there." In addition, he issued a document showing that the Oregon Department of Education has guidelines for sex education for children in grades K-3 (which includes understanding the difference between a good touch and a bad touch), and that the Sexuality Information And Education Council of the United States has curriculum for those in kindergarten.

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[angus]

Interesting fact:

State with the highest teen pregnancy rate:  Mississippi
Amount of sex education I received in 13 years of public school in Mississippi:  none, because sex education is not legal

cause and effect?  Could be other factors.  High unemployment rate, higher than average incidence of single-parent households, and poverty may figure into this as well.  DC may be even higher.  On the other hand, neighboring Louisiana and Alabama aren't nearly so high, but they also have high incidences of poverty and unemployment.  I saw a table that put Nevada, Arizona, and Mississippi in the top three places.  It'd be interesting to look at sex ed in NV and AZ.

also, ABC seems to have taken Obama out of context.  I dug around on a few news sites and found that he was answering a specific set of questions from a (rather friendly) Planned Parenthood audience.  He was suggesting that the Oregon model, which includes teaching young children in grades K-3 the proper anatomical names of body parts and bodily fluids, specifically in order to have them avoid being mistreated by adults.  Let's face it:  if a five-year-old has cum on his fingers, it's probably not his own.  I'm not sure, as a parent, how I'd handle the situation, but I'd rather not have to deal with it at all.  Maybe Oregon is on to something.  "Children, that's a penis.  It gets longer when it becomes erect.  If you stroke it rapidly it will ejaculate.  One day you'll discover the joys of it all, but for now you should probably only be using yours for pissing.  And you really shouldn't be rubbing anyone else's.  At least not till you're about 14 and in an exclusive New England boys boarding school."  Honestly, it all sounds reasonable to me.  There are lots of freaks out there. 

[Keystone Phil]

If they're going to be receiving the information any way I'd rather have them receive information that is accurate; instead of what they saw on the movie their mom and dad were watching that night or what little Jimmy told them his brother told him on the school bus.

Ha;f of the kids in these classes might not have heard anything though. Bringing in sex ed at such a young age then brings it to everyone and I don't think that's appropriate at such an age. I just don't agree with the mentality of "well they'll hear it anyway so let's just let them know now."

Comprehensive sex education and teen pregnancy tend to have an inverse relationship.  Schools in the northeast tend to have more comprehensive sex education programs, while schools in the south tend to teach abstinence-only programs.  The south has a MUCH higher teenage Pregnancy rate than the northeast, with the king of not teaching kids a damn thing about sex (Mississippi) leading the way.

Still could be other factors.

[Undisguised Sockpuppet]

You're right. OTher factors like a christian fundie religious set of memes and a general redneck/peasant culture. Its not just sex-ed its just the fact that Dixie is and will be for a long time worthless(Until they start becoming REAL Americans. Wake up southerners you're not real americans so give it up already)

[Tetro Kornbluth]

I love assumption in this thread by both sides of the aisle here that "Education is the answer" - no, you're wrong, the best way to stop teens having sex is to make them socially awkard like me, or if that doesn't work - and if it does your kids will probably hate you for the rest of their lives - then just inject them with anti-testerestone\osterogen chemicals added with Ritalin, sure they will end up as zombies of the rest of their lives, but better that than engaging in unbibilical acts, no?

[Keystone Phil]

I love assumption in this thread by both sides of the aisle here that "Education is the answer" - no, you're wrong, the best way to stop teens having sex is to make them socially awkard like me,

The last time you went after me you said it was sarcasm. Now you're just being an asshole.

[Tetro Kornbluth]

I love assumption in this thread by both sides of the aisle here that "Education is the answer" - no, you're wrong, the best way to stop teens having sex is to make them socially awkard like me,

The last time you went after me you said it was sarcasm. Now you're just being an asshole.

Lol. I was actually referring to myself here. It's called self-deprecation. I do it alot. I'm not happy at the direction of my life, see.

[Keystone Phil]

I love assumption in this thread by both sides of the aisle here that "Education is the answer" - no, you're wrong, the best way to stop teens having sex is to make them socially awkard like me,

The last time you went after me you said it was sarcasm. Now you're just being an asshole.

Lol. I was actually referring to myself here. It's called self-deprecation. I do it alot. I'm not happy at the direction of my life, see.

Correction noted. I figured you were going after me since I was one of the main arguments against early sex ed.

[Alcon]

I was one of the main arguments against early sex ed.

Is there something you want to tell us, Phil?

[Keystone Phil]

I was one of the main arguments against early sex ed.

Is there something you want to tell us, Phil?

.....

What am I missing that's funny there? 

I am opposed to early (first-second grade) sexual education.

[DownWithTheLeft]

No one takes Sex Ed seriously enough by the time they start teaching it with "anything they say I already know" attitude.  However, kindergarten is a tad too early.  I say 4th grade is a good idea if they have it at all.

[Tetro Kornbluth]

I love assumption in this thread by both sides of the aisle here that "Education is the answer" - no, you're wrong, the best way to stop teens having sex is to make them socially awkard like me,

The last time you went after me you said it was sarcasm. Now you're just being an asshole.

Lol. I was actually referring to myself here. It's called self-deprecation. I do it alot. I'm not happy at the direction of my life, see.

Correction noted. I figured you were going after me since I was one of the main arguments against early sex ed.

If you read my post fully you would understand what I'm saying is that sex ed is in the end usually pointless and self-defeating... not that I think it should be rid of, but I really doubt it has much impact at all. I'd say social class and background are probably more important here (oh, and religious background too obviously).

Oh, and LOL @Alcon. Going to put that into the Comedy Goldmine..

[Keystone Phil]

Oh wait. I get it now. Very, very funny, Alcon. 

[afleitch]

It would be nice if States came back on here and adressed some of the points raised...

[Bono]

If they're going to be receiving the information any way I'd rather have them receive information that is accurate; instead of what they saw on the movie their mom and dad were watching that night or what little Jimmy told them his brother told him on the school bus.

Ha;f of the kids in these classes might not have heard anything though. Bringing in sex ed at such a young age then brings it to everyone and I don't think that's appropriate at such an age. I just don't agree with the mentality of "well they'll hear it anyway so let's just let them know now."

Comprehensive sex education and teen pregnancy tend to have an inverse relationship.  Schools in the northeast tend to have more comprehensive sex education programs, while schools in the south tend to teach abstinence-only programs.  The south has a MUCH higher teenage Pregnancy rate than the northeast, with the king of not teaching kids a damn thing about sex (Mississippi) leading the way.

The UK has plenty of sex ed, and the highest teenage pregnancy rate in the EU.

[Tetro Kornbluth]

If they're going to be receiving the information any way I'd rather have them receive information that is accurate; instead of what they saw on the movie their mom and dad were watching that night or what little Jimmy told them his brother told him on the school bus.

Ha;f of the kids in these classes might not have heard anything though. Bringing in sex ed at such a young age then brings it to everyone and I don't think that's appropriate at such an age. I just don't agree with the mentality of "well they'll hear it anyway so let's just let them know now."

Comprehensive sex education and teen pregnancy tend to have an inverse relationship.  Schools in the northeast tend to have more comprehensive sex education programs, while schools in the south tend to teach abstinence-only programs.  The south has a MUCH higher teenage Pregnancy rate than the northeast, with the king of not teaching kids a damn thing about sex (Mississippi) leading the way.

The UK has plenty of sex ed, and the highest teenage pregnancy rate in the EU.

True. But so do the Netherlands and look at their teen pregnancy rate. In Ireland there is very little sex ed but teen pregnancies have been falling for the past five years. (Though it should be mentioned that there has been a large increase in Veneral diseases...) This is largely a cultural issue, structured sex ed has little to do with, unstructured sexual education definetly does, you after all start learning about the world around you from the moment you exit the womb...

[afleitch]

The UK has plenty of sex ed, and the highest teenage pregnancy rate in the EU.

Actually it's pretty patchy. Our sex ed isn't as 'open' as you'd think and there is a lot of pressure from religious groups and an over zealous populist media. Our sex ed, in my opinion, is not comprehensive enough and doesn't start early enough.

We also have a national 'obsession' with pedophiles and potential pedophiles which doesn't help either.

[Ebowed]

It would be nice if States came back on here and adressed some of the points raised...

He never addresses points when his arguments begin to fall apart.  He likes to blow a lot of hot air.