Saturday, May 2, 2009

Sex education or traffic rules????

At my school, Wednesdays were a nightmare for the teachers. For it was on this day that irrespective of whether there was matter to talk about or not, we had to attend a teacher’s meeting. This meeting was always held from 2.30 – 3.30 pm when all of us are done with lunch and a cozy bed is the only place in this world which interests us. So moving on, it was one such Wednesday and all of us had gathered as usual in a room for the meeting. Like most of the staff meetings, this time too there was nothing official to discuss about. So our Principal asked our librarian to start with any topic on which all of us could give our views. Our librarian decided that that day she wanted to discuss with us about what would be the appropriate way to tell the children about homosexuals – whether or not this is a right choice. People started putting out their views, slowly the talk went on from being gay to sex education in school, then orgasm being a part of the syllabus in this sex education and so on. Talk about the grapevine!!! Anyways as all this was happening, I was sitting in my usual place, in a corner, where I was far away from the vigilant eyes of my superiors, where I was free to doze off or even to wander away in my thoughts. And this time I started wondering about what these people were discussing. Now I’m going to go on to a more serious note. Though you may feel I am drifting away from what I started I’ll eventually come back ok?? So just read on about what I have to say…
How many of you have tried driving on the streets in India?? Of those who have, how many have enjoyed it?? If it was by a show of hands, I’m sure I wouldn’t have seen a single hand go up. So why is it that though many of us love driving, we go through it, most of the times, like a punishment? To start with, probably because people don’t stick to traffic rules!! Well how can they, if they don’t know what the rules are!!! We are now living in an age where to get a license all one needs is money. Pay the guy and he gives you a license, regardless of whether you’ve sat behind the wheels of a vehicle or not. Parents try to overcome their guilt of spending too much time at work, by getting their minor wards cars, bikes and also the license to drive. So what more can we expect on our roads than a bunch of reckless driving people?? Now back at my place in the corner of the room, I started to wonder. Instead of trying to pressurize the government into bringing sex education as a part of the curriculum, isn’t traffic education a greater need of the hour?? Trying to explain to the child the need for healthy driving, then introducing traffic rules as part of the curriculum can eventually help the child to grow responsible on the roads. Right now most of you readers might have thought I’m against sex education. Well you are wrong. I’m am very much for it. But what I’ve heard is that, sex education in school talks about how it is done, the pleasure, orgasm, consequences and related topics. Now why would a teenager need such information? At this age what they need to know is about their bodies, the need to respect the opposite sex, yeah also maybe how they are a little different. Most importantly there should be someone who is willing to answer their queries without judging them. Now who would do this better than a parent?? So now I ask you what would you prefer a part of the curriculum – traffic education or sex education??? Jaago re!!!

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Hmm .. Interesting, after reading what you had to say, just one question pops up in my mind .. Why should it have to be a choice between the two ?

Education is all about preparing kids to face the real world challenges. Both the topics you spoke about are important in that aspect.

One last thing .. The reason, I would want to see schools teaching Sex-Ed is to ensure that the prejudices and misconceptions of the parents should not be passed on to the kids. In a nation which is predominantly illiterate, it is a good idea to have a teacher who is armed with a proper curriculum and a thought out methodology teach Sex-Ed in the school to kids at the right age with appropriate amount of detail at the right time and in the right way. What say you ??