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Should sex education be taught in schools?

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Hmm... If parents are to busy or avoid to talk about sex with their teenagers... then it cant be helped that teachers have to step forward and explain things like how to avoid sexual transmited diseases and pregnancy. Better prevention than abortions or death by AIDS.

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Definately. Sex education should be taught by parents and schools. I think a sex education teacher should be brought in to teach these lessons. So that the information is up to date and done in a proper manner. I had sex ed at high school. My mum taught my sister and I lots of stuff at home, but there are some things that are easier to ask a sex ed teacher!

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In this world of advance technology nobody is left uneducated in Sex. Where to learn and what to learn should be left to individuals, digital learning will be safer than learning from a teacher.

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Yes, it should be taught in schools although, it should be taught as social studies and not as health.

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Some14... Why would digital learning be "safer" than from a "live" teacher?

Surely you do not trust or believe all you observe "digitally"?

Sex education has been a part of social science/health/community courses in schools for decades and no doubt thousands have benefited.

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The Internet taught me everything I know about sex. It'll be good enough for my kid too. And it's FREE too!!

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Definitely YES. There are too many dangers, and too many freedoms and choices not to. Parents and teachers should both make it an open forum, giving them the straight facts, and offering advice and support when needed. Especially condoms are not the only form of birth control, unprotected sex is dangerous and foreigners are not the only ones who have AIDS, and also family planning. There are too many deki-kons, sexless marriages until they finally have kids at 40, because women believe that they need to stay home when they have a child. I think family planning is very important.

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Teaching teenaged girls that sex shouldn't be used as a commodity would be a good idea I think.

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Yes... just so long as the instructor actually knows something about the subject... Otherwise learn about it from the other kids down on the street corner --that's better then a garbled version from your parents.

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Many teenagers will have sex, regardless of what you say. So it's better to teach them that safe-sex is better than unprotected sex, and to tell them that parenting is not easy, and that marriage doesn't 'solve' anything.

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It is being taught in the schools, though such cell phone use is to be frowned upon.

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Of course it shouldn't. But listening to all of you who have probably never raised a child, you wouldn't know that. One of the great reasons why Japan and other such cultures are suffering many of the moral problems they have is because parents don't teach. Sex is far too important, intimate and complicated to leave to the cold sterile amoral environment of a school or teacher. But, let's face it. Parents aren't going to do it, nor are they going to take back most of the other responsibilities they have given to the government and society. I teach my children what it truly is and is supposed to be. If you really want to actually start helping society, start emphasizing "parents do what they are supposed to do".

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Sex education doesn't work. It only makes us feel like we're doing something to solve a problem. Sex education has been taught in America for years and stds, teen pregnancy, and promiscuity are growing, GROWING. Folks, quit justifying immoral behavior by saying, "they're just going to do it anyway." It might be uncool, a little old-fashioned and might even get ridiculed but stand up for the real solution. Parents and society should teach that sex for people who are too immature to raise a child is wrong.

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Sex is not liesure activity. But when young people are taught that it is, they grow up self centered, insensitive and look at relationship as only what benefit they might get. Based on this, a society will crumble from the inside. But, again, lets face it. People really aren't concerned about real solutions. They only care about enjoying themselves and not hurting other people's feelings. Well, all the while we are so concerned about not hurting children's feeling we are destroying their human souls.

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Pukey2, you're wrong, marriage is the answer. The problem is that just like most other things in life the whole aim an purpose has been distorted. You are on a vicious cycle. One reason why so many marriages are going bad today is because of the very reasoning that you are using. Allowing and permitting young people to engage in sex and relationships with the committment and maturity of time and marriage nearly guarantees they will fail later in life when they are ready to settle down. By the time most many young people get ready to marry they have gone through so many relationships they are desenscitized. When they run in to hard problems (as every single marriage does) they quickly take the way out that they have been taught to. Marriage is the answer, its the only answer. But lets face it, many people are too self centered and immature to sacrifice their lives for the sake of a family.

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Most cultures up until the quote 'enlightened age' have all held marriage in the highest esteem. There have been different models of it, but it itself is engendered in our souls as the standard. Sex is and can be pleasurable. However, without moral restraint sex will destroy. And that my genius pal is attested to by the billions of humans throughout history.

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Sex is and can be pleasurable. However, without moral restraint sex will destroy.

that is the bible talking, not sense or science. doesnt require a genius but thanks for the compliment

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Without using restraint, conversations about sex will destroy your facade of being an adult as well. Carney, BlackFlag, there's no need to be personal here. Let's take an example from, say, Sammi33 and focus on the topic at hand, rather than our personal agendas for a while. Thanks.

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Should sex education be taught in schools?

sure, do they have " lab work " to go with that ?

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Sex education is taught in Japan. Both of my sons (Canadian/Japanese) have gone through the elementary school system and were taught at school. It should be taught at home first, though. And I don't mean by demonstrating with a pillow! Simple, age-appropriate discussion. Also, let's not forget that morals should be taught, too. Something that is laughed at these days by lazy parents all over the world. Or they could just learn it by looking at porn on the net when the parents are "busy".

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Sex education - should be taught at Elementary Schools Junior High School and High Schools. Thy should teach sex can be a beautiful thing but also it can be a dangerous thing. Morals should be taught !!! Sex and money is heavily worshipped here in Japan. Anyways you can eachsex education 24 to 7 and still kids will get pregnant or engage in prostitution for material things or whatever.

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Parents should teach kids first and foremost before a teacher opens the topic of discussion.

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Schools where science is taught (namely, Biology, Anatomy, Natural Sciences) sexual education is generally one of the topics of normal classes. What else is needed is beyond me. I think the "sexual education" the liberal right asks for is a kind of paternalism, devised to removing the patria postestad from parents in order to teach children the "moral" or the Brave New World.

Biology and Natural Sciences are all that is needed. In those classes people learn about anatomy, how the body works; sexual communicable diseases and how are they transmitted, contraception, the menstrual cycle, the stages of human fetus through pregnancy, basic post-natal care, and other strictly scientific topics. Mental health, hormonal imbalance disorders, sexual deviations are also present. I think the sexual deviations are also mentioned in Social Sciences. What else on Earth is needed?

Sex is deeply entwined in the social fabric of every culture, and the way sex is seen and understand is not the same. I think the right to teach their own children is not only a right but a duty for parents everywhere. The Big Brother approach as never been good to any society; why should people allow Big Brother to teach their children what is sexual health and what isn't? Yes, sexual deviations included. Imposing a standard view of sex and anything goes philosophy cannot be allowed. I for one, would not allow it.

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Azrael - morals of the Brave New World have been thrust onto humans for millenium upon millenium. God(s)come readily to mind as do countless Kings, Emperors, Despots, Dictators, Presidents....! It's hardly "liberal".

And who exactly is The Big Brother?

And the comprehensive sex education you describe in current curricula encompassing biology, science etc is surley not as freely available as you may imagine. Many children grow up with little experience of neutral factual explanations/discussions pertaining to sex/sexuality etc. You don't need to dwelve to deeply to find gross ignorance with resultant tragic consequences.

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Browny1: Thank you for your comments.

If you look around you, you will find that the sector pushing for "sex education" in schools is the same that calls itself "liberal." This "sex education" they push for largely ignores what is already told in schools and asks for sex education more along the lines of lifestyle than biological facts. It is true, such attempts have been more or less present in previous time periods - but never before had they overtly tried to remove patria potestad and give control from personal (parents) to impersonal (governmental agencies and education institutions). So I don't think the comparison before today and past ages is appropriate.

"Big Brother" is a term from a book famous enough for you to find. "Big Brother" in popular culture is also understood as the government taking care of all your needs to the point of taking away your freedoms in exchange for commodity, stability and removing the basic need of thinking from the masses. I use the allusion to Big Brother because once the paternalist hand of government (this is a generic way to allude to governments everywhere. Generic is the keyword) it is nearly impossible to defend your own personal space. Once the power of deciding what to think, what to consider proper or what to teach to your own children is effectively removed from you and bureaucracy leads your life, Big Brother has taken over.

There is one point that people neglect when they ask for "betterment" of curriculum without examining closely what is available to them: the children themselves. It is no secret that in a classroom there will always be a number of children that sleep through class, do not study, do not have study habits and graduate form schools with astounding ignorance. The system can only do so much. There's average students and bright students, too. One of the approaches that could actually help is, to support the students who learn the less, and try to capture their attention.

Highschool graders are found to be learning less than previous generations of students at world level. The Finnish achievement - world-class highschoolers - called for much attention in Japan and in other countries because of this phenomena of students learning less worldwide. Where are the roots of the decay? Family for one, needs to be strengthened as it is the first school in a human life, one that we never graduate from. Taking the responsibility of teaching basic Humankind social basics such as sex education away from the family is tantamount to standarizing all the baggage of sex education (which is inexorably entwined to morals and ethics in every given culture). Which standard should men and women conform to? It cannot be one given by the government (as in the government in every country), obviously; that would surely remove ancestral traditions and curtain cultural freedoms.

The United Nations in their UNESCO programs list the freedom of education as a human right, and the freedom to practice one's own culture within the frame of human rights. These two rights must not collide in any way. Sex education is a very delicate matter which must be the responsibility of parents and their culture; not of something as anonymous, depersonalized and changing as governments and their education policies.

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Azrael - your elaborations make worthwhile reading. Thank you.

Re big bros - I wryly posed that question - I was wondering if you thought individual teachers, schools, Ed. Boards, prefectures/states, the national govt or others were the almighty controllers in this discussion on sex education. I believe having an informed relevant sex education programme in schools as part of a broader human studies curriculum will offer great benefit to many children who DON'T have responsible parents, extended families, mature friends, kindly neighbours and the like. And where big bros gets in on the act and begins controlling the minds of the innocents - well I'm not so sure where & when. One could extrapolate this further to suggest what right does the govt have - by proxy - to enforce study of Shakespeare, Algorithmns, Craftwork, Biology .... as their will always be a bent that will offend someone. And couldn't families do that?

In the perfect world little boys and girls would recieve perfect tuition and gain thoughtful insight through the actions of their parents and families. All questions would be answered with clarity and honesty and the enlightened little ones would have no need of govt intervention. Unfortunately I don't know where that place may be.

But your mentioning of Finland bears a little irony in that BIG Govt does step into the lives of the Finnish (and other Scandinavians) in no uncertain manner. But they are often heralded with their successes in social/academic development.

Maybe there are nice families there under the Big Sign.

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uh. yeah. with all the prostitution in the name of compensated dating, discrimination and poor attitudes toward women, mothers and working mothers, among other things there should be age appropriate lessons at HOME and at school.

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There are many sources of "sex education". It's all a matter of who gets there first to educate them, the youngsters.

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Browny1:

Thanks for your reply. Indeed, informed and relevant sex education is part of broader human studies - but to a point, included in the existing curriculum, in the existing class hours. Not in the perfect world, but in this one we have, down to the ground.

I think, the more responsibility is taken away from people, the harder it is to get people to feel responsible because it will the the government's fault, yes?

That is the direct effect of Big Brother policies. If you take a look at "perfect world" utopias in books and party politics, they tend to call for total government control. You imply it is likely that someone will be offended and curiously you mentioned -families could do that, too. Did you mean, families (their views?) could offend others? I would like you to consider that our freedoms are limited by the freedoms of others. It is true, someone will always be offended - it is unavoidable. When I elaborated about standarization in my previous post, it was precisely that I was alluding to. Is "being offended" by certain policies wrong? I would say, it is not wrong. People have the right to disagree. Standarization of something as delicate as sex education would remove the right to disagree from a family/cultural context from parents and families by establishing a standard view on which basis of learning their children would be graded. That is forceful and imposing. Each family has its own beliefs, belong in a culture or cultures, have particular views on ethics and morals which are inexorably entwined with sexual education.

Also consider that there is a number of children falling behind in education not only due to lack of family support as you suggest, but due to other social ills that bring about the break-down of families. I don't get your point as, why to consider demonizing a school curriculum that contemplates math, literature and biology - I see your point, but I ask you to see the reverse in which to survive in the modern world and prosper, certain scientific knowledge is required - knowledge our great-grandparents may have done without. To understand the world beyond our doors, such broader human studies are indeed, necessary.

To summarize, I disagree that removing the right to choose their children education from the parents is a solution to anything in something as sensitive as sex education. Comprehensive human study enhanced by support from parents/caretakers is what is needed, not the contrary.

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Ack, I didn't edit before submitting... The 5th paragraph should read,

"Also consider that there is a number of children falling behind in education not only due to lack of family support as you suggest, but due to other social ills that bring about the break-down of families. I don't get your point as, why to consider demonizing a school curriculum that contemplates math, literature and biology - I see what you aim for, but I ask you to see the reverse in which to survive in the modern world and prosper, certain scientific knowledge is required - knowledge our great-grandparents may have done without. To understand the world beyond our doors, such broader human studies are indeed, necessary."

If any of the mods could replace the above paragraph into my previous post, please do.

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sex education should be taught in school, because contrary to what they claim, many parents fail to teach their children. I don't get the point of those who claim it should be taught by parents only: you are still able to do so. It's not that you are afraid to discuss your uptight morals with your children?

[I agree that teaching morals in school is somehow problematic. But then, sex education is not more concerned with morals than any other school subject, so we don't have to discuss it in this context]

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Like democracy, is an imperfect solution, but is the best we have now. If everyone do what they are supoused to do, then we dont need police and prisons. Sadly, we are imperfect humans. Just because you are a good parent dont means that others are as good as you. If you made a good job, then your kids can not feel offended or disturbed with sexual education. In fact they can share your moral views with others on these isue. If your kids education is enough strong for survive comparation with others opinions, then what is the problem with help teenagers that dont are so lucky of having a good parent like you?

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As long as they can talk and read, there should be sex education classes to teach everything about sex, and there should be vending machines with condoms in the school bathrooms too. Anyone who believe that either by doing nothing or by delaying it to later years that nothing will happen is naive. Children are curious sexually from about the age of 5 and on. If you do not teach them this young what to properly do, and repeat it at least once each year after that, they will experiment on their own, blindly, at some point and the result will be a pregnancy. So many young men and women have so many backwards ideas about what type of sexual behavior they can do that supposedly will not result in pregnancy and end up surprised weeks later with a pregnancy. And the ages that the kids are getting pregnant are dropping too.

Many centuries ago, it used to be the job of the village elder to teach everything to the young women so they knew everything about sex, childbearing, what to do to get pregnant, and what to do to not get pregnant - by the time they were 3 to 5 years old they knew this. It is about time we in the modern age stop sticking our heads in the sand and ignoring what must be done and actually teach them at an early age.

And I do agree that the subject will float over the heads of some, which is why I believe it needs to be re-taught at least once a year for several years to ensure that those from previous years that just plain did not understand it, eventually DO understand it and the full implications of everything.

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Sex education gives essential information that children need to become balanced adults. Religious or prudish parents shouldn't be allowed to stop their children from accessing this information. I rememember those kids whose parents wouldn't let them attend sex ed classes. They were the ones who believed 'a girl can't get pregnant the first time'.

Sadly we live in a world where some people would rather their 12-year-old daughter didn't get a vaccine that could save her from cervical cancer for 'moral' reasons.

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Considering the whole VD, HIV, and pregnancy issues, YES!, I do believe it should be taught in school but by a Medical Health Professional not by teachers.

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Yes, but it should be taught with a heavy dose of euphemisms:

"When there is a fire in the oven, the fireman takes out his hose..." etc.

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yes, definetely. should be taught at about age 13.

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It's a slippery slope. Next they'll be wanting to teach evolutionism and other crackpot theories.

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Why not?

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I think it would go along way to reducing the number of starfishes.

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It should, and at least when I was in school it was.

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Strange thing is I thought that sex education was already being taught.

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No way should sex be discussed in school. Any child that mentions this terrible subject should be severly punished.

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Yes, I think sex-education should be taught in schools. I don't think it motivates anyone to have sex, instead i think it educates the students and informs them the effects of STD's and AID's

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In Japan? Absolutely YES! With an awareness of responsibility if there is a pregnancy thrown in!

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RogueFive> Couldn't agree more. I was so shocked when I first learned that sex-ed wasn't taught in schools. And I soon noticed how much it showed. So many women know nothing about their own bodies, contraception etc that it is just startling

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Speaking personally, I would say no. It shouldn't be taught. It should be the responsibility of the parents to explain the facts of life to their children. Admittedly, because most parents are a bunch of cowards, it has to be taught.

Oh and kokuryu. I don't know what village you're talking about, but I'm sure as hell glad I didn't grow up there.

What ought to be taught, especially to guys, is personal responsibility, and how if you don't use a condom, you are being a reckless idiot, and showing you don't care at all for the girl.

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Yes, it should be. But when it happens in Japan, it will be probably be ttaught in the same way everything else is in schools. A pompous oyaji / old spinster lecturing from a worksheet that hasn't been updated since the 70s "facts" like "AIDS comes from foreigners" and the students understanding nothing but revising this rubbish for their tests.

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Might as well. Compared to what they teach in the hentai manga the school version should be pretty tame.

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well it should be taught. Don't worry about aids. Aids doesn't matter at all. Those with aids should be known and should be the one to teach us lessons about sex, sex positions and everything so that their life would not be a waste. Things should be seen on tv as a commercial ad so that children will definitely know how to do it...so why bother lecturing it in school. However, it is always nice to see their teacher demonstrates closer to students while they are discussing how hehehehe. Well what else can we do this world is full of this st!!!! and sorts of things they just love to do...So go on teach it and open your py wide so that the worlds knows you have one. Damn with all these feelings and lust who made our worlds turn...That's why i really hate everything about it...Why can't we live without it...As you can see it is the cause of all the troubles we had in life. Helen of troy was abducted and why? well you can answer that its because humans just love sex it made him man. but too much of it is what humans want...it is the reason why neighbors got their wives missing because she is too dn hot and ended in divorce or whatever, It is the reason why the earth got so ruined and polluted. Even the internet smells like rotten py... all because they just love to do it all the time... it is our animalistic side.. so why not build a community who are nudes and sex is free anywhere banned clothing and exile those who don't want to have sex with anybody...i guess if this happens then humans will be happy about it...hahahaha...why look for hentai when you can watch it in front of you at the back of you, in the office, at the lobby, in the taxi or anywhere...i think that is what humans need....sex education is a dumb s**t... or perhaps how about building machines like robots to satisfy humans. How about that! isn't it a good idea? you just turn it on and everything goes running perfectly and you can use it for a day to satisfy your wants... or how about a month with the machine turned on and you will just stop to take a break for snacks or eat your meal...I guess that would satisfy the sexual urge...I hope that this would be the next topic...can we build machines to have sex with humans?....that's for sure is nice....

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