How young is too young . . . . .

[Carsman]

. . . . . . . is the question here.

PBS News Hour is arguing the case for sex education here in schools should be more like how the Dutch are doing it.

The Dutch feel it should be started in Kindergarten and work it's way up.

Are our schools here behind the times? Or should the parents be the one's to have the task of educating their tender youngsters about sex ed?

So What do you think, is teaching sex ed in our schools to 4 and 5 year old kindergartners too young?

[Duchess]

Sex Ed for a 4-5 year old. Woooo. Kids that age are still babies to me. The parents in here will know better than me.

I can remember a couple of friends teaching their little ones about good touching vs bad touching before they started school which I found sorta shocking but I understood why they did it.

[ramseycat]

Kindergarten is a little young. You do have to teach them stranger danger and good touch vs bad touch though.

[HairOfTheDog]

I think the Dutch system is great and wish the U.S. could adopt such a nation-wide model, but I think there are still too many adults who tie sexuality to religion/sin for it to fly here anytime soon.

Kids in the Netherlands learn about human sexuality progressively. It's not like birth control and intercourse are being taught in younger grades. In kindergarten, they learn about love and feelings, and how to say no and report it if they're touched inappropriately.

The Dutch human sexuality education system allows for flexibility in how it’s taught. But it must address certain core principles like love, affection, attraction, sexual diversity, sexual assertiveness, reproduction, birth control, encouraging respect for all sexual preferences, and skills to protect against sexual coercion, intimidation, disease and abuse.

The underlying principle is straightforward: sexual development is a normal process that all young people experience. They have the right to frank, trustworthy information on the subject in an era where they're faced with sexual messages all over the media and misinformation from other kids.

It seems to be effective. On average, teens in the Netherlands do not have sex at an earlier age than those in other European countries or in the United States. Researchers found that among 12 to 25 year olds in the Netherlands, most say they had “wanted and fun” first sexual experiences. By comparison, 66 percent of sexually active American teens surveyed said they wished that they had waited longer to have sex for the first time.

A Rutgers WPF study found that nine out of ten Dutch adolescents used contraceptives the first time, and World Health Organization data shows that Dutch teens are among the top users of the birth control pill.

According to the World Bank, the teen pregnancy rate in the Netherlands is one of the lowest in the world, five times lower than the U.S. Rates of HIV infection and sexually transmitted diseases are also low.

Ref: http://www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/spring-fever/

[Love Child]

. . . . . . . is the question here.



So What do you think, is teaching sex ed in our schools to 4 and 5 year old kindergartners too young?

In the U.S. ? YES.
For the Dutch. No.

[Cutz]

I think the point is that it's progressive learning, like math. You don't go into 2^nd grade and learn calculus. It builds off previous learning. Maybe in first grade you can learn about gender, love, affection, and privates privacy. 3^rd/4^th grade you can learn about not letting others pressure you into sexual experience. 6^th/7^th can focus on the reproductive system, safe sex, sexual orientation, more advanced stuff. 12^th grade you can learn about fetishes, BDSM, sex clubs, oral sex techniques, the most advanced learning.

I think the country fails young women in regards to sexual expectation. Too many girls think the way to make boys like you is too suck dick and let your BF finger you at parties. Boys are more pressured by peers into sexual exploration early in my opinion, but I think girls are pressured by boys. Neither is a good thing. If early sex education built sexual confidence in youths that their body was their own property and nobody should pressure them into doing anything they're not ready for, it'd be a good thing. If they're just gonna tell kids the penis goes in the vagina, it's a waste.

[Mohammed]

I remember it started in Germany in class 2, so I was 6 years old. When the teacher tried to explain what goes where, what's happening during that process and if anybody has any question, I remember asking him "But what if the boy got to pee?"

He just looked at me, shook his head, and said "Trust me, that ain't gonna happen."

He made no sense to me whatsoever that time and I felt he didn't answer my question at all. Took me a full 9 years to finally find out what he meant.

[cannongal]

Both my boys had sex ed in the fourth grade (about 9 years old).

They came home with really weird 'fill in the blank' diagrams and pictures.

When my oldest went through it, he was pissed when he learned that girls had an extra hole-boys should have 3 holes, too, ya know.

When my youngest went through it, he was just glad that the girls had to get fat with babies and not the boys.