Sex Education

[PeteC]

Much in the news these days; foetuses in Bangkok and the Pope actually starting to talk about condom use. I have no clue where Thai schools and International schools stand on this subject. I've just sent an email off to the school my daughter attends asking them for details if anything exists, in the planning, or completely taboo because of some kind of existing Thai law. The PM is preaching sex education today, but I don't know if that means parental, or formal via the Thai education system.

Does anyone know details as to what is now happening in the schools? Pete

[Spitfire]

Don't hold your breath on this one. I reckon it'll take a long while till this is acceptable in the generally conservative, progression resistant mainstream Thai culture, especially that of the high schools in general.

I do agree though that it is a relevant subject, certainly with all the single parents floating around here and a certain apathy towards future responsibilities of the participants. It is probably high time that some progression on social subjects interjected the curriculum of the average Matheom student.

They teach "Social" here, or whatever making Som Tam passes off as, but it is, as usual, just the fluffy non controversial stuff. Maybe they could integrate it into this subject area perhaps.

If it happens anywhere first then it'll probably be an international school, but even they will be brave and risking a lot if they 'bite the bullet' first. Not sure if they would gamble on it without it becoming law.

However, to be honest, it's still mainly a taboo subject and I reckon they are a long way off fronting up any of these subjects in school, despite the fine words from the PM.

[Vital Spark]

You're absolutely right SF about it being a taboo subject. Even at university level most of the lecturers want to believe that students are not doing it. Come to think of it, a lot of the lecturers haven't 'done it', you know, that strange thing that men do to women.

I remember being told once to give the students extra projects to do, to stop them spending time with their boyfriends. Would you believe that these 20 somethings were holding hands with their boyfriends (shock, horror), and it might lead to something else if they didn't have academic work to do... This came from a young teacher who had probably never been kissed.

Yes, there should be sex education at school, but I've yet to meet a teacher who would a) be comfortable talking about sex, or b) knew what they were talking about.

VS

[usual suspect]

The simple solution is to include sexual awareness in the soaps..the message gets across to nearly every household, because its in a soap the girls/ladies will believe it all. Every soap has the grand-mother airing her
opinions..well let her pass on the word (age = wisdom).
If the spoilt,rich girlie comes home with an STD then she'll be sobbing & tearful way more than if she's just
seen her man talking to her younger sister all touchy-feely...that's normally enuf to prompt tears in these sad-soaps, followed by a face-slapping..oh meowww.

[PeteC]

That's really not a bad idea US. Like in the West many decades ago concerning advertising, perhaps they can also add some 1/10 second subliminal messages. Pete

[PeteC]

Here's some positive news I found about the subject. A bit more advanced than I had imagined, but far from where it should be. Pete

http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Sexuality ... 0227461625

[PeteC]

Well, just found out the British International my daughter attends does have something. I don't know at this point if enough, but at least it's something. I would think a good base to be followed up on by the parents at home. Pete

"We cover Life Cycles in Year 5 - this has a subsection of Sex Education.

Before we introduce the topic we send a letter home informing the parents of the unit and how we teach it. (attached) On the letter there is an option for the child to be withdrawn from the lesson if the parent wishes to cover the material at home in their own way.

The unit is started by combining boys and girls but then separates into gender groups to cover the more specific details pertaining to each gender. The girls cover this with a female teacher, the boys with a male teacher.

There is also a box into which they can place anonymous questions.

We do educate them in all the detail they need at this age but respect cultural and religious concerns as well as respecting the privacy and potential embarrassment that this topic might arise.

Hopefully this answers your questions. If you want to examine the unit then please come in and I will show it to you."

[Spitfire]

Yes, as I thought, maybe at an International school but even from what you have shared with us we can see it's a....well....cautious approach for sure, 'dipping their toes in' so to speak, even the title of the course section it comes under is fairly ambiguous to put a good spin on it. Certainly appears to be a fairly new concept for most places.

Can see that's a completely parental approvement thing approach to prevent any knee-jerk reactions, which is right, and shows just how ground breaking it is here whilst anticipating that it could possibly be met with some refusals but is worded and approached/presented in the right way.

However, that making it into your average mainstream Catholic or government school is probably a long way off yet, too much of a 'hot potato' to grasp, not to mention most Catholic schools are run by a priest or nun that has been around since the 1920s and isn't going to see the progressive side in this one.

At an International school they have a bit more room to manouver as the parents will perhaps be more progressive/international themselves (not to mention richer) and perhaps more well traveled, but can see it is still being approached cautously by the school.

Let's hope it works as successful ideas/practices in the international schools slowly drip down to the others. Keeping some power in the hands of the parents may well be the right way to start it all off. I suppose you'll have to see how it pans out.