Sex Education in Schools

[Stavros]

With an election due later this year, the UK Govt is creating topics for an election debate that are guaranteed to stir controversy, on the basis that the Conservatives are right to limit sex education in general, and education on Transgender issues in particular.

It doesn't help if the person in charge when asked about the issues doesn't know, thus-

"Writing in the Sun, the education secretary, Gillian Keegan, vowed that “never again will young girls be led to believe they might be happier if they were a boy, or children to think there are 72 genders”. But when asked by the BBC how often inappropriate material is taught in schools, the best Keegan could offer was “I don’t know”, before insisting she wouldn’t shy away from tackling what might or might not actually be a problem. If anyone’s struggling with the facts of life here, it arguably isn’t teenagers."
Sex education is now just another political football. For the children’s sake, the adults must grow up | Gaby Hinsliff | The Guardian

I don't know how this works in other countries, but I imagine in the US it depends on the State, and suspect that those so-called 'Conservatives' are not much different from our sort, in that they tend first to panic, and then make policy.

That said, we didn't have sex education in the schools I went to (on two different continents I night add), and in my teens when it was raised as a topic I was terrified and embarrassed, whereas these days the issues revolve around the instant availability of images and video on smart phones and thus have created a different agenda from what I had.

I believe in the past, when it was introduced, I think in the 1970s in the UK, one primary aim was to prevent unwanted pregnancies, with STD's only a secondary issue. Since then, I think the focus has been on the negotiation of relationships designed to equalize attitudes between boys and girls, and discussions of same-sex thoughts and behaviour and Transgender issues has become relevant, but I don't know how it's done, so I am as ignorant on this as Gillian Keegan.

Some of the questions are:
Should sex education be on the curriculum at any age?
At what age should sex education begin?
Should sex education focus on sexual acts, and/or the social milieu in which they take place -how to behave in class, the playground, the Mall, a club etc?
What materials should be used in sex education, how are they to be vetted, and what happens if parents for reasons that might be religious or moral, object to what their children are given to read?

I think this is a minefield, and I am glad I don't have to make the decisions, but if there is some good to be had from teaching children elementary respect for each other, I would support it.

[rodinuk]

This teacher has a more hands-on approach which may appeal?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-englan...ester-69026069