Abstinence-Only Education

In the American school system there two different ways to teach sex education. The first, and unfortunately more common, form of sexual education is known as abstinence-only education. This form of education only teaches children about not having sex. Abstinence-only education leaves out many different things that should be taught to students. It leaves out all of the different forms of STDs, all of the negative consequences of sex, the effects of sex on your self-esteem, and more importantly it leaves out the fact that having sex is acceptable. Abstinence-only education make students feel like if they have sex they are horrible people. Studies have shown that in states that only require abstinence-only education there is a higher rate of STDs and teen pregnancies than states that require comprehensive sexual education. The reason these states have higher rate of STDs and teen pregnancies is because the teenagers are too afraid to talk to their parents about forms of contraception because they feel as though if they tell their parents they're having sex in their parents will think of them as

In fact, of six evaluations that assessed short-term changes in behavior, three found no changes, two found increased sexual activity from pre- to posttest, and one showed mixed results. Five evaluations looked for but found no long-term impact in reducing teens’ sexual activity.

Analysis of federally funded abstinence-only curricula found that over 80 percent of curricula supported by the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services contained false, misleading, or distorted information about reproductive health (“Effective Sex Education” 1).

In another recent survey, 94 percent of adults and 93 percent of parents said that sex education should cover contraception. Only 15 percent of Americans wanted abstinence-only education taught in the