I'll repeat my answer from the original question:
1) Safe sex ed is better than abstinence only (or no sex ed) in every way
2) No matter what you think or want, kids have sex earlier and earlier
3) Knowing is half the battle, and it's always better to be safe
4) Teaching them doesn't mean they're actually going to have sex, only that they'll know what to do when they do.
![Public Opinion Says Teaching 11-Year-Olds About Condoms Is Not OK [INFOGRAPHIC]](http://images.sodahead.com/polls/002123757/infographic-sodahead-infographic-54744499750_xlarge.png "Public Opinion Says Teaching 11-Year-Olds About Condoms Is Not OK [INFOGRAPHIC]")
Public Opinion Says Teaching 11-Year-Olds About Condoms Is Not OK [INFOGRAPHIC]
SodaHead Infographics
2011/08/30 22:00:00
Last week we asked SodaHeads if 11-year-olds should be taught how to use a condom. It was a close call, but public opinion suggests that kids should be a wee bit older before getting that part of "the talk."
If you missed out on the original story, here's what sparked our interest:
It was a close call this time around, and the break-down was a bit more complicated than previous questions we've looked at.
Religion and politics broke down as expected, but age threw a wrench into the system at every turn. There was even a strange disagreement between engaged and married people. Weird.
Let's dive.
If you missed out on the original story, here's what sparked our interest:
But it looks like times have changed -- in New York City at least. The metropolitan city is reforming the way they look at sex education and will begin implementing a more controversial curriculum starting this year.
What does that mean, exactly? Well, for starters, public middle schools and high schools in the city will be given lessons on how to successfully use a condom and a talk on the appropriate age for sexual activity.
It was a close call this time around, and the break-down was a bit more complicated than previous questions we've looked at.
Religion and politics broke down as expected, but age threw a wrench into the system at every turn. There was even a strange disagreement between engaged and married people. Weird.
Let's dive.
Top Opinion
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dePSyChO 2011/08/31 00:13:41
![Thanksgiving: The Reason for the Season [INFOGRAPHIC]](http://images.sodahead.com/polls/003329051/thanksgiving-93109325925_crop.png "Thanksgiving: The Reason for the Season [INFOGRAPHIC]")
![A Fourth of the Population Has Stolen From the Grocery Store [INFOGRAPHIC]](http://images.sodahead.com/polls/003194651/stealing-88440771717_crop.png "A Fourth of the Population Has Stolen From the Grocery Store [INFOGRAPHIC]")
(1) The "where do babies come from" questions always, ALWAYS happen well before 11 years old. I'd say almost as soon as kids begin to talk, and certainly by kindergarten, kids are asking this question - they're curious little buggers.
(2) Teaching kids about condom use is not disturbing if there has been a healthy discussion of sex prior to this age, as there should HAVE been. At 11, kids should know about the penis, vagina, and how they work to make a baby. Therefore, the idea that condoms are used by GROWN UPS to prevent conception as well as diseases should be as disturbing as "wash your hands to stop spreading germs."
Greg P.
Greg P.
Just curious.... what happens if your 13 or 14 year old comes home one day expecting a child or with an STD. Will you take full responsibility for that or find a way to blame the same society that tried to educate your child on prevention just a few years earlier?
Greg P.
What I would do is still love my child as I did before, would I express I disappointment, you bet. I will take half the responsibility for not being a better parent in teaching my kids better, but my kids will have to take the responsibility for their own actions as I did not assist in what they chose to go out and do. My sister waited until marriage, I did not, did I wish I had listened to my parents, you bet I did. But I never would have blamed or expected my parents to be responsible for what I went out and did, what I did do is own up to my mistake and took care of my child, married her mother, (not because of the child but we did have a relationship before hand) had my little girl as flower girl at our wedding, and now we have two. Would I hope to teach my kids not wait, yes!! Will I condemn them for making mistakes as we all do, never!!! Oh and I was 22 when she was born, and 24 when I got married. I hope that relieves your curiosity.
And what does counting change have to do with condoms? Honestly? Two completely different things.
Teenagers have no life experience as adults do, so then how can one be smarter than ones parents without the wisdom from life? Being smart does not mean you are wise in your choices. Ones perspective is narrow when they have no real life experience. And yes wisdom.
Teenagers have life experience being a teenager here and now. Adults don't have that experience. They may have experience being teens here then, but things change. They're smarter than parents about themselves because they know themselves best of all, do you see what I'm saying?
For example, my grandmother says that in her day, people waited until marriage to do such things as sex. Perhaps she is just saying that, but perhaps it really is true. It would be harder for her to understand why eleven year olds must be taught about protection than teenagers who are having sex already.
"From 2000 to 2007, there have been 17,626 pregnancies among under-15s - six every day. There were 268 pregnancies of 12 year-old girls, 2,527 of 13 year-olds, 14,777 of 14 year-olds and 45,861 of 15 year-olds."
But in the US the statistics are only reported for those 15 and above,..
Mara Gay
2010-02-02
(Feb. 2) -- What if abstinence-only programs actually work?
That's the question facing educators this week after a groundbreaking study found that students who take classes emphasizing abstinence are less likely to have sex than those who take classes teaching safe sex.
Although the effectiveness and virtues of sex-ed versus abstinence-only curricula have long been the subject of fierce debate in American schools, the federal study, published in the Archives of Pediatric & Adolescent Medicine, is the first of its kind to suggest that programs encouraging students to abstain from having sex altogether are successful.
Just under half of the students in the study who received sex-education classes that included information about contraceptives went on to have sex in the next two years. But only one out of three students in the study who received abstinence-only education did.
What is clear is that experts and groups that had once thought abstinence-only education to be a fool's errand are taking a second look. Abstinence-only programs may be more useful than researchers originally thought. Sarah Brown, head of the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, told The Washington Post that the study was...
Mara Gay
2010-02-02
(Feb. 2) -- What if abstinence-only programs actually work?
That's the question facing educators this week after a groundbreaking study found that students who take classes emphasizing abstinence are less likely to have sex than those who take classes teaching safe sex.
Although the effectiveness and virtues of sex-ed versus abstinence-only curricula have long been the subject of fierce debate in American schools, the federal study, published in the Archives of Pediatric & Adolescent Medicine, is the first of its kind to suggest that programs encouraging students to abstain from having sex altogether are successful.
Just under half of the students in the study who received sex-education classes that included information about contraceptives went on to have sex in the next two years. But only one out of three students in the study who received abstinence-only education did.
What is clear is that experts and groups that had once thought abstinence-only education to be a fool's errand are taking a second look. Abstinence-only programs may be more useful than researchers originally thought. Sarah Brown, head of the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, told The Washington Post that the study was "game-changing."
Even Wagoner, who charges that studies by conservative groups like the Heritage Foundation advocating abstinence-only programs are akin to having "Santa Claus write something from the North Pole," found the federal study compelling. "This is a legitimate study from a legitimate researcher," he said. "So those of us who believe in legitimate research have to pay attention."
What is that, how many teen pregnancies were there in those districts that thought "Abstinence Only" was better?
Sort of like the virgin contract they promoted,.. everyone signed, then went on with the usual doings,
So when the talk comes, they already have a good start on how to resist temptation, and know that babies are supposed to be associated with marriage.
They should know that if they should get stupid, they better not bring undue chaos into the early lives of themselves who are still learning multiplication and division in math, not life.
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why not teach them about catching the Herps