This is such a stupid idea. Teach fifth graders about anal sex? That doesn't sound like an accident waiting to happen at all....

Do people get laid that early in Canada?

"This is about reality and truth so our kids don't grow up in La-La Land, and have sufficient knowledge to make informed decisions"

True, true true!!!

[quote]Teach fifth graders about anal sex? That doesn't sound like an accident waiting to happen at all....[/quote]
No Ravishing, the accidents happen before they are told! I know people were surprised and shocked in 2005 to hear from national sex survey that anal sex was getting more popular among youngsters, but most shocking of all: that they weren't wearing condoms in 70% of cases! That means that it needed to be educated. That those curious youngsters need to know about the risks! Also those girls who wait to lose their virginity, by having anal sex instead.

Sex= sex, everyone does it, nothing disgusting about it, so why not teach about it? In kindergarten kids first discover how boys and girls are different. Girls can start on menses as early as 9 these days, boys catch up just a little later. That means their bodies are developing urges, that they are discovering themselves and the other sex and are thrown into turmoil by these changes and have a lot questions. Wouldn't it be irresponsible to ignore this?

Having children bath in ignorance that's what gives us teenpregnancy, STD's and teens with questions running around this earth. Not to mention how they are getting their info by easy accessible internet-porn... messing up their views... You see it going on here right on this site/forum. Going from innocent confusement about how none of the girls have hair down there while female diagrams refer to this. Towards those kids who think ramming it away will give a girl an orgasm and that you can just as easily pop your penis into a girl's ass as her vagina, girls thinking they should like it... And no way of verifying the truth about it or getting these views compensated by other info, cause every adult gets all nervous talking about this dirty stuff...

Teens need to be handled with straight forward information on sex! And not just the 'straight' part ;) I really like this about the program: teaching about same sex relationships. It's actually part of discussion in Holland right now. If you want my opinion: they should tell the little kids in kindergarten about how a man loves a man and a woman loves a woman. Perhaps then we'll be living up towards a future with more tolerant people, who would not even question whether this love is right or wrong.

Regardless of the issue at hand, you should know that if you give teens a survey that asks them about anal sex, there is a high probability they won't take it seriously.

I hated learning about sex in gr. 5! no wonder there are so many teen moms!

hmm... This is a loaded topic.

I learned well before fifth grade. I have older siblings and they taught me a lot, so before sex ed I knew most of it. Hell, I knew what oral, anal, and probably 10 positions were by the time I was in fifth grade!

I'm still a virgin, many years later. Just cause I know about it doesn't mean I'll do it. It also was awkward in the class... However! If they tell kids about sex before their hormones kick in, maybe they'll be less likely to do it... For example, tell a bunch of highschool freshman different positions, some will want to try it... Fifth graders? Not so much, most of them probably haven't even started masturbating yet.

Most kids already know about gay love. I did when I was 6 and in first grade. It's not a big deal if it -isn't- in the curriculum, because my bet is that somewhere in every school is a gay/lesbian couple, and when little Suzy asks why Mary has two moms, or why little Johnny has two dads, welllllll.... are you gonna lie to the child? No. They go home and ask their parents and their parents tell them.

Also, the best sex ed is to show std/HIV pictures. Will scare most kids right away. But also educate them about condoms, birth control pills, and other pregnancy-preventing things... Be practical, not optimistic. And always put it in simple terms. They're fifth graders!

Stop with the 'scaring kids' idea! THERE IS NOTHING WRONG ABOUT SEX. There is nothing bad about sex. Sex is like a hammer. You can MISUSE it but that doesn't make it bad/wrong/dirty/bestial/demeaning and so on - only misused. And just like a hammer, you have to be educated in its safe use.

My kids knew all about sex early on, "the greatest thing in the world", and while they aren't virgins, they aren't diseased, conflicted about sex, and never had children out of wedlock.

And neither did I.

Instead of scaring kids - tell them the TRUTH.

Right on: EEK! Loving your metaphor! :)

And no, BestLuver: sexual education prevents teenpregnancy! We've got some real good sexual education around here and there's nothing scary about it. According to all international reports, Holland has the lowest teen pregnancy rate in the industrial world; US, the highest. Even though there is a high level of sexual activity among teens in Holland. An what's wrong with that? Sex is beautiful, nothing disgusting about it! Just need to know how to use that hammer...

But if you'd rather not be confronted with this touchy subject: plug your ears with your fingers, while singing "la, la, la" together with all the other teletubies as kids have babies and catch diseases...

Nah...

People can't handle the truth. Sad but true... Sigh... :(

i am from bulgaria and in my country 5th grades are 11 years old kinds. i think it is too early to teach them aboute diferent tipes of intercourse.

Seems to me that every kids is different in this regard, and as such, it would be best for each kid's parents to teach them what they need to know, just before they need to know it. We've had frank discussions with our children, just as they started expressing interest in the opposite sex, well before anything serious got started.

Placing this important, and sensitive topic on the schools in the form of mandatory sex ed. is just another way for parents to cop out from their parenting responsibilities. You decided to conceive, you are in it for the long haul. Man up, or woman up already!

Question-driven education
I agree that parents are responsible. And that children need to be taught when they need to know it. "The need to know" being pointed out by the child, that is. I do think that sexual education (or any education for that matter) is ideally question-driven. The child asks, you provide him/her with an answer that is understandable according to the child's world. And that means: not telling elaborate stories; just answer the question asked. If the child wants to know more info, it will come back to you in it's own time. Stimulating it to think or providing it with information-triggers not being wrong off course! :)

Development of young children
Problem is that children usually have generated the questions long before parents think it is "needed". A lot of toddlers and children in kindergarten ask about where babies come from and develop an interest in the differences between boys and girls. It's an age that children also discover their bodies. Masturbation is common in this agegroup. All this is actually very normal development for a child. Although when young children play with themselves, most parents (up till this day) become upset and tell a child to stop and might even punish it (sadly)...

Ignored questions and established patterns
Back to education and keeping it simple: when a child asks things about sex, it is many times hushed up, distracted from the questions, send back and forward between parents, confronted with an awkward silence and/or unclear answers. It is not provided with an answer because it is "too young". And we are yet only to get a grasp of what this means in later development. Cause how young a child may be, it remembers and established patterns fairly quickly: "OK, I shouldn't discuss these questions with mom and dad, I'll remember that!" And that's why it gets so awkward when having a discussion later on about the flowers and the bees. It's a subject that is against all established patterns.

School
So when schools would provide information about sex when we're talking children who are on the edge of developing hormonally, I think that's good. Children who received their information question-driven are most likely to have already received the necessary info. They will only recognize, expand and firm established knowledge (would it only be by the use of different vocabulary than the parrents did). For children who's questions have been ignored, they will now learn the answers. They may have forgotten ever asking or may be burning to know by now.

Teachers capabilities & emotional response
I think that any teacher should be prepared for emotional responses. Cause especially in a group of those who have been ignored, this could be very strange to need to establish new patterns. And never forget the negative attitude towards sex that some have learned deliberately by their parents, but most likely: unconsciously picked up by their parents attitude. For the group that already knows, it may be strange as well that all the suddenly the teacher talks about this subject. Most likely the established pattern is that even though parents talk about it, it's a no-no at school and the rest of the world outside the parrents' house! I'd expect the chance for an emotional response less likely, apart from the giggles ;)

A teacher should also keep a very sharp eye for those in need of more information. Because it may feel uncomfortable, children may not ask those questions burning on their lips while in a group. Causing misunderstanding of the subject.

Personal note
Personally: I am so grateful my mom learned me question-driven at such a young age that I do not even remember receiving sexual education. By the time we got it in school; I just knew. What she could not hide was her attitude considering men and for that I will never blame her. She did beautifully good! :) And I'm also very happy to live in a country that so highly values sexual education. I may be unhappy about some aspects; for example how sex is turned into a mechanical process and fertility becomes a matter of pills instead of learning about our natural cycle. But given the statistics: we're doing absolutely great! :)

You are spot on RedRoses.I couldn't have said it any better myself,and i'm all for sex education in schools.My children have had it at their schools(my son is in 6th grade,my daughter 11th grade)My daughter actually had a safe sex day last year in 10th grade,where they were taught how to practice safe sex,and just the other day came home and said that someone came to her "health & development"class and spoke about sexual health & abortion.My daughter is almost 17, a virgin(and proud of it)and has a boyfriend who totally respects her(and is a virgin too).They're already planning to marry in a couple of years.I was introduced to sex way too young(@8yrs,through sexual abuse),and i was never told the birds & the bees by my mother as she was far too shy to broach the subject.I got a big fat encyclopedia on anatomy & sex handed to me instead for me to self educate myself,so wouldn't have minded a bit of education at my school to help cement what i'd read.

I feel like the US is going back to its overly conservitive and fundamentalist ways and that is a bad thing. We need to move forward not backwards. If a guy wants to love a man let him, same for women.

I am all for sex ed in schools as it is better for them to learn early than late.