Jerry

Yup, 6th & 8th grade. They didn't give a how-to, they talked about how it was normal, how people teens feel in diferent situations, blah blah blah, and handed out some pamphlits and such.

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~~Thomas Jefferson

WI Crippler

If it was, it wasn't presented in an earth shattering way that I can recall. I just remember cut away pictures of the uterus and scrotums and a discussion of eggs and sperm.

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"We have people like that in our world too. People who say that freedom is no longer practical, that we must surrender it for a greater common good."

"Fear them....They tolerate tyranny, excuse it, compromise with it. In doing so they always bring savagery and death upon the rest of us".
-Terry Goodkind Law of Nines

1069

Maybe I'm just being prudish, but I don't really see why it needs to be discussed in school, one way or the other (certainly not, as Americanwoman said, to teach children that it's evil and wrong).
If there's some overwhelming need for it to be discussed, then I guess go ahead and discuss it.
It just seems to me that such a discussion- among one's peer group, no less- would only give rise to a lot of silliness, crude humor, and embarrassment.
it is normal, but it is private. Teenagers are protective, defensive about their privacy.
I don't see that discussing this in a large group, in a classroom setting, would be productive or would yield any desirable effects.

If there's some reason why it needs to be discussed in school- why there needs to be teacher-led and teacher-directed discussion about it- I'd like to know what that reason is.

I do think teachers ought to make themselves available on a one-to-one basis for students who have personal concerns or questions, sexual or otherwise.
But mandatory lectures and/or discussions about such private stuff in a group of sniggering teenagers, I don't think that would necessarily be very helpful.

Jerry

That's exactly how I feel about sex-ed in general.

__________________
"Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason, than that of blind-folded fear."
~~Thomas Jefferson

WI Crippler

I have to agree here. I wouldn't say discussing it would really be counter productive(again unless we are talking about americanwomans experience), but I think there would be other, more important areas of sex ed that could use the extra time masterbating discussions take up.

__________________
"We have people like that in our world too. People who say that freedom is no longer practical, that we must surrender it for a greater common good."

"Fear them....They tolerate tyranny, excuse it, compromise with it. In doing so they always bring savagery and death upon the rest of us".
-Terry Goodkind Law of Nines

mikhail

Its the same kind of thing i think about most sex ed its all so simple that i just dont see what kids need to know in that much detail.

Masturbation I mean its up down isnt it.Or am i missing something?

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The third-rate mind is only happy when it is thinking with the majority. The second-rate mind is only happy when it is thinking with the minority. The first-rate mind is only happy when it is thinking.

1069

Well, now here I disagree, because masturbation is harmless, but sex can be dangerous or even fatal.
Kids have to be apprised of the risks, and taught ways of minimizing them.
Most kids seem to be able to settle down and discuss sex at least somewhat seriously, when it's approached from the perspective of "minimizing risks".
But with masturbation, there aren't any particular risks, and I don't see what an adult could tell a teenager about it that the teenager wouldn't already know, except for maybe how common it is.

SixStringHero

There used to be a certain stigma associated with the act, especially for single guys because to some it would imply the guy was loser and couldn't score for real. I don't know how prevalent that is today, but in my high school days there seemed to be that kind of association. It was just assumed most guys did it where as with girls not all did. To this day, I don't know if all girls do it, do they?

I believe the whole religious aspect of it came from the story of Onan, who was ordered by god to impregnate his brother's wife, but instead "spills his seed" on the ground and is thusly killed by god.

I believe that some religious people took this out of context and believed he was killed for the act, which lead to the belief masturbation was immoral, when in truth it was for his defiance of god.

Onan - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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Dragonfly

That it's:

Normal. Healthy. Natural. Nothing to be ashamed of. Nothing to feel guilty about. A learning experience. Safe.

Just to name a few. Well...probably most.

1069

Well, that sounds perverted.
Sorry.
If a grown-up tried to tell me that when I was a kid, I probably would've suspected they were trying to molest me or something.

Kids know it's safe already.
And as far as healthy learning experiences and all that... it just sounds icky.

I don't know. That's just my opinion. Maybe my Catholic upbringing left me more repressed than I realized.