Instead, it's promoting a more laissez-faire attitude and asking teachers to talk about birth control, sexual reproduction, sexual intercourse and STDs whenever the moment strikes. Of course this approach is bound to succeed because we all know how much teenagers love to talk about sex with the grown-ups in their lives!

Most teenagers are mortified to open up and speak about such private issues with adults, so leaving it up to the personal whims of individual teachers, who may be just as reluctant to bring sex up, leaves too much to chance.

Proponents of these new reforms claim that existing sex ed classes were far from adequate and barely provided teens with the info that they needed. So eliminating classes altogether solves this problem how?

While we all know that the definition of sex ed can range from the mechanical and dry dissemination of information, the "relentless search for fallopian tubes", as sex therapist Sue Johansen said tongue-in-cheek in a recent TV interview, to "the school's football coach sticking 'The Miracle of Life' video in the VCR and retreating to the corner" as stated in an online article www.education.com), the fact remains that, for that period of time, the opportunity arose for kids to ask questions, to gauge other people's attitudes and to broach embarrassing subjects. Whether squirming in their seat, giggling, or pretending to be blasé about it all, make no mistake about it: when it comes to sex, kids pay attention.

At a time when more teenagers than ever are having sex, rates of STIs are on the rise in the age group between 15 and 24, AIDS continues to claim lives at alarming rates and teenage pregnancy is a real problem, how does eliminating a vital source of important information for them constitute a step forward?

Sure, some people claim that it's the parents' ultimate responsibility to teach responsible sexual behaviour to their children, but we all know that, in most cases, that's wishful thinking. "Shoulda, woulda, coulda" doesn't amount to much when the end result of failing to educate teens is uninformed –and possibly life-threatening-- decision making.

Of course, with the amount of information teenagers get bombarded with today, we sometimes have no way of knowing if any of it sinks in, but even if only an infinitesimal amount of it does, why miss out on the opportunity?