Kiwi Kids Books

Over at New Zealand Conservative the comment thread on a John Key article has evolved into a debate about sex education in our schools. This is a subject that I feel passionately about so I thought I would put together a piece on this topic:

Sex Education in New Zealand High Schools – Time for a Change.

Firstly, I would like to point out where I stand on the issue. I am a Year 7 teacher in an Area School. I have taught for 7 years and currently teach the health curriculum to Year 10 students. I was involved with PSI (Postponing Sexual Involvement) and Attitude (Parenting with Confidence) as a presenter for around three years. This involved visiting high schools throughout the country and talking to classes and assemblies. Both of these groups teach values based sexuality education.

Before we begin lets look at where our current young people stand in regards to the issue of sexuality. The latest and perhaps most widely circulated research that has come out recently is the Youth 2007 Report. This research paper is based on findings from 9,107 secondary school students at about 120 schools throughout the country. This covers students aged between 13 and 18 years of age. Within the study, the findings are compared with those from the first survey conducted in 2001.

So what did the report find;

35% of female students and 38% of male students reported having had sexual intercourse.

Around 10% of 13 year olds reported being sexually active and around 35% of 17 year olds are sexually active.

Around 15% of sexually active teenagers don’t use contraception regularly.

Around 94% of males and 91% of females are exclusively attracted to the opposite sex.

The report concludes that the Sexual Health Behavious of teenagers has not changed since the 2001 study.

There are a couple of points I would like to make on the report. Firstly, the statement that the Sexual health of Teenagers has not changed from 2001 to 2007 is RUBBISH and blatant lies.  While I am unable to find the exact data  on this issue the graphs from their publication show a different story. The graphs, shown below,  indicate that both the % of males and females having sexual intercourse is increasing.

Secondly, when you read the report you get the feeling that the most concerning aspect for the researchers was the number of people using contraception. It would seem to me that if 100% of our young people were sexually active and they were all wearing condoms there wouldn’t be a sex issue in this country. Sex is far more complex and deadly then just getting young people to protect themselves.

Family Planning is the main sex education provider to our young people. They are contracted by the government to teach our children about sexuality education. The evidence shows that with their education more and more young people are engaging in sex.  For me this is a concern and shows that their focus is not working. Something needs to change.

If you haven’t been onto the Family Planning teenager’s webpage then I suggest you have a look. The site is called THE WORD, which in itself is a little presumptuous. If you can get past the name then take a look at the content and you will see very quickly why more and more young people are having sex. Family Planning is nothing more than, as I have said before, an advertisement and a manual on sex for the young people of New Zealand. Family Planning are glorified sex advertisers given free reign in our high schools. The page explaining sex is incredibly detailed and explicit. The general tone of the site implies every kid in New Zealand is having sex and you should be too. I have looked for the word ‘abstinence’ and to Family Planning’s credit there is a small section discussing this as an option. Although they seem to find as many of the bad aspects as they can!!!

Contrast this with the Attitude Website and you have a totally different slant to sex and the message it teaches our young people. It presents the facts, gives both sides but most importantly challenges young people to think about sex. It doesn’t treat young people as monkeys who cant control their sexual desires, instead it asks them to think carefully about the decisions they make in their life. It provides information and detailed ‘how to’  instruction.

For me it is a no brainer. The government currently provides funding for Family Planning to advertise sex in our schools and we wonder why we have such a problem with teenage sex. Attitude, on the other hand, fund themselves with their invisible giant money tree to enable their message to get to our young people. Family Planning has had their go and we might as well just purchase condoms and hand them out at the door, for all the good they have done. Alternatively a little government money to groups like Attitude and PSI could actually change this concerning trend.