Should Kids Be Encouraged To Experiment With Sex and Drugs?

[Sunstone]

If I'm not mistaken, American kids are already regularly encouraged to experiment with sex and drugs both by their peers and ceaselessly, relentlessly and overwhelmingly by our culture. We are all barraged with ads for alcohol, pharmaceuticals, cigarettes, caffeine. We start giving young kids drugs like ritalin and anti-depressants. Our culture is about drugs.

As for sex, scan the covers of the magazine rack next time you're at the store. Even teenage programming is predominantly about sex. The above ads for drugs are also about sex.

I'm not judging whether there is anything wrong with that. Just pointing out that the speaker apparently is preaching to the choir. The choir is just too damn high to realize it perhaps.:areyoucra

Good points! On the radio, where I heard of this, the kids were cheering the speaker.

 

[fullyveiled muslimah]

If I'm not mistaken, American kids are already regularly encouraged to experiment with sex and drugs both by their peers and ceaselessly, relentlessly and overwhelmingly by our culture. We are all barraged with ads for alcohol, pharmaceuticals, cigarettes, caffeine. We start giving young kids drugs like ritalin and anti-depressants. Our culture is about drugs.

As for sex, scan the covers of the magazine rack next time you're at the store. Even teenage programming is predominantly about sex. The above ads for drugs are also about sex.

I'm not judging whether there is anything wrong with that. Just pointing out that the speaker apparently is preaching to the choir. The choir is just too damn high to realize it perhaps.:areyoucra

Maybe we should stop encouraging kids to experiment with sex and drugs. I don't know.

Oh man these are some really good points. I find it all corruptive, the ads, everything. It seems our culture is obsessed with these things and I wonder why? Not only are the young impressionable minds affected, but the old impressionable minds as well. Sex is not something done between two people who love each other, but it's a tool to be used and a means to an end. Drugs are even worse in most cases especially the hard ones.

When will we learn the meaning of responsibility?

 

[fullyveiled muslimah]

Is this why American kids are behind other kids in education? I was just wondering whether or not their minds were clouded with so much crap, that they can't concentrate on other things that are more worth while than sex and drugs. If they had something constructive to do maybe they wouldn't have to spend all their time engaging in risky behaviour just to fit in or whatever.

I mainly was offended by the idea proposed in the OP because it placated an issue rather than was aimed at trying to educate to prevent. Maybe if we as a whole started perpetuating other worthy things as better, less teens would feel that they have to do this stuff in order to have a normal childhood, and/or high school experience.

The advice was dangerous because it does encourage whether it meant to or not. It's dangerous because it perpetuates a cycle of drug abuse. Many kids are already predisposed because of home environments, other children are more prone than others to become hooked once they experiment, and its the lucky few who can truly do it a couple times and leave it alone as not a big deal or something they didn't care for doing. It's just too risky to put them in that position where they may have to struggle to overcome abuse later, or struggle not to be pressured into trying it in the first place.


Instead of getting teens to feel good about drug use, why not do things that really matter. Bill Gates opened a few model schools, I forget where, and the kids love it. Children who in another circumstance would drop out of school or fail, simply adore school with the environment they are given. I was watching a special on it a few months ago and was amazed. Maybe the public school system can investigate Mr. Gates technique and implement it rather than hiring this guy to talk their kids into doing something they wanna do anyway.


EDIT: This is a short article about the schools Mr. Gates proposed in NYC. http://www.cnn.com/2003/EDUCATION/09/17/sprj.sch.gates.schools.ap/index.html

He's puting them in the poor areas where its needed most as well. I say bravo to him as he is trying to do something constructive with all that money to help people practically.

 

[MaddLlama]

I think that maybe kids would be less likely to abuse drugs if they had some real information. Drugs are so prevalent and so taboo at the same time that kids have nothing but propaganda to go on. How many American kids still hear the tired old crap that smoking weed will make one addicted to heroin, and make you impotent?

Legal or not, there should at least be some real, scientific, non-government run studies on the negative and positive effects of drugs, even prescription ones (at least, they should make more information on negative effects Rx drugs more accessible). A propaganda campaign rife with fear and misinformation doesn't help anybody.

I think that's also a larger part of why society is a bit screwy here these days - people in positions of power are much more interested in either selling something or making us believe what's in their best interest than in actually educating their citizens. And, it's very very sad.

 

[doppelganger]

Kids are smart. They are much more aware of what is going on than many of us think they are, and in some ways more attuned to the subtleties of hypocrisy then we are because they are still learning and asking questions and discovering who they are and what their values will be. It's easy for them to see right through anti-drug propaganda for the hypocrisy involved.

 

[MaddLlama]

Kids are smart. They are much more aware of what is going on than many of us think they are, and in some ways more attuned to the subtleties of hypocrisy then we are because they are still learning and asking questions and discovering who they are and what their values will be. It's easy for them to see right through anti-drug propaganda for the hypocrisy involved.

Yeah, but if there's no real information for them once they see through the propaganda, it doesn't do them any good anyway.

 

[doppelganger]

Yeah, but if there's no real information for them once they see through the propaganda, it doesn't do them any good anyway.

I don't disagree. My point is that the encouraging is already going on, and nobody wants to do anything about discouraging use (such as through honest information and curtailing advertising) as to those drugs that are profitable for big industries and their congressmen.

 

[basitali]

drug and sex should both be prohibited totally. seperate and together they open a lot of other physical and psychological problems. there is no satisfacition in their experiments. better they should not be started and encouraged to be started at all.
count the problems we are facing in taodays world. the major half of them is because of this experimentation.
it is better to consult the opinions who have been through them. plus it should not be allowed to discuss these things in open. it awakes the suspence: a motivating force to do some thing.

 

[Mike182]

drug and sex should both be prohibited totally. seperate and together they open a lot of other physical and psychological problems. there is no satisfacition in their experiments. better they should not be started and encouraged to be started at all.
count the problems we are facing in taodays world. the major half of them is because of this experimentation.
it is better to consult the opinions who have been through them. plus it should not be allowed to discuss these things in open. it awakes the suspence: a motivating force to do some thing.

i can't think of anything that would have a worse effect. let's bring our society back to the ignorant ages where we didn't know about what really happens because we don't dare talk about it!

 

[doppelganger]

And as to discouraging sex among people who have hormones raging, there's no doing so. And in my opinion, trying to do so only results in psychological disorders and an unhealthy fascination with sex. "Abstinence only" education is not only useless and hypocritical, it is dangerous.

For more (CAUTION: some potentially "offensive" language)

 

[Sunstone]

And as to discouraging sex among people who have hormones raging, there's no doing so. And in my opinion, trying to do so only results in psychological disorders and an unhealthy fascination with sex. "Abstinence only" education is not only useless and hypocritical, it is dangerous.

For more (CAUTION: some potentially "offensive" language)

Even if it didn't have disasterous effects to discourage sex, why would you want to anyway? Sex is part of growing up.

 

[doppelganger]

Even if it didn't have disasterous effects to discourage sex, why would you want to anyway?

Because religious authoritarianism uses these powerful urges for its own propagation? It depends on controlled and redirected sexuality.

http://agnosticgnostic.blogspot.com/2007/02/sex-and-single-fascist.html

 

[Sunstone]

I figure kids should be encouraged to have responsible sex at some point when they are emotionally, mentally, and physically mature enough for it. We encourage kids to learn to drive responsibly: Why not encourage them to learn to have sex responsibly?

 

[fullyveiled muslimah]

I do not think that sex should be opposed for goodness sakes. Sex is good which is why my argument was revolved around the drugs. I have a whole different take on sex as I am sure most are aware. I think sex between teens is cool if they're married. The reality is that they aren't. I don't give the green light to expermental sex per se outside of marriage, BUT not telling them about it is akin to not telling a girl what her period is, for fear of telling her why it's there. It's silly not to talk about these things in an honest way, including drug use. I was (un)fortunate enough not to have to have a talking to on drugs due to my experience with them. Not all kids are privy to that though, so there needs to be education on it.

The sex is a different thing altogether when they are not taught to have self-control, coupled with the fact that they are only human after all, and tripled with the fact that there is nothing wrong with sex anyway. It's hard to have that control in any case, but it is even harder with everywhere you look somebody's sayin "go have sex", and hormones are talking to you. That's the main reason why I think marriage among teens will solve the problem and not make sex something you have to hide to explore, or feel bad about doing. That is another thread topic though.....

 

[Sunstone]

Sex is good...

I'm proud of the fact I possessed the talent to convince my ex's otherwise!

 

[dawny0826]

At Boulder High School in Boulder Colorado a couple months ago, a guest speaker recommended to the student body that they experiment responsibly with sex and drugs. His point seems to have been that the kids would experiment with sex and drugs anyway, so an effort should be made to get them to experiment responsibly. What do you make of his advice to the high school kids?

I think this is bull, personally.

I'm not ignorant to the fact that kids experiment with sex and drugs and I DO feel that kids should be educated on the pros and cons of both sex and drug experimentation. However, I do NOT think that sex and/or drug usage should be encouraged.

 

[Mathematician]

Just an update on the OP: the speaker was joking, and his comments were taken out of context by the media.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3d365JuHMss

 

[Mercy Not Sacrifice]

Gotta give some mad props to Druidus. You certainly have done your homework.

At Boulder High School in Boulder Colorado a couple months ago, a guest speaker recommended to the student body that they experiment responsibly with sex and drugs. His point seems to have been that the kids would experiment with sex and drugs anyway, so an effort should be made to get them to experiment responsibly. What do you make of his advice to the high school kids?

Just an update on the OP: the speaker was joking, and his comments were taken out of context by the media.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3d365JuHMss

Second quoted post may answer the first. The American Media LOVES to take stuff out of context and present it as legitimate fact.

If I'm not mistaken, American kids are already regularly encouraged to experiment with sex and drugs both by their peers and ceaselessly, relentlessly and overwhelmingly by our culture. We are all barraged with ads for alcohol, pharmaceuticals, cigarettes, caffeine. We start giving young kids drugs like ritalin and anti-depressants. Our culture is about drugs.

As for sex, scan the covers of the magazine rack next time you're at the store. Even teenage programming is predominantly about sex. The above ads for drugs are also about sex.

I'm not judging whether there is anything wrong with that. Just pointing out that the speaker apparently is preaching to the choir. The choir is just too damn high to realize it perhaps.:areyoucra

Maybe we should stop encouraging kids to experiment with sex and drugs. I don't know.

The thing is, though, the human mind is wired for sexuality from a young age. Some people still do not get that. Drugs, however, is a little different.

Kids are smart. They are much more aware of what is going on than many of us think they are, and in some ways more attuned to the subtleties of hypocrisy then we are because they are still learning and asking questions and discovering who they are and what their values will be. It's easy for them to see right through anti-drug propaganda for the hypocrisy involved.

Once they reach a certain age--usually some time during adolescence--definitely.

drug and sex should both be prohibited totally. seperate and together they open a lot of other physical and psychological problems. there is no satisfacition in their experiments. better they should not be started and encouraged to be started at all.
count the problems we are facing in taodays world. the major half of them is because of this experimentation.
it is better to consult the opinions who have been through them. plus it should not be allowed to discuss these things in open. it awakes the suspence: a motivating force to do some thing.

Hi, welcome to RF. Can you please explain why you believe this?

I figure kids should be encouraged to have responsible sex at some point when they are emotionally, mentally, and physically mature enough for it. We encourage kids to learn to drive responsibly: Why not encourage them to learn to have sex responsibly?

Wow, excellent point. Of course, if you DARED to propose this in some school district, you'd be raked over the coals.

Which is precisely the reason we have to have discussions such as these.