Should schools give out condoms?
 

I've heard basic debates on this issue before, but I've never really witnessed one for myself. I really try to stay out of conflict so I can't guarantee I'll be posting a lot with my own opinions, but I do enjoy watching people debate civilly, while providing sources.

So, the question is: Should sexual education classes in schools provide condoms (or other contraceptives) for those who ask?

Personally, I think yes. I don't see how the schools are promoting sex. I think they're saying "We know you're doing it, we can't stop you, but at least be safe about it." It reminds me of my prom in high school. We had a meeting about drinking and driving. Their points were telling us to be safe, and not drive while drinking, but instead call a sober friend or relative. They never told us NOT to drink, because they knew the majority would, but they DID tell us to be safe about it.

Well I don't think that it's a bad idea for the teacher to give out condoms to those students who ask for them. As long as the teacher has permission to be doing so. I'm sure that doing something like that is bound to cause some kind of conflict with the parents. But at least they teacher would be teaching them about how to have safe sex. Though it could be easily taken as "Here's a condom, go out and have sex". But I think that it would be a good idea to at least make sure that those who are having sex are protected. I'm sure that there are a lot of high school students out there having unprotected sex.

I don't think they should hand them out, like go class to class and give a few to every person, but, if lets say in the nurse's office, there's a jar of them sitting right by the door...

It's a nice enough idea, but I couldn't see it doing a whole lot of good, high schoolers are high scoolers after all...what most people might not think about is that condoms need to be the right size to be any kind of use, and what school would make sure to get in a good size selection, and what 16 year old guy would do anything other than ask for the largest size there was? Especially from someone like a female nurse! Plus the majority of them would then be inflated and tied to car aerials, or filled up with water and thrown at other people, because this is teenage boys that we're talking about here.

I'm pretty convinced that it would be a really low percentage who'd actually use them sensibly, just going by the simple fact that guys in general hate wearing condoms, that teens are, on the whole, irresponsible about pretty much everything, and that old chestnut about them thinking they're adult and mature enough to have sex but being absolutely too embarrassed to ask for birth control, even if it's free.

So there's my uber-cynical opinion :ninja:

I don't think they should. Sex is a personal thing that has nothing to do with school, nor would it happen on school grounds. Therefore, I see no reason to provide things for it at the school. It's quite different from having sex education courses, in which students are learning about things that will be affecting them (including at school). What they do in their personal lives, though, is irrelevant as far as school is concerned. The school's sex education course should make students aware of the different types of birth control, along with how they work and where to obtain them, but it is not the school's job to provide such things to students and there is no reason that they should be expected to do so. It's not like they can't possibly obtain them from the places where they are already available, and it would be wiser for them to do so after being informed, anyway.

Condoms.
 

I have mixed feelings on this. Usually I'm all for sex ed stuff and preventing pregnancies and STDs and this sort of thing. But at the same time I question if it's an entirely good idea for a few reasons. Back when my boyfriend first started in college, they apparently handed out some kind of pack of stuff to new students, which included a condom. Okay, great, but... What's one condom going to help much, for one thing? They might have had more available somewhere, I don't know since I wasn't there. But anyway, my boyfriend and I were separated by distance for quite a while, nor were either of us sexually active anyway. So my boyfriend held onto this condom for, I'd say at least two years or so. He had that condom with him at college for at least a year and a half, just sitting somewhere. I didn't really think much about the fact that it was sitting around in a room at a college where he had roommates until for some reason at some point I mentioned something about it and someone advised me that we shouldn't use it, their reasoning being that you really should only use a condom if you get it in the original box because that way you know it hasn't been tampered with. Which got me thinking that, yeah, someone could have messed with that condom while it was sitting in his room if they came across it. I've heard stories of idiot boys putting holes in condoms thinking it's funny to screw someone over, and I decided against it. Now, most likely, no one messed with that condom, I'm sure it wasn't sitting out in the open, but I feel it's better to be safe than sorry. I've also learned that where they are stored is important too, if they've been stored somewhere that's too warm it could damage them. Plus, by the time my boyfriend and I got to see each other in person, and also by the time we were ready to have sex, it was getting close to the expiration date as well. We just got a new box of condoms and didn't use that condom. So just handing out condoms to every student is somewhat wasteful, since some students may not even be wanting to have sex any time soon.

I know it isn't the case for all students, and some will use it much sooner and not have to worry about it sitting there for a long time where it could be messed with. And I'm sure it is helpful for some students, but my other issue with it is in a way it is sort of babying students. They are getting something for free and without having to go somewhere public and purchase it. When they get in the real world, they aren't going to be handed free condoms. They are going to have to go into a store and buy them and get over whatever embarrassment they might have. They are going to have to spend money. They are going to have to be an adult about it. They are going to have to have responsibility if they're going to have sex. Yeah, walking into a store and buying them can be embarrassing (especially if you happen to have a friend with you who laughs loudly about things like that and draws attention to you, like we did) :sarcasm: But it's part of life.

Lastly, condoms aren't going to help as much if someone doesn't know how to use them. If they're just handed out, but someone doesn't know how to use them, it might not do much good. It's probably assumed most college students know how to use them, but not everyone gets sex ed. I never had any sort of class that showed us how to put one on. I was lucky a friend who had such a class described it to me. Also, they do put instructions on the inside of the box, but they don't have the instructions on the individual condom packages.

I also recently read an article about a college that discontinued giving free condoms out because the students abused the privilege and would steal all of the condoms instead of just taking a few. Which is really immature, and unfair to people who didn't abuse it.

I'm not really against them giving them out, but I just think that if students are really responsible enough to have sex then they should be able to get condoms on their own. If nothing else, have it where they can ask for them, but not just given out to students who may or may not even want them at the time.

Which is why they should be in a big jar in the doorway (right outside the door of) the nurses' office. Kids can take them if they want, in the size they need, without having to ask someone for them and have that whole mortifying conversation.

Well see, the way I see it is if they're not man enough to go ask for condoms then they're not man enough to be using them either *shrugs*

I disagree. To my knowledge, at least in my country, you can go to a health center or something (as a virgin Idk where, nor do I care where) and they'll give you a free bag of condoms as long as you're under 18 I believe.

And giving the kids condoms won't make them use them obviously. There's already a place to get free ones and there are still some/many who won't use them. Why waste more tax dollars on it?

This of course does not apply to other countries or areas (maybe) since I don't know what they do there because I don't live there.

Here we can get free condoms in school and at youth health center or hospitals or hiv centers etc. I think this is good. At my school it worked so that they were put in a bowl outside the nurses office where anyone could go and get what they needed. There would be diffrent types of condoms, femcondoms, lubricant, lick patches (I'm not sure what they're called in english accually, tell me if you know) etc.
We also used to have sertain events and lessons that where to provide information on protection and sexually transmitted diseases.
I would also like to say that in my country it's not tax-money that pays for this it's a big non-profit organisation that have existed since 1933. The government decides what the students are going to learn in school about sex. This organisation providce material, information, education and sometimes teachers. These people work for no profit but schools might have to pay the organisation a little. Schools that are owned by the state usually pay this. We pay taxes that goes to the school and they use the money in the best kind of way.
Also they get their income from selling products in pharmacies and on their website, all that money goes back in the organisation..

I think they should.
I think about it this way. If I minor doesn't want to have sex, seeing that condoms are available isn't going to make them go," Oh heck yes! Horny! I'm gonna go sex someone up." The ones that already want to have sex and are planning to have it are either going to use protection or they aren't. If they are, they can go to a store and buy them. Having them available in the school is just going to make the concept of using condoms seem easier since some minors might not want to go into a store out of embarrassment.
As far as finances go, would you rather pay for the prevention of teen pregnancy or pay for a teen baby?

The student health center here gives them out for free! Planned Parenthood does too. But I'm a college student free from the tyranny of my parents. :rofl:

But, as a teenaged person, who may or may not have more "traditional" parents who refuse to allow you access to contraceptives because "you're not supposed to have sex" (likely followed by "until you are married"), the most responsible thing you could do if you're sneaking around is to at least take precautions.

I definitely think condoms should be provided by high schools, but no grade lower than 9th. I disagree with Glitter--although I agree that you shouldn't have sex at school, sometimes school is the only place that some students get proper sex education. And quite frankly, just because your parents could hump in bed and make you doesn't make them experts on sex anyway. But, taking into account Jelly's concerns, perhaps the school could require some sort of "short course" from the school nurse in order to have access to the condoms? I doubt many students would take advantage of it, but I think it might be worth considering. Or, maybe they just won't allow access to any student who hasn't taken a sex ed class? So for my high school, it would only be available once you're in grade 10 (since sex ed is taught during grade 9).

As far as that goes, Rhii, I'll have to disagree. mostly because I don't see anything wrong with having sex as a teenager, if you know both you and your parter are STD free, and are using protection. It's not going to permanently scar you. 70% of the adults I know had sex when they were a teenager. They all turned out alright. I suppose that's an entirely different topic, though.
Having condoms readily available to them isn't encouraging sex, nor is it giving them the mindset that it's okay. You can get condoms free in the place I live. I'm a teenager. When I heard this, It didn't make me want to break out and have sex. If I wanted to have sex, I would. Having condoms available to the teenagers wanting to have sex just increases the chance they'll be protected, as it's probably just a hassle to a large percentage of them.

We can get free condoms are here as well, and when I was in high school it never made me want to go out and have a lot of sex just because I'm protected. Then again I'm a lesbian so I don't know if I count :lol: They give you a little keychain you put on your keys, and you get a condom in a little plastic case that hangs from the chain.

Teenagers are going to have sex whether people want them to or not, so why not encourage them to be protected?

You could make a dental dam from a condom to protect yourself from diseases when you perform oral. (I got a little how-to thinger from a variety goodie bag of condoms at a GLBTQQA prom, that's certainly not something that I learned in school or from my parents! xD)

Well you learn something new every day :rofl: I'm still safe though, I think. I only have sex with my girlfriend and she lives half a country away from me. But that is pretty interesting :XD

The reason it bothers me is that the sole purpose of it is to go behind the parents' back. Kids don't need to go to the school to ask for condoms if their parents are going to help them get some birth control. The only kids that are going to ask for the condoms are the ones that can't get them from their parents or will get into trouble if their parents find out they are having sex.

It's kind of like schools spanking children. Do some children misbehave enough in school to deserve a spanking? Absolutely, but it's not the school's job to be children's parents. It's the parents' job and it's the school's job to RESPECT the parent's viewpoint on any issue regarding their children, including sex, even if their viewpoint is "wrong." This is why public schools can't spank children anymore. It oversteps these bounds.

All that being said . . . . I'm going to be one of those parents that knows my kids are having sex, but doesn't want to KNOW about it, if you know what I mean. Kind of like how I know my parents have sex, but that doesn't mean I want to be there when they buy condoms and things. Same with my children really, so it would be a relief to me, personally, if my kids' schools provided them condoms for me, BUT that's just my personal view on the issue and a lot of parents would disagree and have a RIGHT to disagree in my opinion and their views on the matter should be respected.

Before you are 18 years old, you are the responsibility of your parents in every area of your life. This area should not be an exception, especially since when teenagers have babies, a lot of times their parents wind up taking on the responsibility of caring for those babies. When you're 18 years old, it's different, you get the freedom to make a lot of your own choices at that age, but until then, people's parenting styles and values should be respected and other people's values should not be forced onto those parents.

We're either tolerant as a country or we're not tolerant and this is one of those issues where I think a lot of people AREN'T tolerant to other people's parenting styles.

Tolerance is not about being "right" or "wrong", it's about people being freely allowed to believe in what they want and practice those beliefs, especially the people you think are wrong. It's easy to be tolerant of people you agree with, but not of people that have differing opinions from you.

@The Enchanted Tiara-
One point I would like to disagree. In my country at least, it is at the age of 16 that people are legally able to give consent. Therefore it is at this point that their sexuality ceases to be the personal property of their parents, at least from a legal point of view.

Well, when I stated my opinion, I was talking about my own country, where the age of official consent is 18 (although it might be different in certain states), but if your country has it at the age of 16, then I obviously mean that it should be fine in your country at that age. Just like if there was a country that had the age of consent at 20 (which there isn't a country like that), I wouldn't think that 18 should be the magic number that they have to follow. I would think they should follow their own laws.

@ Enchanted Tiara- The idea of my parents knowing- even if it is just inkling- about my sex life is seriously horrifying. My parents could be very open and understanding about the situation and offer advice and help- but I do not want that sort of help from my parents. It is so wrong on every level. So the chances of me seeking advice and resources from my parentals is zero and other teens are going to feel like that too. So it is way better to have a facility at school where kids can obtain information and birth control from with out there parents knowing.

My parents don't want to know about my sex life. Especially my mother, because she doesn't approve of my homosexual relationship. But she would be at least relieved that I am being protected, though she wouldn't want to be the one to get it.