While it is a good idea to have PSHE classes to teach us about drugs, dealing with money, sex education ect...

There needs to be a large improvement in the ways and methods that are used to educate us. I don't know if this is the same for other schools but most of the time we would be watching videos and learning nothing. Also I find this to be ridicules but while they were telling us the effects of drugs and how wrong it is they also brought in examples of drugs and were in fact teaching us how to take each drug in perfect detail. If they don't want us to be taking drugs then why give are they giving us such information? Some one brought up the point just showing us the reality of what drugs and smoking can do to you, which I believe would be more effective.

Also I find that sex education is not helpful for most of us and tells us what we already know. The teachers we have had to teach us also feel unconfterable talking about the subject so again we would just be watching another video and have gained
no helpful information. To be honest they should really just bring in some one from out side the school younger than what our teachers are and talk to us about relationships, sex and also give us strait forward facts instead of just telling us why it is bad all the time.

I don't know what it is like for other schools so correct me if I’m wrong but I think that things like PSHE classes could be greatly improved and be more helpful than what they are now.

Here's my take on it. This is what I think ought to be covered....

The realistic dangers of drugs. Not just 'drugs are bad, mmkay?'.
Safe ways to take drugs, including not driving while under the influence, not sharing needles (which will reduce the HIV infection rate), and being aware that what you're taking might not be what you think it is (e.g. ecstacy these days often doesn't actually contain any MDMA)
Practical demonstrations on how to use contraception, including every single person in the class putting a condom onto a carrot/cucumber. Particular dangers to watch out for (missing a pill, split/slipped condoms).
Information about the morning after pill, where you can get it, and what to expect from it.
Information of further people to contact (drugs councillors, family planning clinics and the like).


What that all boils down to is simply providing as much accurate information as possible to the class, with as little 'spin' on it as possible.

With all that said, I realise that the chances of this actually happening are next to none. Too much politics involved in what gets taught to kids.

I've just had a bizarre thought though - prompted by Marriegold's point. I reckon that me and Mrs Jonman would make a wicked team of people who turn up at your school for these kinds of classes, and teach them this kind of thing through various activities and games and stuff. Maybe we should think about that. Hmmm.

It sounds like Mg's classes are actually trying to do something like that. The information about how to take drugs safely is there.

I seem to remember many years ago that drug education was purely 'THEY ARE EVIL AND EXTRACTED FROM THE DEVIL!!!!' whereas now, judging by Mg's reaction, it may have swung too far in the other direction where people wonder why they're being told how to do everything and given a list of reputable local dealers... Well, maybe not that last bit.

The theory runs that most people will do drugs in some way at some point in their life, as well as the majority of people having sex at some point in their life, that's just a statistic that the government has to accept at the moment. Their priority is making sure that you're making an informed decision when you do it and giving you the best possible chances of being alive afterwards. Clearly this isn't such a risk with smoking pot, but being aware of the need for reasonable hydration when taking things that claim to be ecstasy could save a person's life (the famous case of the girl who died after taking her first ecstasy tablet was actually caused by her drinking seven pints of water in quick succession after she was told 'drink lots of water to stay safe!', this caused her brain to swell which then caused the fatal damage).

Mr & Mrs Jonman: educators to the masses. Hurrah!

I was involved with a lot of the sex education stuff at university. It was quite scary (to me) the amount of people who had had unprotected sex in the past but never had blood tests to ensure that they were still healthy. We got a lot of people to get themselves checked. I think they all came up clean, but it's great to have that knowledge.

Something else which disturbs me more is they do actually tell how people get a hold of these drugs and the teachers are giving us information with out realising. For exsample we got this question sheet of true and false about drugs. There was one where I can't remember something exactly but it was talking about magic mushrooms and then our teacher re correct us and told us it was false because it you can only make magic mushrooms if you do this after it. She then explained to us how to make it. It was like she wasn't realising what she was actually telling us. I find this in some ways disturbing.

It's good to know how to take them safely because your still going to get people who will try it and it's best to learn about not using a dirty needle information like that is fine but it has been taken too far.

Also it's good to tell us about condoms and protection because it's something people need to know but they never tell you where to buy a condom or how much it could cast or even how to use it correctly which I feel is important to teach (this is just one exsample I am using) I feel that if your in secondary school your mature enough to learn this and it could be extremely helpful.


Because of all the videos shown in class the whole of our class knows a lot about the different type of drinking games as well now.

Precisely, this is something that was never taught to me at school. The first time I saw a condom was when I was rolling it onto Little Jonman. That was not a good time to be doing it for the first time, because I can tell you, the last thing on my mind then was whether I'd put it on right.

Being taught about contraception should include how to use that contraception, which includes not only where to get them, but where to get them for free, how to use them, and what to do if you don't use them or they malfunction. The focus should be on use, not on the biological theory of how they work (which is what it was when I was at school).

I went to Catholic High School, so I can understand that it can be against their beliefs to teach certain things, but the sex education we recieved was appalling. My drugs education was actually quite good, possibly due to my unusual Biology teacher rather than the schools policy, but sex ed. consisted of R.E teachers only being allowed to teach us morals (Sex and condoms are bad) and biology teachers only being allowed to teach us about what happens, not contraception.
One RE lesson the teacher actually went into copious detail telling us why condoms are actually USELESS in the fight against AIDs and it's better to have no sex at all. We weren't even taught the church-approved withdrawal method because it has now been widely accepted as a load of rubbish (And we shouldn't be having sex outside of marriage and without wanting children anyway.)

I went to the same place for 6th form, and in my last lerm ever, they dragged every 6th former into the hall, all the teachers bar one left the room and we were given a talk on STDs and how to recognise and avoid them. But nothing on condoms, not a demonstration no nothing because of the religion problem. The woman who did the talk was the local authority, not school, so she asked us for suggestions and comments at the end. Basically all she got was, 'Too little too late, we're 18.' and, 'If they're going to go so far as give us this talk, and recommend we use condoms, why can't they go the whole hog and let us see a demonstration?' She agreed with us but what can they do about it?

Luckily, noone was really ignorant of sex by then because we all seem to be pretty sensible people, with sensible parents, but the fact we got the STD talk at 18 when it would have been better by the time we were 14 is laughable.

Our sex ed was actually pretty good. My form tutor at the time was a great crazy lady, and brought in a pink penis shaped candle to demonstrate how to put on the condom. She then made some of the guys and girls have a go, and give them tips for accuracy

We also got given a free condom each, and an address for where to go to get some free ones. I think this was pretty good going for the age of 14/15!

Where as the drug and STD education was a bit different as it was done by the P.E teachers. (The boys got the male teacher, the girls a female teacher.)
I personally think this should have been done in mixed classes as the guys didn't get taught anything about periods, nor the girls anything about wet dreams/ ejaculation or what happens to guys during puberty.
I'm mostly grateful that my parents taught me and my two older siblings about it all at the same time. They showed us this cartoon which explained most things, which meant that whilst my sister was learning about things at the age of 10, I was only 5. We also had books on the human body which we could read at anytime, and were encouraged to do so too. I think it is more of a parents job to do this as the school has so much it can and can't say on different matters. Saying that, I also think that our school councilor should have been able to see us and talk over problems without parental consent.

The whole drugs thing wasn't helpful either- I have learnt most things from my older brother, and my friends. I do think that schools should teach everything about drugs- what to do if someone has ODed, if you take a pill thinking it is one thing and it isn't etc etc because it is in these sitautions when people tend to panic and need the most knowledge.
But then again I am sure alot of parents would have many complaints about this as it might seem to encourage drug taking, rather than saying "drugs are bad mmmkay? This is what happens when you take them. It makes you a bad person." (which is what I got from my ed classes.

We got told "All drugs make you insane and die ten years after you take them, look at me I'm in a weelchair because I took marijauna by accident," and if you said but... you were accused of taking them. Oh and the sex ed talk we got was all about tampax, why it is better than other brands etc. When we asked about stds and condoms we were told "some of you are 15 therefore it would be illegal to tell you, buy tampax." That was two years ago and it still makes me really angry. The most useful sex ed any of us got was part of biology GCSE and half my friends thought you couldn't get pregnant if you had sex on your periods or that the withdrawel method worked. So yeah we need something better, a standardised curriculum sex ed. I was OK because my mum explained contraception to me when I was about 6 (not exadurating, I think that's sensible) but most girls were totally ignorant.

I took the basic health class at my school because we all had to, but all we learned was the biological basics and that only abstinence is 100% effective (and they didn't even mention inheirited sexual diseases from parents.) The teacher refused to explain anything about contraception or tell us where to buy or how to use condoms and birth control. There was only one sentence about it in out textbook that essentially went: "Artificial contraception can help prevent pregnancy and STDs, but only abstinence will kepp you safe." Then there was a whole chapter about how STDs are horrible and dangerous, and that most will kill you (which wasn't true.)
The class wasn't useful at all, and some people there were already having sex and could have used some practical information. All we got was speeches: "sex and drugs are bad and dangerous, so don't do drugs or have sex." Then we watched videos of people saying that they'd had sex once and were now either dying of an STD or pregnant (or both.) The person would cry and say that they wished they'd never had sex. Sex Ed classes in most places could use some serious reform and better information. No matter how many times you tell people not to have sex, some people will do it anyway. A preachy and uninformative class isn't going to help anyway.

I'd disagree here. It's not a case of whether you learn this type of thing; it's a case of when and under what circumstances. And circumstances don't tend to be quite so forgiving outside of the classroom. I don't think there's such a thing as 'too much information' as regards drugs education.

Nor sex education, really, once kids are past the 'OMFG ew!! Gross!!' stage. Even if it's purely academic, and abstinance is what they're trying to encourage, I don't see why they should think twice about giving you all the information.


Heh. My school has a condom machine in the toilets...[/spam]

At my schoolpeople just have sex in the toilets, but they have to bring their own condoms... /spam

Part of our sex ed was a video of a birth to the effect of camera straight between the legs...that poor woman tore and all.

I'm pretty against tutorial classes. I mean, the truth is, teenagers are probably going to try drugs at some point so rather than trying to stop it all, warn us of the dangers but give us advice on, if we do decide to do drugs, the safety. We currently are learning about drinking and drugs, and all we've done so far is listed all the different 'street names' for the drugs and what they look like. Now we're collecting adverts for alchohol to compare them with normal adverts. Point?

We watched a video about personal safety yesterday. It was about a girl who didn't open the door to someone who wanted to deliver a parcel. She then got on the bus and a rather large man sat next to her and squashed her. At school, she was making a film with some friends but one girl in the group got angry so they made fun of her. Point?

When we learnt about sex, we matched up what happens to boys and girls when they go through puberty. We already knew all that from the compulsory yr6 sex ed. video.

I understand that it's all in the teachers best interest but tutorial classes are pointless.

Actually, I think learning the different names for drugs is a good thing. It makes you more aware of what's going on around you in terms of drugs, and it'll keep you from a situation that you might just "go along with" because you don't quite know what they're talking about, but don't want to look foolish.

If some one was going to take drugs you can't stop them but it would be a good to tell them how to take it for exsample not shearing the same needle just to keep them safe. However there is curtain information that is needed.

I also don't think watching a video helps that much either it might help but it would be better to have a class discussion or some one there explaining to the class about drugs.

They also shouldn't be teaching us what we already know for exsample puberty. We got taught this when we were in year 10. At the age of 14/15 most of us were 15 you would think we would already know.

I learned about puberty every year since I was in about fifth grade. Everyone just got piled onto a bus and stuck into a room where someone would babble on, show us diagrams of body changes, and then show videos about young teens being scared of puberty and having an older sibling explain that it's all right. It was boring after the second time (that was the time both sexes were in the same room and saw each other's little diagrams and movies.) I'm not really sure how much Health classes really teach. Mien spent far too much time on anatomy and not enough on safe drugs, safe sex, and teenage psychological problems. Learning drug safety and different names can keep you safer, as can learning about safe sex. School system policies are often keeping the useful information out of classrooms.

I never said that it was going to stop people from taking drugs. All I said was that it would make people who are more ignorant of drugs (for example learning the different names of them) aware of their surroundings.

Oh yeah, I forgot to say before, the extent of our education on abortion was a video showing a foetus being sucked out with a vacuum cleaner. I never saw the video, but from what I can gather, the ones who did see it were led to believe every abortion was like that, and the foetus' mouth opening was not an effect of the suction, but it screaming in pain.

That is definately not a good sex education lesson.

The sex and drug education we get at my school isn't so bad. It's pretty truthful and honest, depneding partly on which teacher you have. He also watched the video of a woman giving birth. The biggest weakness is that you don't learn about contraception, other than that it is useful and exists, until you're a senior. I really like the way one of the teachers runs his sex ed class. You can ask any question as long as it does not begin with, "Have you ever...", "Do you like...", or "how long is..."

"I really like the way one of the teachers runs his sex ed class. You can ask any question as long as it does not begin with, "Have you ever...", "Do you like...", or "how long is..." "
Sounds like a cool teacher
I watched my mum give brith to my little brother when I was 10. It didn't scare me, and actually it was pretty incredible to witness. I think more kids should get the chance if something like that. It really does put things into perspective.

My sex ed consisted of "you're going to have a period" in 5th grade, in 6th grade "These are STD's. These are the effects of STD's By the way, you're going to have a period." and in 8th grade "Men have erections. Girls have periods. Lots." and we watched a video that had a little drawing of a pubescent (sp?) boy as he gets his erection.

I REALLY didnt find this useful.

The education about STDs was pretty good, we got descriptions of what it looks like and feels like and how they can be transmitted. We learned that there were such things as condoms and that its a good idea to use one if you're going to have sex but we were never told how to get one or if you have to be a certain age to get one or any of that. Then of course we were told that abstinance will keep you safe.

Drugs we started learning about last year mostly. Though by that time I had read Anthony Kietis's biography and he did most of the stuff anyway, and that basically taught me how to get needles, how to get drugs (if you live in LA.... ) and all the different kinds of heroin and cocain. PCP I learned about a little later. ACID I learned about from some other book. I think it was called Replay. and errmm.... well weed is just everywhere around here. If you want weed you can ask one of your best friends and they'll give you some or something.

In 9th grade we did get a tutorial on drugs and how police find the drugs you have and blah blah blah. It took up over an hour and a half and I got really bored.

I definatley think it would be a good idea to teach people how to put condoms on and different forms of contraception. Should teach us about what to do if we end up with an STD or end up being pregnant. But with the way parent's are acting and the way the Goverment is none of this is going to happen. Hell, around here they even tried to make it illegal to buy condoms if you're under 18.

Just as a note, I know in Germany and probably most of Europe you can find a condom vending machine in just about every public restroom. I really dont think telling people not to do it is going to make much of a difference because its human nature to want to have sex. If they would offer condoms in more places people would most likely have protected sex more often and thus! Less unwanted pregnancies and less STDs in the world.

Though it may promote people to have sex a little more due to the availability of contraception, I dont think the increase would be that great because most people do it annyywayy....

My sex ed class consisted of our very timid teacher just letting us do our own thing. This ment that a lot of the guys were stuffing condoms up their nosees and trying to pull them out through their mouths. Yeah, inner city schools have all the bright sparks.

Nearly everyone in my class was already having sex and in some cases had done more than the teacher.

Same thing with drugs. The teacher was trying to lecture the class about drugs (with a load of the usual misinformation, mary jane will make your hair fallout and get you pregnant! Etc). Trouble is that most of the kids had already been experimenting and the teacher was completely naive.

Everything I've learnt I've have had to do it myself. Not even my parents have spoken to me about sex before. They have spoken to me about alcohol and some drugs, but they are ex-hippies so it was usually "Be sensible and do them in moderation if you are going to".

My 'Preperation for Adulthood' classes were simply wank. Though we did once watch a cool movie about someone who took cannabis, he would see a cute purple furry demon out of the corner of his eyes wherever he went. Hell, that was enough to make me want to try it, it looked fun.

Oh yes, and if you indulge in man to man bumsex you will get AIDS and your family will disown you.

What a waste of an hour every week.

They had to teach you guys how to do that? I had to figure it out all on my own.

It was a choice. Either do that or religious education. I wish I picked RE after just one lesson of PFA. I was bloody good in religious studies, and PFA taught me absolutely NOTHING. I'm convinced it was just an excuse for teachers to slack off.

I think my town (though it might be statewide; I'm not sure) has got a pretty good system going on. As soon as you're thirteen, at every doctor's appointment they sum up what takes a year of Health to slog through (use condoms, don't share needles, etc. Once you're sixteen: don't drive under any influence, etc). Students in seventh grade (12-13 years old or so) are required to take Health classes, in which you're taught ^ that, and get to watch a video in which a crowd of foolish teens get the munchies and in the process of searching manically for food, rip apart the house. I think they kill a cat as well, but can't quite recall.

You're required to take one semester of Health in your four years of high school, which encompasses anatomy, baby-making, drugs, not dying, and such sundry "student safety" items. "The Miracle of Life" makes its debut, both on the small, fuzzy screen in the Health room and in students' heads. Forever.