Sex Ed Changes At School With 65 Pregnant Teens

[A Dead Relative]

CANTON, Ohio -- An Ohio school board is expanding sex education following the revelation that 13 percent of one high school's female students were pregnant last year.

There were 490 female students at Timken High School in 2005, and 65 were pregnant, WEWS-TV in Cleveland reported.

The new Canton school board program promotes abstinence but also will teach students who decide to have sex how to do so responsibly, bringing the city school district's health curriculum in line with national standards.

The board made the changes in a vote at its regular meeting Monday.

The Rev. David Morgan served on a committee that developed the lesson plans. He said the new curriculum moves beyond the "Just Say No" approach.

Health textbooks, older than some students, will be replaced.

"If we had math books from 1988, reading books from 1988, as a parent, I would be furious," said Patty Rafailedes, a physical education teacher.

The Ohio Department of Education doesn't require schools to provide sex education, particularly when it comes to using contraceptives. The state curriculum calls for venereal disease education, which often is taught along with nutrition and the effects of drugs, alcohol and tobacco.

"Sex is more complex than the information about drugs and alcohol," said Bill Albert, a spokesman for the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy. "It is not a not-now, not-ever message."

According to the Canton Health Department, statistics through July 2005 showed that 104 of the 586 babies born to Canton residents in Aultman Hospital and Mercy Medical Center had mothers between the ages of 11 and 19.
I think they need a little more than just sex ed.
Don't drink from
the water fountain.

[verte]

They gave birth at AGE ELEVEN??????????????????

:banghead1 :banghead1 :banghead1 :banghead1

[A Dead Relative]

They gave birth at AGE ELEVEN??????????????????
Unfortunately, it's not the first time I've heard of girls this young, having babies.

I apologize in advance, to anyone who is offended, but this is a great reason to keep abortion legal.

[verte]

*wonders who could possibly want an eleven year old child to give birth*

Well, if I didn't just love each and every one of you more than life itself, I would personally not give a damn who would be offended, as I don't think eleven year old children need to be pregnant, this is not the damned fourteenth century. Please excuse me while I beat my head again upon the keyboard.

[Mason]

I agree, abortion should be kept legal for eleven year old girls. I doubt any eleven year old on the planet is capable of being mature enough to raise a baby--no matter how beyond their years they are.

[Alex Bragi]

*wonders what kind of sicko would want to have sex with an eleven year old girl in the first place*

Never mind the abortion for the eleven year old, that's just a given, how about slow castration for the sick bastard who got her pregnant?

[disgracian]

An 11 year old boy perhaps?

Cheers,

[verte]

A good point. But whoever it is, we seem to only ever hear about the girls. And yes, I know they are left "holding the bag" so to speak, but surely the adults remember that it does take two to get pregnant? Is it just me, or is there little talk in the "media" about teaching boys to be responsible?

[Storm_Raven]

Unfortunately because girls are the one's who end up being pregnant they are the one's who are targeted. Boy's get away with it because they don't suffer the physical effects except if they catch some venereal disease.

I personally feel that everyone should take personal responsibility for their actions, it should just not be up to the girl to take the pill, the boy should be responsible enough to wear a condom as well.

The sex education in the UK was virtually non-existent to all practical intents when I was at school, yes we were taught how it physically happens, but nothing else. Sex education is about much more than just the physical, the mental and emotional aspects are if anything more important.

Storm Raven:icon_viking:

[Godless Dave]

Wait, so the sex ed scene in Monty Python's Meaning of Life wasn't an accurate depiction?

[Storm_Raven]

:smt046 It is certainly more accurate than the official sex education I got at school.

To me you should to be mature enough mentally and emotionally as well as physically to deal with the possible results, before you consider having sex. Believe me I have met some very mentally and emotionally immature people with children, who are physically old enough to know far better.:( :smt092

Storm Raven:icon_viking:

[Godless Dave]

Savage Love ran a great column about what teen girls should know about sex. He solicited ideas from his readers. He printed some in his column and more on his website. One of them was "Just because a guy wants to fuck you doesn't mean he loves you." That's the kind of education kids need about sex (in addition to the pregnancy and STD prevention stuff).

[Shake]

They also need to have all of the myths refuted and emphasis placed on the facts of sex. Such as: while certain times are better for conception, pregnancy is always a possible outcome of unprotected sex ... even on the first time!

Have the kids come up with anything and everything they've heard about sex, do it anonymously even. Then list the items on the board and go through each one, either debunking or confirming each item. I think that'd be effective since it came from the kids themselves.

[Benkyo]

We did that, our sex ed was pretty comprehensive.

[Thalia]

My few sex ed classes debunked the myths. We were also given the chance to ask questions about myths, one kid asked if he could use plastic wrap instead of condoms. The teacher's face was priceless.

[verte]

We never had sex ed at all, just that freaky Stepford-style menstruation film they showed all the girls in seventh grade.

[Godless Dave]

Have the kids come up with anything and everything they've heard about sex, do it anonymously even.

We had a large group assembly with an outside education group where they did just that. Students wrote down questions on slips of paper and passed them to the front.

Also, in one science class the teacher demonstrated how penises become erect using a piece of limp celery. She stuck it in a glass of water and SCHWING!

[Thalia]

We had a large group assembly with an outside education group where they did just that. Students wrote down questions on slips of paper and passed them to the front.
Yup, that's the way it was when that kid asked the question about saran wrap. Therefore it amused half the school.

Also, in one science class the teacher demonstrated how penises become erect using a piece of limp celery. She stuck it in a glass of water and SCHWING!

I had a teacher do that with a tampon. Put it in the glass and watch it blow up. I think I would have liked the celery demonstration better though. I think seeing how big that tampon got kinda scared me away from them for awhile.

[Mason]

I know the solution.

Hardcore porn.

I'm talking the nastiest stuff you can find, and when I mean nasty I mean not sexually appealing at all--it's so perverted. We can show the videos and then show the barely legal girl doing all of that and the instructors could ask the girls, "Do you want to do that?"

It's a 50/50 whether it helps the situation or makes it worse.

Now I have to think of something for the boys.

[Quath]

I remember the sex ed fil in the 6th grade. I had learned of sex a year earlier. After the film, the teacher asked if we had any questions. I rember mine was "When are they going to mention sex? All I saw was something about a windy twisty road of decisions and a lot of technical words." The teacher said something like "It was hidden in the technical words."

I remember after that class explaining what sex was to a couple of my friends. Now that is poor education.

Quath

[Alex Bragi]

And 11 year old boy perhaps?

Yes, I suppose that is a possibility, and one I hadn't considered, but wouldn't it be as likely as an 11 year old girl getting pregnant in the first place? I mean, I don't actually know--at what age, approximately, does a male usually start producing sperm?

I know the solution.

Hardcore porn.

I'm talking the nastiest stuff you can find, and when I mean nasty I mean not sexually appealing at all--it's so perverted. We can show the videos and then show the barely legal girl doing all of that and the instructors could ask the girls, "Do you want to do that?"

It's a 50/50 whether it helps the situation or makes it worse.
Now I have to think of something for the boys.

You just reminded me, you're only 15 years old aren't you?

[Godless Dave]

Yes, I suppose that is a possibility, and one I hadn't considered, but wouldn't it be as likely as an 11 year old girl getting pregnant in the first place? I mean, I don't actually know--at what age, approximately, does a male usually start producing sperm?

About age 11 or 12.

But, most of the pregnancies I hear about involving 11-year-old girls involve a father who is older, teens or twenties.

[Storm_Raven]

Savage Love ran a great column about what teen girls should know about sex. He solicited ideas from his readers. He printed some in his column and more on his website. One of them was "Just because a guy wants to fuck you doesn't mean he loves you." That's the kind of education kids need about sex (in addition to the pregnancy and STD prevention stuff).

It also applies to the guys, just because a woman/girl wants to have sex with you, it doesn't mean she cares about you in anyway, shape or form.

Sorry, but been there, led up the garden path and used to get the guy she really wanted to realise that he wanted her, then unceremoniously dumped.:(

Storm Raven:icon_viking:

[scarey girl]

True, but at the sort of age we are talking about it is usually an older guy trying to persuade a younger girl to have sex with him to show how much she loves him, thinking it means he loves her back.

[Godless Dave]

Yeah, 13-year-old guys don't have that much savvy. Believe me, most of them would love to have sex, but few of them are devious enough to get girls their age to do it.

I was naiive at that age and thought girls my age were just as horny as I was. But I also had this thing called morality where it never occurred to me to trick or force someone into having sex.

[Storm_Raven]

I admit to being a late comer to the physical side of relationships, for me it has always been a case of only wanting that with someone I love and waiting for that right person to come into my life.

I agree that their is a lot of pier pressure to have had sex from an ever earlier age, especially amongst girls in this country and if they have a boyfriend who is a couple of years or more older than them, they will feel even more pressured to do so.

Storm Raven:icon_viking:

[Mason]

You just reminded me, you're only 15 years old aren't you?

Which explains the above post.

[A Dead Relative]

If 13% of the girls are pregnant, I really wonder what percent, of all the students, are sexually active. I'm almost betting it's more than 25%.:shock:

[Mason]

There's a thread in IIDB's Moral Foundations board that has a link proving sexual activity has decreased--if not minutely--in high school teenagers. Last time I read they were arguing over whether that was good or not, or maybe that was a different thread I had seen.

[A Dead Relative]

There's a thread in IIDB's Moral Foundations board that has a link proving sexual activity has decreased--if not minutely--in high school teenagers.Obviously they missed Canton, Ohio.