I was hoping that would catch your attention! Now that I have it I thought we could talk a little about sex education. As Canadians I think the majority of us believe that we have a pretty good handle on sex education in our schools, at least compared to some other countries. We are at least more open about what we will talk about in classrooms according to a poll conducted in 2011 that compared sex education in Canada, Britain and the United States. Take a look at the article! I was not surprised when I read the statistics in the article rather than I thought some of them would be higher for Canada.
Then I was doing some more reading and I came across another article - click here. This article looks at how PEI's sex education classes are lacking. Students only recieved sex education in junior high school and recieved none in highschool. The focus on STI's was also a problem within their school systems. I came across another article - click here - that talked about the rise of Chlamydia in PEI. I don't know about you but that seemed like a link to me.
It is interesting to see an article that discusses how open Canadians seem to be about sex educations in their schools but then see how one province is failing at educating student about safe sex. Our bus excercise in class, also provided a lot of insight into what we are learning and at what ages. I found it odd that so many of us had learn different parts of sex education, some of us were exposed to more than others, even though many of our school were neighbours. Why is it that people from my school were provided with the sex education book but other students were not, even though their school were only minutes away. Obviously sex education in schools is not evenly regulated yet. There still seems to be confusion on what needs to be taught and what parents should talk to their children about.
What do you guys think?
What a great attention grabber, ha! The poll which you shared has some really great stats in it, which certainly shows Canada as being very liberal when it comes to sexual education. The statistic regarding 86% of Canadians wanting homosexuality discussed in sexual education is certainly validation of Canada's well regarded open mindedness. In one of my reflections (Where does gay fit into education?), I talked about the absence of any sort of education/support regarding homosexuality when I was in high school, so this survey is a sure sign that times have changed.
ReplyDeleteThis definitely grabbed my attention as well. It surprised me to see that the majority of Canadians are supportive of discussing pleasure in sex education classes. As was shown in Goldstein's performed ethnography, school officials and parents are usually ok with the basics of protection and pregnancy, sti's, etc, but most do not approve of children being taught the pleasure that comes with sexual activities. Most believe that teaching children that sex feels good and how to evoke those feelings, will encourage them to experiment with it. In Goldstein's play, the principal allowed the board approved safe sex seminar, but nothing involving pleasure. Since I am not a parent, I cannot say whether or not I would want my child learning about the pleasures of sex while as young as 9 years old... but I do feel like the emphasis should be on prevention of sti's and pregnancy before talking about how sex is good for them. Just a thought.
ReplyDeleteHey I wrote a similar review! Mine focuses more on sex education in the states though. I like how your articles compared a bunch of places. That is really interesting how 86% of Canadians want homosexuality discussed in sex ed. The poll I looked at said that nearly one in three Americans say is it not appropriate to discuss homosexuality and sexual orientation in schools at all! I guess there is quite a difference of opinion between Canadians and Americans. I also have a link saying that Americans have a great deal more teen pregnancies than Canadians do, or births I should say. Do you think that's because there is less information about practicing safe sex available to teens?
ReplyDelete-Jenna Brink