No.. well, I'm not sure now, but when I was in high school..
They taught about pregnancy, and reproduction, and how the sperm enters the egg, basic info about the male and female reproductive systems as well as about STD's and their symptoms.
Nothing about masterbation or about safe sex, in health class you had to walk around with a bag of flour that you had to bring from home (so that they could stamp it with the school logo) for a week to show what it would be like if you had a baby, and they also spoke about abstinence.
The former surgeon general
Joycelyn Elders was fired because she wanted to introduce safe sex, and masterbation, into Sex Ed. I think she had medical and scientific evidence supporting her position..
I gotta say, that I agree that it should be taught in schools, because the parent's aren't doing it.
They don't want to think outside of their level of comfort. They don't want to face the reality that their child will be out there and having sex, or will want to have sex. They don't teach their kid about the alternatives, they just tell them that they shouldn't have sex until they are married, or that sex leads to pregnancy, and STD's and leave it at that.
I honestly believe that if the parents actually took the initiative, and thought outside of their comfort zones regarding Sex, and their children, and actually told them about the alternative ways that you can relieve yourself, then there would not be as many kids out here sneaking around, and getting pregnant.
Honestly, other than hormones, I think that the fascination that today's teens have with sex, is due to the fact that it is deemed as forbidden in the eyes of their parents.. I think that, as horrible as the thought is, if the parent's actually sat down, and spoke to their kid like an adult about sex, and masterbation, then that kids' fascination with it would decrease.
I think that if my parents sat down and spoke to me about it like that, then I would be so horrified, and skittish about it, that I wouldn't want to anymore.. but i would also know a lot more about sex, than what I saw on tv, or heard about in music, or heard about from my friends. I wouldn't be entering into something that I knew hardly anything about, and I'd be much better off for it.
I'd rather teach my child everything I knew about sex, safe sex, and masterbation, and compromise both of our comforts in that situation, than to have my child go out, not knowing a damn thing about it, and have sex, and end up pregnant.
That is why I support this idea, as well as condom distribution in schools. Just because you were given a condom doesn't mean that you have to go out and do it.
Kids aren't stupid, and they are already masterbating, so the parent's may as well accept that, and tell them that they'd rather their kid continuing as an alternative to intercourse. It is time that parent's stop telling treating their children like babies.. otherwise, they may just end up being grandparents.