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I think having sex education as far as what is "safe" sex is most important. I think that if these young ones of today have more knowledge of "safe" sex then we would have less teenage mothers. Although grade 6 seems a little young, 8-12 would be better.

I think some aspects of sex education are appropriate for a school forum and others that are more personal deserve a different, more private forum. I don't have the answers specifying particulars but I was one of the people deprived of any objective information both at home and since it did not exist in school when I was at that age. However, I remember the lack of maturity among my classmates regarding mutual respect and conduct of integrity in general so I know it is not an easy question to resolve. I, personally would like to see some sort of program instituted that could identify and help resolve the degree of personal dysfunctionality that pervades American lifestyles. I hope it may prevent the unfortunate anti-social, emotional and psychological development of people who would otherwise be positive contributors to society. In my case, I deal with what I consider are "socially induced" (by family members or otherwise) predilections toward shame, guilt and other personal insecurities that fifty years of life-experience has indicated were unwarranted, unjustified and inexcusable spin-offs of a system of competition that favors alpha-male superiority attitudes and rewards the actions of those willing to engage in predatory behavior for the sake of profit and selfish interests. Well, congratulations, the condition of the world today is the fruit of your efforts.When are you going to wake up and realize that humanity is only going to be able to sustain itself when it embraces appropriate disciplines able to meet the responsibilities imposed by the freedom to function as a unified species. If you can't learn that lesson then we all may as well look toward Armageddon as the only saving grace to our own insurmountable capacity for selfishness and corruption .

I am currently 25 years old and my first sex ed class was when i was in the 5th grade at age 10. at that time we learned about the body and puberty with a very small lesson in safe sex. in the 7th grade I had my next lesson. Again it was about puberty and the changes in your body and a little more detail on safe sex. in the 10th grade age 15 i had my most in depth lesson on sex education. i see nothing wrong with teaching your children young about safe sex. the earlier they know what to do the better. you cant prevent if you dont know how. i also believe that parents should take the time to talk to their children as well.

My kids had "sex" ed in 5th grade. It was very basic and included mostly information about puberty and what to expect. Beyond that, there was nothing more for my kids in public school.

My husband and I have always kept an open dialog about sex with our kids, so perhaps ours didn't need it so badly. However, they would come home and tell me what some of their friends were doing and saying, and it would make me cringe. Even in this day and age, parents are STILL not giving their kids the information they need to make good choices. I don't necessarily think it is the job of our educational system to do that, but I think it would be great if kids could have a sex education course in both middle school and high school, teaching age-appropriate basic information about sexually-transmiteed diseases and both abstinence AND contraception.

Thinking that teenagers are not going to have sex if we tell them its a bad idea is just stupid. Hormones are raging. Stuff happens.

Just my two cents.

Butterfly

We need to take responsibility as parents and stop having the schools raise our children. Sex ed should be taught by parents, not teachers.

Basic about that subject should be thought and also safety and precaution about doing it. As it is adviseable to all teenage around the age of 16.

I'm not sure the age of everyone posting in response to this question, but grade 6 is NOT too young to begin teaching sex ed at least in it's most basic form. I'm 18 years old and I have a 13 year relative who, like me, began menstruation at age 9. She has had so many questions over the past few years regarding her body and, more specifically within the past two years or so, sex. I understand 9 isn't the average age for females to begin puberty, but it's not uncommon either. A female who begins menstruation at age 9 is capable of becoming pregnant, as ridiculous a notion as that may seem. I promise you, if the parents of the child aren't letting them know these things regarding their bodies and sex, they're going to hear about them through their classmates. Remember the game telephone? Qualified, knowledgeable people should be teaching sex ed to kids in schools. Waiting until 8th or 9th grade could be too late. This relative I discussed earlier showed me a girl on facebook she goes to school with (8th grade) who is pregnant with her SECOND child. They're going to learn about sex one way or another, make it factual information from a trusted adult instead of 'little Jimmy who sits beside me in math class'.

That would be in a perfect world.

In reality, many parents don't know very much about things like contraception, STDs, etc. (I suggest you read through some of the questions on the sex boards if you don't believe me) and are often at a loss. Many of them still believe in the myths that THEY heard at school (can't get pregnant the first time, can't get pregnant standing up, a girl can't get pregnant if she doesn't orgasm ...). At least with a sound education of the basic mechanics (for lack of a better word) a child will at least be better prepared. Then let the parents teach the rest (morals, emotions, etc.).

16 is way too late.

Regardless of who teahces it kids dont listen. I had many friends in high school get pregnant. My SIL was pregnant within 6 months of becoming sexually active at 15. And thats after she had taken sex ed in school, her mother had talked to her and I had talked to her after her mother passed. She wasnt acting out and not being safe. Things happen, condoms break, birth control fails. Nothing is 100% except abstinence and nowadays that doesnt exist in a lot of teens. Regardless of if its the schols or parents it should be taught as long as its correct.

I think that children of reproductive age should know about sex. it is important that they know these things and they should not be left in the dark. I remember hearing a story about a young girl who was I believed was taken advantage of by a young man. The authorities had tried to ask her what had happened and the girl didn't even know what sex was or what her female reproductive organs were. she had know idea what sex was at all. If children are informed about this topic, they can possibly keep themselves from making mistakes they wished they had not made. If they are able to make these actions they should know what they are doing!

yes your right some parent dont tell there kid about sex they just do it and what happen you have ababy i gave my son the stuff he need it better to be safe than sorry

Absolutely. I think both parents and schools should teach our children about sex and human sexuality, I do not see why it has to be either or.

I learned about "sex" at school when I was in 5th grade, and it did an alright job. However, my mother was the primary educator, always keeping an open dialogue. But when she passed away when I was 10, I moved back to my father's and in 8th grade, I was supposed to attend another sex class. My father being more conservative refused to let me participate in the classes, which only hurts the child.

Children are naturally going to be curious and if they do not hear about sex from responsible adults, they will find ways to subsidize their education. With easy access to the internet, it's not hard. This is a problem though, because as these children strive to learn about sex, they end up taking lessons from the porn industry. They think that it's appropriate in an intimate moment to shove the girls head down hard on your penis making her gag. (sorry about the visual) Graphics aside, this is becoming a serious issue.

Frankly, there are too many shy, conservative, spacey, negligent-what ever it is you want to call them- parents out there that do not do a good enough job at addressing the issue. So when the institution of the family fails, where can the children turn? Certainly not to church. Schools have an obligation to fill the void and responsibly teach our children about not only sex, but many aspects of human sexuality.

Here's a great NPR article that disuses the issue.
http://www.npr.org/2012/04/10/150361227/savage-u-takes-frank-sex-talk-to-campus