Thursday, 19th November

The Philosophy for Citizenship class today is quite unusual, as it will be taught by Miss Smerdon to a very big group of students (90 of them). The class is about drugs, AIDS and contraception. These three topics are generally dealt with in three different sessions, but as there is not enough time they will be combined in a single 60-minute session.

FIRST PERIOD – Philosophy for Citizenship (P4C) – Year 11 - Miss Charlotte Smerdon

As a starter, a video is presented to the students, showing the dramatic effects of methamphetamine. Later, the teacher explains what drugs are, stressing the difference between legal and illegal drugs. Even though some drugs, such as alcohol, are legal, they are also dangerous. As for illegal drugs, the teacher shows a video called 'Top 10 deadliest street drugs'.

The teacher tells the students that people abuse of drugs because of peer pressure and to forget their problem. However, drugs can produce addiction and they can also be extremely dangerous. The teacher spends some time explaining the classification of different drugs, its effects and the legal punishments associated to each one of them.

In order to make them think, the teacher shows a picture to the students and asks them to imagine what it is about. It is a photo of Rachel Whitear, who was found dead in her bedroom after having drugs.

The second part of the lesson was about sex. A video was shown, 'The STD song', introducing some of the sexually transmitted diseases (or infections) and the dangers of unprotected sex. To explain the peculiarities of these STIs, very explicit images of its effects are shown to the students. I guess most of them are feeling quite scared after watching these disgusting pictures. I know that it is not easy to talk about these topics without patronising, but I must say that I find that this presentation was a bit biassed.

The last part of the lesson was about contraception. The teacher used a short video about it, before presenting all the different contraception methods that can be used to prevent undesired pregnancy.

As a final activity, the teacher asked the students two questions: 'Which are the only two contraceptive methods that will protect you both from pregnancy and STIs?' and 'Who is responsible for contraception, the male or the female?'

Taking into account that this period combined three different lessons in one single session, I think the teacher did an excellent job. However, I think that these topics are so important that it would be necessary to give them more time, in order to present them in a deeper and more effective way.