Sunday, April 1, 2012

Sex Education [in a Catholic School]

Before I begin this post, I would like to state - there's no escape from Catholicism or Christianity in Ireland [did I spell that right? Yes, I did.].
It's everywhere, like literally, everywhere. Just down the road from where I reside, there lies a Roman Catholic church. Just a bit down from there is another church, with a Protestant Church right in the middle of Wexford. There's also a Christian Community Centre up the road from me, and I'm pretty sure somewhere there's a die-hard Christian boarding school near where I live.
 I don't mind at all the amount of Christianity in Ireland, it's our heritage. Ireland took to Christianity like a duck takes to bread. I will say, however, there are simply no public schools. They're all Catholic.

 Now, I've heard of Catholic schools around the world. Their worship actually surprises me. I mean, my aunt went to a [sort of] Christian cult church for about 3 years just to get her daughter into a good Catholic school in England. She faked being possessed and made her husband change religion [he was Protestant beforehand] to get her in. She did get in, so that was okay.
 My brother told me about a school in New York that at the start of every class, the teachers say "Jesus in our hearts" and the boys thump their hearts twice and shout "FOREVER!" and then sit down. That part has no relevance, I just thought it was amusing.
 Catholic schools in Ireland, well, they're not really Catholic. My school is an all girls school, with nuns and a school chaplain and a prayer room, we have a yearly school mass, we have [a single] prayer poster in the school and we say a prayer at the start of every class. I have a slight problem with this.

 In my [worthless] opinion, I don't think religion should really be merged that much in public schools. Mine is a public school, it lets a lot of people in and there is no entrance exam or anything. I'm not saying "Oh, keep religion away from our children!" either, I'm suggesting maybe leave a belief system out of school. Teach religion, by all means, teach about the fact that there ARE different religions too like Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Taoism, Protestantism, Lutheranism, Presbyterianism, Hinduism, and now I'm just listing religions I know of. I bet there's way more. Leave the prayer at the start of class out, students can say a silent prayer if they wish.

 What I'm trying to get across here is that because my school only really serves one religion, the girls in my school can be very close-minded about religion. They teach two religions in my Religion Junior Cert coursework [which I think is ridiculous, there shouldn't be a state examination about religion], Islam and Christianity. There's half a section dedicated to Islam and 3-4 entire sections on Christianity.

 Off topic, but I conducted an experiment the other day. I asked about 10 [aged 13-14] people about their outlook on religion.

6 said they didn't believe in God, but they're Christian because they want presents and chocolate.
2 were agnostic.
1 was devoutly religious.
The other was a Buddhist, but didn't seem to know what Buddhism was. Or where it came from. Or who Buddha was. Their description of Buddha?; "Eh, that fat golden lad".
I'm inclined to think that person was being a bit ignorant and was just trying to seem interesting.

 I'm kind of shocked about the people wanting to be Christian, not because they love Jesus/God, but because they want the attachments that come with it.
But that's not what this extra-long post is about.
This post is about SEXSEXSEXSEXSEXSEXSEXSEXSEXSEXSEXeducation

As a result of my friend Brian [SHOUT OUT TO DEAD BABIES INC. HERE!] talking about a certain podcast, called Sex Nerd Sandra [you can download it on iTunes for free!], I had my first proper sex education lesson from her.
This means I've NEVER had sex education before, you realise?
I was handed a book by my parents, and I couldn't read it because I was scared of penises. So I spent a good 3-4 years of my life ignoring the fact that penises exist.
I, personally blame my primary school and my brother for this.
My primary kind of taught us "Oooooo! Don't touch boys! You'll get pregnant!"
My brother told me when I was 6 that a penis was a weapon and you'll die if you touch it.

Well...
I was hoping in secondary, that we'd actually get some sex education and get informed and know the risks of sex.
NOPE! CHUCK TESTA!
We were, instead taught about how to give birth.
That really disgusts me. Yes, sexual education IS on the coursework in SPHE in my school, the teachers just never did it with us, because no one wants to be that teacher, because it's awkward.
We haven't been taught about sexuality either. They just assume we're all straight.


My FSM, I hate my school.

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