Sex Ed in Irish schools

HouseHippo

So I'm a final year student in an all girls secondary school in Dublin.
We have recently recieved sex education,for the first time,.
I personally think this is a bit late.At least 70% of the girls in 6th year have already had sex way before now. Sure,some of them even have children.

Then you could imagine my surprise when I was told that the rhythm method is the best form of contraception :eek::eek::eek: All the rest are "crap" and make you infertile apparently.
I have never heard of a single case of condoms making you infertile.
Nevermind the unreliabilty of the Rhythm method especially in teenage girls but what about STD's????????
I'm pretty sure you have a higher chance of becoming infertile when you catch clamydia than when using the Birth Control Pill.
This was after we had to ask about contraception as the teachers were supressing the fact that 18 year old females have sex. We were simply told to remain abstinent,which if you know a teenagers libido is falling on deaf ears.
I am in a relationship for 5 years and to expect me not to have sex is quite frankly ridiculous.

Anyone else as shocked by this as me

javaboy

This wouldn't be a religious school by any chance would it?

HouseHippo

javaboy wrote: »

This wouldn't be a religious school by any chance would it?

No funnily enough,multi-denominational

me87_ie

Erm... I'm suprised that you are in 6th year receiving it yes!
I got mine in 6th Class!

Am still chuckling away at how the rhythm method is the best... the mind boggles sometimes.

omb0wyn5ehpij9

Don't forget that a lot of people will say they've had sex just to fit in......when they actually haven't!

HouseHippo

Bryn wrote: »

Don't forget that a lot of people will say they've had sex just to fit in......when they actually haven't!

Well considering 3 girls in the year have babies......
ALso alot of us are in long term relationships, over a year etc

seamus

There are a number of people and institutions who offer these courses under the guise of being an expert, but see it as nothing more than an opportunity to pass their screwed up agenda onto young minds and make a few bucks while they're at it.

Go to your principal and make a complaint. The rhythm method is not the most reliable or safest form of contraception and is responsible for a large proportion of your classmates' existences.

Sex ed should be in 5th class - to explain what's going to happen in puberty, and then again in 2nd or 1st year to talk about STDs and contraception and pregnancy.

Cool_CM

What Sex Ed in Irish schools? I can remember being shown a badly dubbed German video by one of our Science teachers and another female religion teacher giggling her way through the different methods of contraception in front of an all male class, before exploding in a fit of rage because somebody had drawn a penis on somebody else's worksheet("Penises everywhere, on the walls, on the tables, on the blackboards, lads what is the obsession with penises!?!"). That was about it really.

S.I.R

i think eveyrone should be thought how to budget condoms into your social life...


or how to make your own should you be in a " sticky " situation... :P

HouseHippo

seamus wrote: »

There are a number of people and institutions who offer these courses under the guise of being an expert, but see it as nothing more than an opportunity to pass their screwed up agenda onto young minds and make a few bucks while they're at it.

Go to your principal and make a complaint. The rhythm method is not the most reliable or safest form of contraception and is responsible for a large proportion of your classmates' existences.

Sex ed should be in 5th class - to explain what's going to happen in puberty, and then again in 2nd or 1st year to talk about STDs and contraception and pregnancy.

I have gone to the principal who replied with...You are far too young to know anything about this kind of thing,trust your teachers,

I am old enough to know that teengae girls mestural cycle is all over the place and that the rhythm method is an obsolete method of contraception,mostly used by married couples trying to have children....at this she laughed and waved her hand at me

JohnK

Be thankfull you got it at all - I finished secondary school in 2000 and I've yet to receive any sex ed :eek:

deisebabe

that is hilarious. What morons are teaching this?

When i was doing my junior cert one of the girls in my class had a baby...thats what 15/16. On doing the leaving cert there was two pregnant girls doing the exams. My school never talked about sex with us. It was a convent school and they did however speak of the evils of abortion and alcohol all the time. We even had to watch abortion videos. It was horrific.

omb0wyn5ehpij9

JohnK wrote: »

Be thankfull you got it at all - I finished secondary school in 2000 and I've yet to receive any sex ed :eek:

I finished in 2002 and never received any!

justcallmetex

Fu(kin hell Im shocked seriously..I mean I tought that kind of sex education died a generation ago. Maybe the pregnant girls and ones with babies should consider legal action against the school???

javaboy

HouseHippo wrote: »

I have gone to the principal who replied with...You are far too young to know anything about this kind of thing,trust your teachers,

I am old enough to know that teengae girls mestural cycle is all over the place and that the rhythm method is an obsolete method of contraception,mostly used by married couples trying to have children....at this she laughed and waved her hand at me

That's really scary. I'd take that further if I was you. If you're comfortable talking with your parents about it, maybe get them on board. It's downright irresponsible to be knowingly peddling false information like that.

At least they're only trying to "teach" you in 6th year when you probably have the cop on to know they're talking bollocks rather than being an impressionable 1st year who'll take their word as gospel.

Edgedinblue

We never actually got sex ed in either primary or secondary school. we got the whole "this is a penis" in science class in secondary school, and the exact same thing in 5th year when we started on biology. never got the whole sex ed thing though. maybe they thought we wernt mature enough in 6th class, then maybe they didnt see the point when we got to secondary school!

Gone Drinking

The rhythm method works quite well for me..

I start off slow, speeding up half way until climax. It usually ends on her face.

javaboy

JohnK wrote: »

Be thankfull you got it at all - I finished secondary school in 2000 and I've yet to receive any sex ed :eek:

Well you're a subscriber. Get thee to S&S and study the schematics and the FAQ and you'll be up to speed in no time.

HouseHippo

Edgedinblue wrote: »

We never actually got sex ed in either primary or secondary school. we got the whole "this is a penis" in science class in secondary school, and the exact same thing in 5th year when we started on biology. never got the whole sex ed thing though. maybe they thought we wernt mature enough in 6th class, then maybe they didnt see the point when we got to secondary school!

We have the stages of sexual arousal,what is an orgasam etc in our biology book but despite it being on the syllabus our teacher skipped over it and told us to do ti at home.

jaxy999

I vaguely remember when I was in 6th class in national school, (over 15yrs agoa now :eek:) a lady was brought in to tell us about sex & even at that it was probably very basic. I can't really remember the details so her tutorial must not have been such a shock to me

Our teacher was a man, in his 50's at the time & we were a small two teacher country school so can you imagine his mortification if he had to talk to us about sex!!

I remember when I was about 11 or 12 my Dad giving out to my mam about the local priest & the sermon he gave at sunday mass coz he mentioned S.E.X & all the children in the church, as Dad put it, he actually spelt it, he wouldn't say the word sex in front of us kids!! The same priest left the priesthood and is now a local radio DJ who has a boyfriend

S.I.R

JohnK wrote: »

Be thankfull you got it at all - I finished secondary school in 2000 and I've yet to receive any sex ed :eek:

my ma can sort you out...


100 quid an hour :rolleyes:

Cool_CM

S.I.R wrote: »

my ma can sort you out...


100 quid an hour :rolleyes:

Duurty

uiscebeatha

I went to a convent school and was taught sex ed by nuns...... NUNS!!! I mean come on!! To be honest most of the girls in my school were told by their mothers, each other or magazines, as the education we were given wasn't too insightful.... more a biology lesson on what happens and a bit on STDs (and how abstinence was he only real prevention), nothing on birth control or contraception.

JohnK

S.I.R wrote: »

my ma can sort you out...


100 quid an hour :rolleyes:

Got anything a little cheaper?

biko

Sex education in all-girls Irish schools is really bad. That's why I have recently started to offer grinds.

HouseHippo

biko wrote: »

Sex education in all-girls Irish schools is really bad. That's why I have recently started to offer grinds.

Now there's a gap in the market worth tapping into

Biggins

What a load of crap! Talk about feeding you mis-information.
Whats more, they are leavin it till 6th year! WTF!

Sounds like who ever is teaching that class has injected with their own religious/moral agenda and is trying to take ye down a path to suit themselves.
Honestly - I'd report such teachings to an education board somewhere.
At the VERY least - I'd report this rubbish to your parents and/or some serious like minded people.

That teaching just sounds retarded and SOOO out of date.

leeroybrown

Get some parents to write a written complaint to the school's board of management.

Mena

Biggins wrote: »

What a load of crap! Talk about feeding you mis-information.
Whats more, they are leavin it till 6th year! WTF!

Sounds like who ever is teaching that class has injected with their own religious/moral agenda and is trying to take ye down a path to suit themselves.
Honestly - I'd report such teachings to an education board somewhere.
At the VERY least - I'd report this rubbish to your parents and/or some serious like mined people.

That teaching just sounds retarded and SOOO out of date.

I'm with Biggins here. This sort of carry on cannot be allowed to continue. The rythm method... I mean, come on!

Wagon

HouseHippo wrote: »

I am old enough to know that teengae girls mestural cycle is all over the place and that the rhythm method is an obsolete method of contraception,mostly used by married couples trying to have children....at this she laughed and waved her hand at me

Useless eh? Fair play for complaining but when you're 18 (or even me at 22) it doesn't really get you anywhere. If a parent does it then it might work but the education system is a joke here, especially when religion is bought into it which it normally is.

HouseHippo

leeroybrown wrote: »

Get some parents to write a written complaint to the school's board of management.

Should do,unfortunately I live with my grandparents who don't reallt get sex although they know i'm ahving it...

Ah nothing like coming home to find that your nanny has neatly stacked your boxes of condoms in the wardrobe...

HouseHippo

Wagon wrote: »

Useless eh? Fair play for complaining but when you're 18 (or even me at 22) it doesn't really get you anywhere. If a parent does it then it might work but the education system is a joke here, especially when religion is bought into it which it normally is.

Yeah tell me about it...Clearly in this situation i know better than the adult but am still treated like a child

Biggins

Love to know what school it is or at least what area?
I have 3 daughters who will be attending such schools and that one I want to avoid like the plague.
PM me and I post it on my own website - stuff them.
These religious(?) quacks need to be exposed for their clear mis-teaching!

seamus

I would say you should get onto Joe about this. It would be a national furore - you'd have the people saying that sex ed classes should actually involve sex, the bible bashers saying that we should figure out how to detach penises from men until they're married and all the rags trying to get the government to do something about it.

It would be far more fun than listening to recession talk all the bloody time.

Wagon

HouseHippo wrote: »

Yeah tell me about it...Clearly in this situation i know better than the adult but am still treated like a child

Actually, she probably knows as much as you and is just in denial that these methods work which is even worse. It's one of the huge problems I have with organised religion nowadays. Saying that contraception doesn't work and is "evil" is bang out of order when it saves lives and prevents unwanted pregnancy. I knew some extremely religious people and I have to admit, just knowing them puts you off the idea of following any religious path.

Genghiz Cohen

This is the thread of the day, look how it has united Boardsies against stupid outdated teaching methods.

That teacher really needs to be sacked. Get a group to complain HouseHippo, strength in numbers and all that.

c - 13

We got sex education at the end of primary school, it wasnt very good though, couldnt sit for days after

c - 13

Seriously though I finished primary in 1996 (I think) and we got a series of videos that had been filmed sometime in the early 80's I reckon as our sex ed.

It dealt reasonably well with the puberty side of things but I cant remember anything in it on contraception or STD's.

In secondary school (mainly around transition year) the religion teachers did a bit on it, mostly on the STD side of things.

A touch on it in the biology classes.

Some of the girls in the class told us they got a full detailed talk on everything from contraception to STD's from the home economics teachers though (this was before fellas were allowed to do home ec).

Kya1976

I think it's concerning the lack of sex ed in Irish schools. An ex of mine worked with young kids and he heard some shocking things. For example some of them thought that you couldn't get preggers if you have sex while standing up or if it's your first time.
Sure the sex ed I had was prolly a little over the top(we got to watch porn) but still at leats I was thought the basics and more.

The Mad Hatter

1) The most effective method of contraception is condoms.

2) wtf is the rhythm method?

This country's (well, tbh, most countries') juvenile approach to sex and sexuality is causing serious problems.

Holsten

I got two goes of sex ed, in 6th Class and again in 4th Year, both were pretty good actually.

Even in 6th class going over things like contraception and trying to answer a load of questions from a bunch of 12 year olds.

Fad

The Mad Hatter wrote: »

1) wtf is the rhythm method?

That and "Natural Contraception" are the only contraceptive methods permitted by the Catholic Church (It permitting any contraception is a bit of a farce, all or nothing imo), according to my Bio book.

Rhythm, is predicting fertile periods based on previous menstrual cycles.

Natural is measuring the Temp of the vag and then something about the consistancy of vaginal secretions, hideous stuff:)

The ONLY thing that could be described as sex ed (me being in 6th year now), that I have recieved is that wee section in the Biology chapter. That chapter also features a picture of some of the methods (completely unsexy) and in the corner theres a shot of a Depo Provera box, my theory is that the Catholic Church are trying to cause some brand association with teens, so if they use contraception, they'll go for the Contraceptive injection, go for Depo Provera, and get a loss of bone density, and the CC will be all "God has stripped you of you bone density, become a nun NOW!". Something like that

mercuroman

javaboy wrote: »

This wouldn't be a religious school by any chance would it?

Think thats a bit unfair - Father Bart taught me all I needed to know

SarcasticFairy

Woah. I got pretty decent sex ed in comparison to all that nonsense.

In 6th class, we got the whole puberty and hormones, and this is how you make babies talk & I think there was a video. Don't think there was much said on contraception/STDs though.

In 1st year, and then again in 2nd year, in SPHE we were told all about contraception and STDs. In proper detail, with what works and how - the Natural Contraception thing was mentioned in a kind of, this is only reliable if you're going to abstain tbh. Our teacher went through a heap of STDs and what exactly they'd lead to if you caught them/didn't treat them.

And of course Science and then Biology went through it quickly, because the teacher was quite embarrassed.

Fad

SarcasticFairy wrote: »

And of course Science and then Biology went through it quickly, because the teacher was quite embarrassed.

Our teacher, a tiny women, early 50's maybe, went into it in surprising detail :pac:.(All boys school)

Biggins

While I am quite shocked that this out of date teaching is going on still, sadly it does not surprise me to a certain extent that warped minded teachers still exist. While they are thankfully few and far between, its a reminder that such things can be allowed to exist if education standards are allowed to go unmonitored

Professey Chin

deisebabe wrote: »

that is hilarious. What morons are teaching this?

When i was doing my junior cert one of the girls in my class had a baby...thats what 15/16. On doing the leaving cert there was two pregnant girls doing the exams. My school never talked about sex with us. It was a convent school and they did however speak of the evils of abortion and alcohol all the time. We even had to watch abortion videos. It was horrific.

Goin by your name i assume waterford.
What school?

994

We got a day in 6th class, it was OK, but for some reason a mixed class were shown a video called "Sex Education For Girls", so lots about tampons etc. but no instructions on how to use a condom - how many bastards did that video give rise to? Taught by a rather odd woman in her 50s who told us "don't do anything God wouldn't want you to do"; I think we were expected to fill in the blanks.

Biggins

Currently doing a dig around but in the meantime, posted an article at http://www.unitedpeople.ie/

Professey Chin

Actually I vaguely remember we were supposed to have sex ed as part of SPSE when I went into secondary school but after about 4 months(if even) that class was replaced by an extra history class or somethin an never heard from again.
For such an apparently knowledge based country we really are archaic(sp?) in some basic areas. Then they b!tch about high pregnancy rates etc etc.
Can we blame Batt? I love goin after politicians

Tupins

jaxy999 wrote: »

I remember when I was about 11 or 12 my Dad giving out to my mam about the local priest & the sermon he gave at sunday mass coz he mentioned S.E.X & all the children in the church, as Dad put it, he actually spelt it, he wouldn't say the word sex in front of us kids!! The same priest left the priesthood and is now a local radio DJ who has a boyfriend

LOL :D:D


In our school it was the responsibility of your class religion teacher to give sex-ed in around 2nd year as I recall. We were unfortunate enough to have this anally-retentive male teacher (all girls school), who was completely out of touch with young people but thought he was quite 'hip' (think of a balding, irish version of Ricky Gervais character in The Office, but less cool).

Anyway, he came in one day with these books which he passed around to everyone. There was much guffawing when we realised what the books were - I remeber it being illustrated like a childrens book, with cartoon characters etc and saying things like "when mammy and daddy love eachother very much, they lie very close together..." etc etc.

Conveniently enough a student came to the door before the class had even begun and said our teacher was wanted for a phone call. So basically he left and didn't come back until the bell went at the end of class and said "have ye all read the book?" to which we replied "yes" so he took them back and went on his way. It was so obvious that he had engineered the phone call.

That was my sex education!