Teenage Pregnancy and "Sex Ed" in High School: What is actually being taught in class?

The nuns in my school deferred to our Pastor for the sex education. He was a red-headed Irishman, whose face flushed as red as his hair when he broke into the "lesson."

A few years later, a large number of our nuns married the priests and it was hilarious!

Lol -- that is too funny, Susan! Never heard of sex ed by nuns. Sounds like a Saturday Night Live skit or something.

I'm sure most of us wish that sex ed happens at home, but sadly there are plenty of homes where it doesn't. Mine was one. My parents never talked to me about sex. When I was 21 and wanted to get on birth control because I had my first serious boyfriend, I approached my mom about taking me to a gynecologist and all my mom could do was cry and say something about how I needed to be married first. I did get myself to the dr. and got a prescription, but I knew absolutely nothing about STD's and the dr. never mentioned it to me. A few years later, I remember my mom attempting to talk, very briefly, about sex right before I got married at 24, but it was too little, nothing I hadn't already learned on my own, and way, way too late.

Interesting how different states seem to approach the topic differently. Our school nurse pulled several fifth-grade classes into the library to review slides about sexuality. Boys were funneled into one section and girls another. The focus for the girls section seemed to be demystifying the menstrual cycle and understanding pregnancy. Can't speak to what the boys learned, but they all seemed a little squeamish when it was said and done. I do think parents need to play a role in sex ed (which I learned about from my father at 7 years old along with the 'reveal' about Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny) Guess he wanted to keep it real for me at an early age.

Alison, that's a great question -- I also want to know what's being taught in high school. I have just one more year before I'll have my first high schooler, so I'm definitely curious.

I think that historically, the purpose of sex ed in schools was to teach kids how to avoid pregnancy and STD's. But I know that when I was in sex ed, the class ended up being totally out of control and our poor biology teacher wasn't able to teach anything of value between all of the giggling and acting up that was going on.

What I don't get about Bristol Palin's situation is why the heck she has to get married to her baby's father....(?)

Okay, back to sex ed..... Whatever's taught in the schools aside, I believe that the most important teachers of sex ed are the kids' parents. Maybe the schools can reinforce certain areas, but don't you think it's really the parents who have the real opportunity to make a difference in helping to guide their kids on the path of good and healthy choices?