Well, as far as I know, quite a few 11 and 12 year olds are sexually active. Stop by a local movie theater if you need "proof." To say that children don't need education on the realities of STD's, contraception, etc, BEFORE they start having sex is asking for trouble.
The posting rules prevent my responding with anything but UGH.
Actually, what is needed is for more parents to give the kids a moral foundation so they WON'T have sex. Mine certainly did that. I personally don't feel sexual topics should be addressed in the k-6 grade classrooms. We do have a sex-ed program for fifth and sixth graders that is NOT taught be teachers, but by others/parents. I for one, am glad that I don't have to "teach" it to my first grade class or that any of us teachers have to. Grade school teachers shouldn't be teaching the crap.
I'm sorry, I've just never gotten the "they're going to have sex anyways, so we might as well tell them about 'stuff." My mother's five minute lesson on sex was enough--that it was a beautiful thing to share between husband and wife.
And yes, I went through both the abstinence type programs and the contraceptive based sex-ed programs as did my siblings in junior high and high school. Neither one affected us too much as we ALREADY knew what our values were and how to deal with things. One thing my parents did was that they attended the preview sessions EVERY time. Sometimes they allowed us to participate, sometimes they didn't. It wasn't any big deal either way.
For what it's worth, here the 5th/6th grade boys had only about half the parents show up with the kids while almost ALL of the girls had a parent with them.
Frankly, I just wish the whole thing would go away, as it gives more ammunition to the bashers.