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Let me just say (before the rant ^^; ) that I do not wish to offend anyone. This is just my personal view, and I'd like to hear your views on it as well!

It's on The Times front page today,

Sex education is to be made mandatory for 15-year-olds.
There is a more substantial programme around this, starting at the age of 5 where they will begin teaching children about the differences between their bodies and how they will change, what different types of relationships there are and why they are important (relationship in the broad sense, like how you relate to your brother or sister, your mother, friendships and intimate relationships), etc. They will go on to teach about the importance of marriage or stable relationships and partnerships. As is clear from the plan, they also focus on differences in opinion between different groups, religions or cultures and the risks of particular lifestyles (i.e. drugs, unsafe sex, etc). They are taught were to look for help, and even taught how to manage their finances.

I think, personally, that this is absolutely fantastic. I encourage this wholeheartedly, absolutely and I am thrilled at the depth of the curriculum.

But there are some groups (predominantly muslim and catholic faith groups) that object to this. Up to 15, parents have the right to opt out of this education, but all children of 15 years of age *must* have at least one year with the "basics"

There are several reasons they object, I assume. One is that homosexuality will be discussed, contraception will also be discussed and demonstrated. Although while it is mandatory for schools to teach this, they may, based on their religious foundation, teach that they disagree with the use of contraception or homosexuality and why, and that they feel sex should be within marriage for example, so they have freedom in that.

Personally, I wouldn't object one bit to any of the education. I do not feel sheltering children from everything is the right way. I am not opposed to television, for example. But if (insha'Allah) I have children I want to be sitting with them, explaining what is happening and telling them our view. It's what my dad and my mum did, and it's what my mother in law did with my husband and his siblings as well.

The main argument used against sexual education in schools is that it should be the parents' primary right (and duty?) to teach and inform their children. It is. And that doesn't change. But they must do it.
There seems to be an idea almost that whatever the school "puts into the child's mind" parents can never change any more. That's simply not true, of course, but it requires consistent and ongoing communication with the child. Many parents are not teaching their children, they feel ashamed or embarrassed (and it's not all children are waiting for a "birds and the beas" talk from dad xD) (no offense to all the parents that do. My parents did, and they were great about it)

Britain currently has the highest teen pregnancy rate in Europe (41.9 conceptions per 1000 15-17 year olds in 2007, under-16 conception rates of 8.3 per 1000). The statistics for contraception use I found shockingly low compared to some other countries. A major issue.

So, I feel that definitely the school can and *should* teach sex education. A major part of the school's task is preparing these kids for adulthood, and this is such an important aspect of it. Furthermore, information comes across much better if it comes from multiple sources, i.e. the school *and* the parents.

For the record I'm not saying that it's inherently bad to have a child at this age, of course not, but there are a lot of problems surrounding it. The fact that most of these babies were not planned for also indicates that contraception was most likely not used or used in a wrong fashion and my absolute main concern is therefore the risk of sexually transmitted diseases.

/rant


tl;dr version:
the UK is making sexual education mandatory for 15 year olds as part of a sex education curriculum from 5-16. They will focus on the biological side, but also on the relationship aspects, morals and values and the risks of certain lifestyles (drugs, lack of contraception, etc). I think this is wonderful, but some people object on religious grounds.

What are your views on (mandatory) sexual education? If you are not opposed, would you like for it to be kept to the biological mechanics, or would you want to have morals and values included? Do you feel it clashes with your faith?

In my school, sex ed was NOT mandatory. And the same Christian girls who's parents did not allow it, graduated from high school 8 months pregnant. Or worse, were teased for having herpes on their mouth.

Knowledge is power.


Weather we want to face it or not, kids will have sex before marriage and some of them will be Muslims, Christians, or Jews. They have to KNOW the consequences, maybe that will deter them from doing it so early. Maybe it will make them wear protection or be picky about who their partners are.

And if they are raised in a pious Deen, inshaallah, they will abstain whole heartedly. But having backup knowledge is never a bad thing.

I had NO idea Britain's pregnancy rate was so high! My sister in law lives in England, she's about 15 and getting to that age...grrr -.- Those boys swarm around her like a cat in heat.

This is one of the cases where ignorance causes anything but bliss. Otherwise, they'll rely on word-of -mouth information and things often get nasty in high schools.

Girls are having sex and doing sexually risky things at VERY young ages. 12 and 13 years old! Its best to start teaching the risks earlier and earlier.

yes you are right, one of my friends got pregnate in six grade.. it was creepy

First of all I have to say that I was too lazy to read the whole thing, but I hope I got the idea, and now as an answer fot he question :

What are your views on (mandatory) sexual education? If you are not opposed, would you like for it to be kept to the biological mechanics, or would you want to have morals and values included? Do you feel it clashes with your faith?

Now, I am 16 years old and I had to go through the experience of getting mandatory sexual education for the past two years, it wasn't that bad, lets say that if I didn't have such education I would have been clueless from where does a baby come until I got married, and that is not good, I think to have madatory (supervised) sexual education is way much better than knowing about human's sexual actions from other people, this way you will get the idea to the kid without leading them to the wrong way, so I am with the mandatory sexual education, I would rather my child knowing stuff from a teacher than knowing it by experience or from another kid who might lead them to the doing of anything they might regret.

I hope you don't mind if I just address certain points ^^;;


I'm sort of confused what it is you're against; the discussion of homosexuality and birth control, or the fact that a teacher may inject their own moral spin on these topics?


Good on you ^_^
Is there something preventing you from having the discussion of your views with your children before they enter into this sexual education class? I mean, AFAIK it isn't possible for you to sit with them during the class all the time and talk to them as things are discussed, but I'm sure if you talk to your kids about it before they go into the class, it should help them some, especially if they have a good grasp on Islam and some of the hows and whys of the faith 3nodding .


I really think it's a great idea. I was lucky enough to be taught comprehensive sexual education (we were taught about how things work, birth control AND abstinence)...and I really have no idea how people manage to function in a healthy, relatively normal relationship where sex is involved with only abstinence education behind them. Abstinence-only education strikes me as being similar to learning how to drive a car, but only being taught that the small pedal is what makes the car and the wheel is what turns you different directions. Sure you might go places - but you'll cause a crap-ton of harm to yourself and others in the process. There are so many other things you need to know before you hop behind the wheel of a car - and under the sheets.


Ideally, I would like biological mechanics to be discussed as well as BOTH sides of the morals and values that go along with it. But since that would probably be a rare occurrence, I'll stick with just the biological mechanics xd


Nope. My faith doesn't really have a position on sexual education or most things involved with it.