How the Public Feels

Adults do not think they are doing a very good job of teaching their children about the facts of life: 69% of 1,015 Americans polled for Time last week by Yankelovich, Clancy, Shulman* said parents are not doing as much as they should to educate their children about sex; 39% of the parents who were polled admit they have had "frank and open" discussions about sex with their teenagers only a few times or not at all. Those questioned overwhelmingly support sex-education courses in school, and 47% of them said they wished they had been better informed about sex when they were teenagers. Some of the poll's other findings:

What to teach -- and when

Eighty-six percent of the respondents agree that sex-education courses should be taught in school, and 83% agree with the Surgeon General's recommendation that schools should teach children about AIDS. Only 23% agree with the Surgeon General's recommendation to teach children about AIDS as early as age 8; even fewer people (17%) think sex-education courses should be offered to 8- year-olds. However, large majorities support the idea of giving older children specifics about sex.

Should sex-education courses teach

12-year-olds about: Yes

The dangers of AIDS 95%

Sexually transmitted diseases 93%

Birth control 89%

; Premarital sex 78%

How men and women have sexual intercourse 76%

Homosexuality 76%

Abortion 72%

Practices such as oral and anal sex 40%

(Other respondents answered "No" or "Not sure")

Teaching morality

If most people want schools to teach children about sex, they also want teachers to be preachers. Seventy percent say sexeducation programs should try to teach moral values -- what students should or should not do sexually; moreover, 58% do not think it is possible to teach sex-related issues without discussing moral values.

Should sex-education courses: Yes No

Teach students that sex at too early an age is harmful 79% 15%

Urge students not to have sexual intercourse 67% 25%

Urge students to practice birth control when having casual sex 84%

11%

Tell students that abortion is an option when pregnancy occurs 56%

35%

Tell students that abortion is immoral 44%

44%

Tell students that homosexuality is just an alternative sexual activity 24% 64%

Tell students that homosexuality is immoral

56% 36%

Only 24% think sex education would make students more likely to engage in sex at an earlier age. (Opponents of sex education disagree: 49% think the courses would make students more likely to experiment with sex.) Most people (78%) think sexually active youngsters would be more likely to practice birth control if they had some sex education. People also say schools should provide students with birth-control information -- but not with contraceptives.

Yes No

Should school health clinics make birth-control information available? 84% 12%

Should school health clinics provide students with contraceptives? 36% 53%

Catholics and Protestants tend to agree on these issues: 83% of Catholics and 84% of Protestants think sex-education courses should urge students to practice birth control when having casual sex; 51% of Catholics and 57% of Protestants say abortion should be presented as an alternative when pregnancy occurs.

Parents and children

Many adults feel their own sexual education was inadequate: 73% say they were "only somewhat informed" or "poorly informed" about sex when they were teenagers. Women feel this way more often than men: 52% of the women (and 40% of the men) wish they had been better informed about sex as teenagers; 32% of the women said they knew nothing at all about birth control when they became sexually active. Only 9% of men and women say they learned about sex from sex- education courses. Forty percent say they got much of their information from friends; 23% learned from their parents. While more than half of the parents polled say they have discussed sexual matters with their teenage children, few have talked about the birds and bees with preteens. When parents do tell youngsters about sex, the job often falls to Mother.

Have you ever told your 8- to 12-year-old children: Mothers Fathers

Yes Yes

About the dangers of AIDS 48% 42%

About homosexuality 37% 35%

About abortion 36% 25%

How men and women have intercourse 34% 21%

About birth control 26% 17%

FOOTNOTE: *The survey was conducted by telephone Nov. 10 to 12 among Americans 18 years or older. The potential sampling error is plus or minus 3% for the entire population. Among the smaller group of 150 parents, the potential error is larger.