THE FAMILY, A PRIVILEDGED SETTING FOR SEX EDUCATION

Sex education is a priority for children and young people today. Who should provide this education? The results of our recent poll emphasise that it is the responsibility of parents to teach their children sex education (72.2% of 198 responses). The present-day tendency is to relegate the education of certain topics deemed too difficult to broach in the family setting to schoolteachers. This would suggest that teachers would have received the majority of the votes in our poll. But this was certainly not the case as only 8.1% of the respondents agree that it is the responsibility of teachers. This is a matter for reflection. Other interesting results include that 16.7% of respondents believe that sex education is the responsibility of all while only 3% believe that sex education can be suitably learnt through books and videos.
The following observation needs to be stressed: values are at the core of this education, an education that includes basic knowledge. However, information in itself is not enough without obvious reference to values. Each country, culture or religion may have its own way of providing this education, but, be that as it may, the children and young people of today need to experience a pedagogy that is founded on truth and on love. Dialogue between the family and the school will lead to better results.
A new poll is currently being carried out and you are invited to take part.