Virginity Pledges. Well so much for that idea!

[Voyager]

@sailor

I still rememebr when I was 20 and at that age I did not think much of consequences or of anything else except that I wanted, I needed, I desperately needed to get laid. I’d deal with the consequences later assuming there were any consequences. For now let’s just take our clothes off.

As they say, you cannot reason someone out of a position where they did not arrive by reason. Teenagers want to fuck (just like the rest of us only much more so), not because they have thought about it and concluded it is a good thing but because their raging hormones direct them that way. Giving them all sorts of technical explanations about the workings of the mammalian body might be good but it will perceived as quite disconnected from their most urgent need which is getting laid.

Again, see Predictably Irrational - chapter 5. We appear to be wired to be irrational during arousal. I’m not sure I’m all that more rational at 55 than I was at 20.

[InterestedObserver]

@Liberal

Unfortunately, that is not the only question. There is also the question of whether they are capable of doing so responsibly.

Of course, and I think the much lower rates of STDS and teen pregnancy in areas of the world with a much more open and detailed sexual education approach indicates that that they, meaning teens in general, ARE or could be capable of responsible sexual behavior.

If by “responsible” we mean the use of birth control and barrier methods to prevent STD transmission, and not abstinence, of course. As a population, teens probably are not capable of abtaining until marriage/their 20s, even many who feel very strongly that they plan to and should.

[wonder9]

Fiscal responsibility should be taught in their civics and home economics classes. Instead of all this bullshit about making microwave mac and cheese, teach them about budgets, electric bills, and what it really costs to go to a grocery store. Silly me, but I tend to think that the economics half of home economics should not be forgotten! Again, this is a class that most middle schoolers have, as well as generally being required at some point during high school.

Again, I understand that it would be appealing and appropriate to teach those things in a civics class. My question is what do you cut out of the already bursting at the seams curriculum to make space for it. As the day is laid out now, and with curricula in most cases mandated by the state, something has to go if something new is going to be added.

I dunno where you teach, but after fifth grade, I never saw ‘recess’ again.

As I said, time is lost in transitions, lunch, assemblies, meetings and other daily interuptions. Recess is one of them in elementary school. There are others that take its place as kids rise through the system.

[catsix]

wonder9 said:
My question is what do you cut out of the already bursting at the seams curriculum to make space for it. As the day is laid out now, and with curricula in most cases mandated by the state, something has to go if something new is going to be added.

Do you talk about the economy in civics class? Do you talk about things like taxes, and who pays them? My civics class was, to put it bluntly, rather useless. We learned nothing about the modern function of the government and the rights and responsibilities of the citizens, but there was a lot of stuff about 3/5 compromises and other things that belong in history class. Perhaps that could be removed?

As I said, time is lost in transitions, lunch, assemblies, meetings and other daily interuptions. Recess is one of them in elementary school. There are others that take its place as kids rise through the system.

I’m not sure what others, because we didn’t really have meetings and assemblies during the day. Transitions were a total of 24 minutes, and lunch was 20 minutes. Meetings had to be held after school. We had one assembly a year. I did think it was ridiculous to continue to have a separate reading and English class in middle school. Neither needed to be a full class, and combining them would easily have given enough time to teach another subject. The health class was a complete blow off taught by the gym teacher, where for years we were told to brush our teeth three times a day and then pounded and hounded by DARE into calling our parents drug addicts for drinking coffee.

Home Economics, as I mentioned, was also quite useless. We had a lesson on microwave milk shakes. Might have been better to be learning about how to afford groceries and the electric bill than learn how to take a prepackaged microwave milkshake and put it in the microwave for 20 seconds. For that matter, we were only really taught how to make the prepackaged microwave food. It was like a lesson in financial irresponsibility to even be in that class.