Post Number Eleven

On November 15, 2010

In today’s class Rob talked about the very controversial topic, Abortion. Everyone has their own beliefs of whether or not abortion is right or wrong and I would love to share my personal opinion on the matter. I would first like to make very clear that in no way do I expect people to believe what I believe as I feel everyone has their own opinions from their own lived realities. In high school I was very against abortion. Near the end of grade 12 a friend of mine had an abortion and it took her a month before she had told me. I was so upset and hurt that we didn’t speak for three months. After I had realized how selfish and unsupportive I was being we began to reconnect. I never took into consideration what she must have been going through and how much she probably needed me to just listen and keep my mouth shut. Looking back it surprises me how foolish it all was. During the situation I should have been there for her regardless of my beliefs. After the whole situation was over I took a hard look at my values. Who was I to say that she made a mistake? It wasn’t my life or my choice. I now see abortion as a personal choice and one that is made based on the situation. I myself do not foresee ever having an abortion but that doesn’t mean that I will ever push my beliefs on to another. I believe that everything happens for a reason and that if I were able to become pregnant I would embrace it. I believe my sister’s troubles have made me believe very passionately that every child is a blessing. So that is how I feel towards the subject of abortion.

On November 19, 2010

Rob started the class off by talking about Sue Johanson. She is a sex educator who has become very publicly known through her television show and her radio broadcast.  This class was spent mostly talking about sources of information about sex. The book tells us that sexual education is quite uneven across the country. I am not surprised as even within our city the sexual education given is uneven. Although sexual education is a uncomfortable subject to talk about it is one area I would like to teach. I feel it is very important to inform our students and have someone there for them to talk to if they have questions. After all that is our job isn’t it? In the 1970’s the main problem was justifying sexual educations existence was the anxiety of teen pregnancy. However, in the 1980’s the main problem was HIV AIDS. Crazy how within 10 years the focus could change is a very drastic way. Rob mentioned bill C44 which stated that teachers needed to give the parents notice, if they are going to talk about sex, religion or sexual orientation. As they have the right to take their children out of those lessons. I personally disagree with this bill in a sense. Yes I do believe that there should be notice given that teachers are going to talk about those topics, however I feel that students should be taught about these things in a professional manner. A lot of the time parents feel uncomfortable talking to their children about it and some parents just ignore it. It is crucial to provide them with the correct information and allow them to ask questions and feel comfortable doing so. Rob told us that there is no universal guideline for sexual health education within our school systems. I wish this was not true. We all know the information is available so why is it so hard to pass it on to the ones who need it the most.

I found it extremely interesting that to be considered a sexual health professional you do not need any formal training. I feel that if there was maybe then sex education would become universal and become as important as I feel it is. I would love to teach this area as I feel I would be very self-fulfilling to know I would be teaching a subject that will forever be a part of the students.