Should "safe sex" be promoted in schools through sexual education classes?

Although I agree with religious conservatives who want to challenge the youth to delay sexual activity for a while, I totally disagree with their message that a condom is a provision for sin. I send my Christian friends to the website below which debunks the whole thing against premarital sex in the Bible. That way they have no excuse not to support comprehensive sex education.

There is a BIG difference between learning about safe sex and promoting underage sex in any form.

Of course, abstinence should be discussed and proactivelly promoted. That's the reason there are "Age of Consent" laws. But, parents and the education industry should recognize the reality of the fact that people are experiencing sex at younger and younger ages. For that reason, so-called "safe sex" should be taught and discussed. Way too many parents are unprepared to do this at home, so it WILL be left to the schools to gather the infomation and get it out to the students. Part of that education SHOULD be shared by the parents. They should know what is being taught and they should be encouraged to continue the discussion in the home.

Educators can SAY that abstinence is the SAFEST choice, but the parents are in a better position to actually influence a child's behavior.

Here's another thing about "Safe Sex:" It applies even AFTER a person reaches his or her eighteenth birthday. Like many other subjects, lessons learned in school end up paying off later in life.

DEFINITELY this should be taught in schools. In terms of biology it should be taught about the methods used to prevent conception, how effective they are, etc. Although it is generally now called "safer sex" because even with condoms used properly, sex is not 100% safe as there can still be some risk of STD or pregnancy.

To not teach safer sex, to leave it up to the parents, or to only teach abstinence when kids are going to have sex anyway... is to increase the amount of STD transmission and teen pregnancy, for no reason.

The netherlands is one of the most liberal countries in the world with their sex education. They start very early at about age 6, but this is with things like talking about friendship and loving parents e.g- personal education that relates to their age group. By age 12 they will know about more contraceptives than most american teenagers will ever come across. They advocate "double dutch" very strongly - pill and condom.

They also have the lowest teenage pregnancy and abortion rates in the world, and later age of becoming sexually active- because they are empowered to take control of their own sexual behaviour, rather than it being something hidden and peer-pressure driven.

Obviously they should be. People are going to have sex it's a fact and not a bad thing if people are safe when doing so.

No, I don't want my children trying to have sex with large metal boxes with locks on them.

yes and at home!