"School Surveys 7th-Graders on Oral Sex"

[blackout]

The point I was trying (and perhaps failing) to make was that some of the things we do at a school is not intended to help the education of the pupil currently sitting in the classroom, but rather to improve upon the whole process of education itself.
As I'm sure most educators will agree, education is almost as much about figuring out how to educate students as it is about educating students.
Thus, in their own small way, every teacher is also to a certain degree, scientists and researchers, and their subject of research is the metodology of education.
But in order to do that research we need data, which can be obtained through tests, observations, and sometimes, surveys.

And yet still,
my question has not been answered.

Obviously our concerns are not the same.
And that's fine.

 

[Mathematician]

I don't ever recall taking a survey that's mandatory. On many occasions I would just twiddle my thumbs and return the paper blank. It kind of makes the survey more unreliable to force answers, in fact.

The article said this survey was optional and that opt-out sheets were provided. I suspect the parent who was interviewed simply didn't have their child bring the sheet home.

 

[blackout]

I don't ever recall taking a survey that's mandatory. On many occasions I would just twiddle my thumbs and return the paper blank. It kind of makes the survey more unreliable to force answers, in fact.

The article said this survey was optional and that opt-out sheets were provided. I suspect the parent who was interviewed simply didn't have their child bring the sheet home.

ah. thanks.

Well then I really can't see what anyone's got their panties in a knot about.

I agree BTW about what you said about forced answers.

 

[Vinayaka]

I still do surveys with totally false answers, especially political ones. For schools, as a teacher sometimes I got frustrated with the sheer number of surveys coming at you, especially the more lengthy ones that took up class time. There were surveys from the school newspaper kids, local school, the local school district, the provincial government, and the occasional one from a local university for some guy or gal's thesis. Some students would just roll their eyes, "Not another survey' and do it in 2 minutes. At least the one in question may have caught their attention. One of the errors a lot of people making the stupid things (my attitude probably rubbed off a bit on them as well) was not adjusting it to language level. That was probably true in this one in some degree. Reminds me of the famous Rowan Atkinson skit where the parishioner doesn't understand the word 'fellatio'. Then there were some values ones that made stupid assumptions like every kid has a dad around.

 

[Reverend Rick]

Really? It's a wonder why many kids who get pregnant usually were misinformed because of parents that refuse to discuss sex with children at that age. 11 years old is not to young to make kids aware of how sex works.

My kid's did not "get pregnant". You raise your kids the way you want to and leave mine alone.

 

[Reverend Rick]

To be clear,
I don't have a problem with sex education.
I do have a problem with mandatory surveys, however.

Exactly

 

[Marble]

Well, at least the girls learn that they should not bite into the sausage...

 

[jarofthoughts]

My kid's did not "get pregnant". You raise your kids the way you want to and leave mine alone.

I don't know how this works in the US, but in Norway we DO teach the kids sex-ed, including the various methods of birth control, how to protect themselves from disease and so on.
Not only that, but we also teach them that there are gay people out there and that that's fine too.
If you have a problem with any of this there is always the option of home schooling, but in the public schools, this is a part of the curriculum.

Exactly

As mentioned above the survey in question was NOT mandatory.

 

[TheKnight]

You do not have a right to ask children of that age sexual questions. I would be ready to have the school board and principle's head on a platter.

Yes, there are kids who do things like this at that age.

There are also children who are being robbed of their innocence by asking such things.

Robbed of their innocence?

Sex is instinctual.

 

[linwood]

There are also children who are being robbed of their innocence by asking such things.

You mean "robbed of their ignorance" don`t you?

Because have knowledge about sex and it`s ramifications has nothing to do with a persons innocence or lack of.

 

[*Deleted*]

I don't really like the idea of having kids take a survey. That seems very intrusive of privacy.
To have discussions about this subject makes sense, though, as middle schoolers are involved in oral sex more often than we think. (They don't consider it "really" having sex.)
Sex education (which I approve of) in the schools has become mechanistic and has gotten away from discussions about the emotional components. Especially when sex is mixed with alcohol, etc.
We're seeing it on college campuses (and it often began in high school)--is causing significant confusion and at many times, hurt (emotional) and physical danger. So, yeah, I think in middle school it needs to be discussed---however, as a parent, I always wanted to check out the programs re: sex ed (and academic stuff too) when my children were in middle and high school.

 

[jarofthoughts]

I don't really like the idea of having kids take a survey. That seems very intrusive of privacy.

The survey, as far as I can gather, was anonymous.

Sex education (which I approve of) in the schools has become mechanistic and has gotten away from discussions about the emotional components.

I don't know how this is done in the US, but in Norway we spend quite a bit of time talking about the emotional part as well.

So, yeah, I think in middle school it needs to be discussed---however, as a parent, I always wanted to check out the programs re: sex ed (and academic stuff too) when my children were in middle and high school.

Good. Parents should be involved in their children's' education.

 

[Reverend Rick]

You mean "robbed of their ignorance" don`t you?

Because have knowledge about sex and it`s ramifications has nothing to do with a persons innocence or lack of.

Your missing the whole point here. This discussion is not about the child's education. You keep changing the topic when you talk about educating children.

Asking young people questions is not educating them now is it?

Asking very young children if they give blow jobs is not only improper, it is private and not any ones business.

 

[jarofthoughts]

Asking young people questions is not educating them now is it?

Actually it is my professional opinion that a good teacher should ask as many questions as he/she answers.
It is an essential part of making the children reflect and it enhances their cognitive processes.

As for the kind of questions asked in the survey; they were never meant to educate the pupils directly, but these kinds of surveys are an essential part of improving the overall educational process, something which will eventually benefit the pupils.

Asking very young children if they give blow jobs is not only improper, it is private and not any ones business.

12-14 year olds are hardly considered "very young children".
Some of them will be teenagers, the age when a lot of people make their sexual début.
Personally I was fifteen when I had sex for the first time (with a girl in my class), if that's any sort of measuring stick, and I have quite a few friends who were fourteen or even thirteen years of age when they lost their virginity.
These things can vary a lot from person to person, and some people don't debut until they are perhaps as late as in their early twenties, which, of course, is fine, but if proper sex-ed can prevent more teen pregnancies (it does) and help protect teenagers from contracting STDs (it does), then I'm all for it.
But in order to make informed decisions about said education we need data, and surveys such as the one discussed here, is one way of getting those.

 

[blackout]

Actually it is my professional opinion that a good teacher should ask as many questions as he/she answers.
It is an essential part of making the children reflect and it enhances their cognitive processes.

As for the kind of questions asked in the survey; they were never meant to educate the pupils directly, but these kinds of surveys are an essential part of improving the overall educational process, something which will eventually benefit the pupils.



.

Well, unless the surveys include choice D. "What's a blow job?"
they're really not going to be very accurate now,
are they. :cover:

 

[jarofthoughts]

Well, unless the surveys include choice D. "What's a blow job?"
they're really not going to be very accurate now,
are they. :cover:

Agreed, although I have no idea how the specific questions were formulated in the survey in question, nor what the alternatives were concerning the answers.

 

[Penumbra]

I don't think it's appropriate to make this mandatory. If it's a publicly funded school, what right do they have to demand knowledge of student sex lives?

I could see optional surveys being acceptable, but it would depend on how they were administered.

 

[jarofthoughts]

I don't think it's appropriate to make this mandatory. If it's a publicly funded school, what right do they have to demand knowledge of student sex lives?

I could see optional surveys being acceptable, but it would depend on how they were administered.

If the survey was anonymous, and I can't imagine one that wasn't, then it is by all practical standards optional.
Who is to stop you from handing in a blank sheet?

 

[blackout]

I don't think it's appropriate to make this mandatory. If it's a publicly funded school, what right do they have to demand knowledge of student sex lives?

I could see optional surveys being acceptable, but it would depend on how they were administered.

I completely agree.

 

[Reverend Rick]

If the survey was anonymous, and I can't imagine one that wasn't, then it is by all practical standards optional.
Who is to stop you from handing in a blank sheet?

I never thought of that. They could answer, NOYFB too.