The Youth and Campus Bulletin went out to discover what the people on the street thought about incorporating sex education in the curriculum. We asked them two questions: Do you agree with the Department of Education’s decision to remove sex education from its modules? At what age and how should young people learn about sex, sexuality and reproductive health?
Mirene Gonzales, 23, banker
May sex education pala? We studied the reproductive system in biology, but we never had actual sex education! I don’t agree with the DepEd’s decision. There should be a clear separation between Church and State, and if they can’t follow that, how do you expect them to follow other laws?
I feel that although it is the parents’ responsibility to teach their kids, these lessons would be retained better if it also came from institutions like the school. I think kids should learn at around junior year in high school, because I feel that it is around that time that their curiosity begins. Anything younger than that is creepy.
Rina Victoria Cruz, 23,
ticketing representative
I don’t really have an idea as to how sex education should be taught, whether they make it part of science or into a separate subject. I think that we should maintain the traditional way of just including reproductive health in our science classes. If you separate it, you’re just going to arouse their curiousity. I think it’s the parent’s responsibility to answer their children’s question when they start asking them. Parents know their children better than any teacher. When a teacher says something, students understand it in different ways. It’s enough that students know what their body does and how it does it. However, I don’t agree to a total removal of sex education. Schools should at least have a small discussion on a child’s sexuality.
Carl Francis Lingan, 16,
St. Joseph’s College, Q.C.
I agree with DepEd because what do those teachers know about their students’ bodies? I think the parents would be the best people to talk about sex with their children. Our parents are our first teachers and it is only fitting that they be the ones to teach us.
Eurika Johanna Ong, 23,
student, UP Manila
I don’t have an objection to sex education in schools if the ones who are teaching it are great teachers. If such a sensitive topic is taught by amateurs, I think it will just result to further misunderstanding among the young. However, I don’t think that it needs to be a class all it’s own. I think they should incorporate it into either physical education, science, or health.
Irene Rodriguez, 23, high school teacher, ust
I think the Department of Education should not withdraw sex education from public schools because sex education is one way of addressing the problems of teenage pregnancies, population explosion, and sexually transmitted diseases.
Sex education should be given to high school students through a series of seminars or integrated to values education.
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