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Let's pull this back to the specifics here. This girl is 14. Not 11. FOURTEEN. That is past the early stages of puberty. She has grown up parts and raging hormones. And so do her peers.
At this point, she needs to understand what sex is, how it works, and be able to put things in context. She spends all day around a bunch of her peers with the ability to get pregnant or to impregnate.
I can understand parents wanting to control the context. I'm a parent myself, I get that. But in a school situation, how long are they supposed to wait? At what age is to "too early"? They have adult bodies and if you say nothing, the hormones will lead the situation. That's better? At what age are you to assume that parents have informed their children of where they stand on the issue and what they expect from them?
In this book, the sex is part of a context that is not glamorous. It is centered around a specific group of people struggling to come of age under difficult circumstances. 14 is really too young to grasp these concepts while simultaneously understanding how this may be different from what they want to do in their real lives? I'd rather they get a sense of what sex means in this context than the glamorized version of female sexuality that happens in pop music frankly.
This isn't a book read in sex ed class.
This is a novel for young adults so more than likely it was English or Language Arts class.
I think I would agree with the several school boards that banned it from the curriculum so it would not be required reading but left it in the library for any student that wanted to read it.
This is a novel for young adults so more than likely it was English or Language Arts class.
I think I would agree with the several school boards that banned it from the curriculum so it would not be required reading but left it in the library for any student that wanted to read it.
No books should be banned, especially not in high school. Required reading is often left to the teacher so perhaps parents ought to be paying more attention to reading material if they are so concerned about this stuff. Although letting their kids grow up would be the better way to go.
No books should be banned, especially not in high school. Required reading is often left to the teacher so perhaps parents ought to be paying more attention to reading material if they are so concerned about this stuff. Although letting their kids grow up would be the better way to go.
It wasn't banned just taken off the curriculum of required reading.
One has to tolerate that not all parents feel the same about sex content in books their kids read.
Everyone has different views. While you may not agree with them that doesn't make them wrong.
It wasn't banned just taken off the curriculum of required reading.
One has to tolerate that not all parents feel the same about sex content in books their kids read.
Everyone has different views. While you may not agree with them that doesn't make them wrong.
I only said "banned" because you did.
Thats true, and we do have choices as parents and plenty of safeguards in place. In this particular case it seems as if the problem was an unseen permission slip. Whether that was caused by the school, teacher, student or parent is unknown. In my mind that makes this a non issue.
This is a novel for young adults so more than likely it was English or Language Arts class.
I think I would agree with the several school boards that banned it from the curriculum so it would not be required reading but left it in the library for any student that wanted to read it.
Why would it need to be in sex ed? The kids at that age should be old enough to know what sex is. English is typcally the class where you read rich material and start to grasp the concepts of critical thinking and multiple points of view. You're supposed to do this type of reading in that class.
You know what? The OP calling this book a "graphic sex book" would be about as fair as someone calling Mitt Romney "a blatant animal abuser" or Newt Gingrich "a sexual deviant".
Or maybe it's fair to see all three of these things like this?
There really are parents that put safety locks on their computers and monitor what their kids are looking at.
All I know is 40 years ago there was not much teen pregnancies in school. We had maybe one girl drop out because she got pregnant. Now look at what is happening. The proof is in the pudding.
Call us prudes or sexually repressive but I will take that over what is going on now any time. Single mothers, kids growing up without fathers in the home and the family generally falling apart.
First, you're a prude and sexually repressive.
Second, single motherhood is an entirely different discussion than sex-education, teen pregnancies, and censorship of literature, which are the primary subjects at hand.
Also, you make a falsifiable statement. Let's check it!
...
There are many factors involved in teen pregnancy rates, but it seems that open dialogue and education HELP rather than hinder. Pushing this stuff under the rug, and pretending kids aren't having/considering sex, will only cause more problems in my opinion.
Ah, yes the kids are different. Human nature has not changed. It is society that has changed and changed them along with it. Remember, not all change is good change.
Why treat kids any different because society has changed? Kids are kids, first and should be treated as kids always were treated in the context of things like this thread subject.
We should do everything we can to preserve their innocence, and just as schools fifty years go did, teach them about their bodily functions without titillating them in the process.
What does that mean? What does "preserve their innocence" mean? What is innocence in this case? Please, do define it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by slackjaw
I'm not sure this is really accurate. From this thread it appears the majority are on the same side as you are... there are only a few posters still clinging to this "backward" notion that teenagers need to be shielded from the reality of their bodies and sexuality.
Our culture is depicted in our works, and nothing makes a clearer case of our backward culture as a documentary, This Film Is Not Yet Rated, dealing with the Motion Pictures Association of America (MPAA) and their draconian censorship. If you have Netflix, you should be able to watch it online.
Times are different. Back then it was high school. Now you have sex occurring in elementary, middle school. So I guess they need to learn the specifics sooner rather than later.
What used to happen at 16 now happens at 10.
Another falsifiable hypothesis! Of course, you're a little vague, so you'll have to be more specific.
Are you talking about puberty? That's biological and not subject to the whims of sex-education.
So what is happening at 10 now that used to happen at 16?
Quote:
Originally Posted by HappyTexan
All this sex education at earlier ages is good ? Physically they know all the details but are they mentally mature enough to understand the long term ramifications ?
Getting into the "pregnant page" of your high school yearbook should not be a goal for teenage girls.
Good thing this isn't about single motherhood. Someone else already pointed out a problem with your research--which is, it doesn't support you. We've had fewer teenage pregnancies. Oops.
Quote:
Originally Posted by gizmo980
Yeah, it can get a bit confusing at times! Apologies for misunderstanding your comment, which makes more sense now that I have read back a little farther.
When this happens to me--one of 'my own' starts attacking me, I go full Poe's Law.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tinawina
Let's pull this back to the specifics here. This girl is 14. Not 11. FOURTEEN. That is past the early stages of puberty. She has grown up parts and raging hormones. And so do her peers.
That is crazy. Humans are sexually capable of bearing children at 10 and 11 years of age. You think'd we, you know, want to let them know this and how to stop it from happening--like some kind of sexual education.
Someone already "stole my thunder" ... but ... there is no more graphic sex book than the Bible.
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