So I was reading in the WSJ today that in the recent past, sex ed classes seemed to confined largely to high schools. I was quite suprised about this, since I had my first sex ed class in fifth grade (though it was more of a human sexuality class. All the gritty stuff was in sixth grade), and this was is a very conservative rural school district in the early 90’s. So lets verify if this WSJ is indeed telling the truth. When and where did you dopers have sex ed class?
Include:
What grade, and what year? (e.g 5th grade in 1992).
Rural, suburban, or urban? You may be more specific if you desire.
We had a “mother-daughter” night in 4th grade where they gave a quick rundown of the rudimentary basics. In fifth grade, we had our first true ‘sex ed’ class. Called Family Living, FWIW. So, 5th grade, 1996.
Suburb. About 70% white, middle- to upper-class. My particular elementary school had (still does, I believe) the most minorities than any other school in the district.
I went to public school in a little town, from the early '60s until the mid-'70s. Neither the word ‘sex’ nor any information about it was never uttered by an adult from the time I started school until I finished going there. It’s like it never even existed.
Fifth Grade, 1979. Small town in S.Dak. The next year in a different school district and larger town in the same state was a slightly more informative version.
The first was like a puberty preparedness class, the second more nuts and bolts (so to speak) on reproduction.
My parents never gave me ‘The Talk’. They wimped by arranging for a world book ‘Life cycle’ series in four slim volumes show up mysteriously in my bedroom one day.
Late 80’s, fifth grade, South Carolina. I think, upon recollection, that the teacher chose to do it himself and got approval from school and parents, not that it was a normal part of the curriculum. I believe the normal curriculum started it in 6th grade.
Fifth grade, early '90s. They split us into girls and boys and gave us a basic run-down.
I believe we were also split up in sixth grade, but thereafter all “family life” classes were unisex. And they continue through the high school Health class in 9th grade.
“Puberty classes” with the boys and girls split in 4th and 5th grade (94 and 95)
Actual “sex ed” boys and girls in same class in 6th grade (96)
I come from a small rural town in MA, that was mostly middle-class white.
In elementary school, there was a mother/daughter night that stuck to menstruation. The material was required for 6th grade, and optional for 4th and 5th. My mom took me in 4th grade, and then I got it again in class in 6th.
Actual sex ed started in 7th grade, moving on to STDs and AIDS (a fairly new phenomenon) in 8th. After that I never heard another word.
This was in California, mid-80s. Medium-sized towns, public schools. I moved in 6th grade.
I know we did the egg thing in fifth grade. And there was the basics of sex ed before they handed over the eggs. I think there was something in fourth grade.
Suburban. In the godless Pacific NW in the mid 80s.
That’s correct, actually. Fifth grade in 1992-93. Public school, suburban New York. Maybe once or twice a year, the fifth graders and sixth graders are pulled out of class to watch some sort of educational video presented by a gym teacher. Boys and girls obviously separate, and I guess the fifth and sixth graders are not together. A full semester of Health Class (which includes, but is not limited to, sex ed) is mandatory in junior high school, I think seventh grade. Another semester of health (also including sex ed and plenty of info about STDs) is required during high school.
How AIDS is transmitted in fourth grade or so. Basic sperm-egg type stuff in fifth grade health class, with more details as to the physcial processes of reproduction each year afterward. What I actually consider sex ed was only 9th grade, where we talked in detail about various sexual practices, the pros and cons of various types of birth control, and the symptoms and severity of assorted STDs. Rural school district in Kentucky, graduated in 1994.
I’ll throw in the international perspective …Year 5 (ages 9/10) in 1989 onwards, always mixed classes. Ordinary white middle-class English school. Mainly consisted of videos designed for that age group, followed by class talks etc. Some fairly graphic stuff on the videos, including a live birth. Not much was said about STDs until a couple of years later (I guess it was around this time that Aids was hitting the mainstream).
I seem to recall something in gym class in suburban Atlanta in eighth grade. It could have come up before, but that’s the first one I remember. Even that was pretty low key, maybe a film and a quick discussion by “Coach”. I’m also fairly sure the girls were separated out. This was a public school.
My own informal education started much earlier, with some of the key information coming from a paperback hardcore book called “Switchhitters” provided by a classmate. That was some pretty shocking stuff. I also got the classic schoolkid advice, “VD comes from having too much sex”. Yeah, right.
…Year 5 (ages 9/10) in 1989 onwards, always mixed classes. Ordinary white middle-class English school. Mainly consisted of videos designed for that age group, followed by class talks etc. Some fairly graphic stuff on the videos, including a live birth. Not much was said about STDs until a couple of years later (I guess it was around this time that Aids was hitting the mainstream).