Wrong. Birth control is absolutely taught in both middle school and high school today, and -- unlike the past -- we don't need parental permission any longer.
Usually happy to lurk, but this is incorrect, at least for the US. I will say birth control and sex education is getting better--states have started to decline Title V/State Abstinence Education Grant Program funding, but the current stats (pulled off
http://www.ncsl.org/research/health/state-policies-on-sex-education-in-schools.aspx):
All states are somehow involved in sex education for public schoolchildren.
As of Jan. 1, 2015:
22 states and the District of Columbia require public schools teach sex education (20 of which mandate sex education and HIV education).
33 states and the District of Columbia require students receive instruction about HIV/AIDS.
19 states require that if provided, sex education must be medically, factually or technically accurate. State definitions of “medically accurate" vary, from requiring that the department of health review curriculum for accuracy, to mandating that curriculum be based on information from “published authorities upon which medical professionals rely.”
Many states define parents’ rights concerning sexual education:
37 states and the District of Columbia require school districts to allow parental involvement in sexual education programs.
Three states require parental consent before a child can receive instruction.
35 states and the District of Columbia allow parents to opt-out on behalf of their children.
So depending on where someone is living there might be some classes that might be medically accurate that might not need parental permission to attend, but it doesn't come close to covering all states/schools in the US at this point. From personal experience (also known as a lot of moving around as a kid) I'd say the northeast and west are probably the best with the south lagging behind--the focus on religion in MS/TX/TN tended to mean abstinence only was stressed to the point that if a teenager did decide to have sex he/she was afraid to even buy condoms for fear that one of the grocery tellers would see the parents in church--but obviously that's personal experience not actual data and in my case ~10 years old on top of that. On the other hand, although teenage birth rates are declining as Mrs. Pete said, they're still the highest in southern states (
http://www.hhs.gov/ash/oah/adolescent-health-topics/reproductive-health/teen-pregnancy/trends.html) so it may not be so far off.