Sex education is a major subject of interest among teenagers mostly during the puberty period. The puberty period is usually characterized by increased sexual desires and maturity of the sexual organs. Sex education is of most importance during this period in order to avoid deadly mistakes. The argument over sex education started in the early 1960’s when the government sponsored a sex education campaign in schools worth $176 million (Lemken 2). This innovation aroused the interest of many prestigious American citizens and the debate on the legalization of sex education became more intense. It is noted that towards late 1960, after the pros and cons of sex education had been analyzed, it was finally legalized in the U.S. An American reporter, Cindy Patton evaluates that “about 40% of the total high schools in the United States introduced sex education as a free elective for students.”(26). Hence, it is seen that sex education became part of the curriculum of high schools. Despite the fact that sex education has been frowned at by a lot of parents, it should be encouraged because it teaches teenagers how to live a healthy sexual life; thus reducing the rate of teenage pregnancy, rape and sexually transmitted diseases in the society. The human body is a very complex structure and as such, the understanding of the delicate parts of the body should be fundamental among teenagers. Bailey Kristen, the author of Sex Education, notes that the trend towards sex education is backward. He states that most people feel that sex education gives teenagers wrong information about their bodies. Moreover, they believe that it is the duty of most parents to educate their children on their sexual lives and not outsiders. This assertion is actually v... ... middle of paper ... ...ation(NEA). New York: NEA.org, June 2008. Print. Manfredi, L. "Sexual Urge among teenagers". SeXis Magazine. New York: copyright 2009 SeXis Magazine Corporation, 4 May 2009. Page4. Print. Ogunleye, Kingsley. "Open sex communication/education and HIV/AIDS prevention among Nigerian Adolescents and Youths." Guardian Newspaper. Abuja: Copyright 2003-2009 Guardian Newspaper Limited, 18 March 2005. Page 12. Print. Patton, Cindy. Fatal Advice: How Safe-Sex Education Went Wrong. Durham NC: Duke University Press, 1996. Pages 23-26. Print Ridini, Steven. "Health and Sexuality Education in Schools." Journal of Social Change. Westport, CT, London: Bergin and Garvey, 1998. 31-42. Print. Sprecher, Susan. "Perceptions of Sources of Sex Education and Targets to Sex Communication: Socio-demographic and Cohort Effects." Journal of Sex Research 45 (2008). Pages 32-47. Print.
Nineteen-fifty five marked the debut of sex education programs in schools in the United States. Along the years, many have argued whether or not sex education should be taught in schools. Many believe that the education of sex encourages students to engage in sexual activities which lead to a higher number of pregnancies and sexual transmitted diseases (STD’s). As the number of unplanned pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases climbs higher and higher every day in our country, one can only think that sexual education is a necessity in our school systems. Teens as young as fourteen years old have admitted to already engaging in sexual activities. No teen should be engaging in such acts at that age. Many schools give parents the choice to have their child opt out of the lesson or class. Few states are required to teach sex education to students in secondary schools unless they were withdrawn from the class by their parents.
Sendziuk, Paul. "Zipped trousers, crossed legs, and magical thinking: sex education in the age of AIDS." Dissent 55.3 (2008): 55+. (Academic Journal)
Today’s young Americans face strong peer pressure to be sexually active and engage themselves in risky behaviors (Merino 100-109). Anyone deciding to have sex must first think about all the risks involved. Kekla Magoon, author of Sex Education in Schools, says that “half of all teens aged 15 to 19 years old in the United States have had sex” (Magoon 64-65). It is currently not required by federal law for schools to teach Sex education and those few schools that do teach Sex education have the decision to determine how much information is allowed. Advocates from both sides of the Sex education debate agree that teens need positive influences in order to make practical decisions (Magoon 88-89). Opponents of Abstinence-only education believe it fails because it does not prepare teens for all the risks of sex (Magoon 64-65).
Currently, sex education in schools is primarily centered on the distribution of information without elaborating about the moral implications dealing with sex. Teenagers are well versed on things such as how long sperm lives inside the body and can identify all of the workings of the female reproductive system. However, they are still getting pregnant and still contracting sexually transmitted diseases. Anna Quindlen examines this trend in her essay, “Sex Ed”. Quindlen points out that it is the moral implications of sex that have been left out of the curriculum and it is the responsibility of parents to make those moral connections with their children (277). Understanding the morality of sex, she argues, may help teenagers to make more informed decisions on taking the next step towards sexual activity. They must understand that “…when you sleep with someone you take off a lot more than your clothes” (Quindlen 277). Sex is not simply a...
Communication: A Series of National Surveys of Teens about Sex. Menlo Park, CA: Henry J. Kaiser
In the past, sex was something that people tried to avoid talking about it, neither less teaching. Sex became a mystery, and a mystery would always trigger people’s nerves, especially teenager’s curious minds. That leads teenager at that time, who had no idea about sex, wanted to have sex to know about it. And when they had sex without any protection, they easily got STDs or HIV or even pregnancy. The case awakens society that sex education must be taught for students at the very first when they enter middle schools. But the way sex was taught those days was very much different from today. In the article “What the sex educators teach” posted on the Opposing View Point in Context website, Dana Mack has written about her experience when taking sex education class when she was a teen: “At the age of ten or eleven, girls and boys were herded into separate rooms - usually in the company of a parent. There, in industrial-gray pictures and solemn monotones, they were introduced to the world of gametes, ovaries, and menstruation. Not exactly titillating material, this reproductive information.” (Mack). Back in those days when sex was a newly revealed topic and sex education program had just been operated, people are still very shy to talk about sex and they often avoid having this kind of
Since the HIV/AIDS epidemic began in the U.S. in the early 1980s the issue of sex education for American youth has had the attention of the nation. There are about 400,000 teen births every year in the U.S, with about 9 billion in associated public costs. STI contraction in general, as well as teen pregnancy, have put the subject even more so on the forefront of the nation’s leading issues. The approach and method for proper and effective sex education has been hotly debated. Some believe that teaching abstinence-only until marriage is the best method while others believe that a more comprehensive approach, which includes abstinence promotion as well as contraceptive information, is necessary. Abstinence-only program curriculums disregard medical ethics and scientific accuracy, and have been empirically proven to be ineffective; therefore, comprehensive sex education programs which are medically accurate, science-based and empirically proven should be the standard method of sex education for students/children in the U.S.
Two drastic Emergency Room cases were handled in 1998 at Mary Washington Hospital. Concerned mothers brought their 12 year old daughters into the hospital thinking they were suffering from severe stomach pain or even appendicitis…both girls were actually in labor (Abstinence, 2002). The United States has the highest teen pregnancy, birth, and abortion rates in the Western world (Planned Parenthood, 2003). Are teens getting enough knowledge on sex and how to prevent STDs and unwanted pregnancies? Another heartbreaking statistic is that teenagers have the highest rate of STDs of any age group, with one in four young people contracting an STD by the age of 21 (Sex-Ed Work, 2003). Is sex education really working in school? Or do we need to change the type of curricula that is taught? There is no question that sex education should be taught in schools, but the question is how? The purpose of this paper is to determine which curricula of sex education should be taught in schools to be most effective in lowering STD and pregnancy rates among teenagers.
Sex education in public schools has been a controversial issue in the United States for over a decade. With the HIV and teen pregnancy crises growing, sex education is needed.
Sex among teenagers is one of the most controversial topics of our time. The teen pregnancy and STD rates in the United States alone have become a major problem over the years. Despite these skyrocketing sex cases, sexual education is not being taught in some schools, and the ones that do are extremely limited. Parents, the government, organizations, and school boards do not teach the proper curriculum necessary for students to thoroughly understand sexual behavior. This essay will explain the need for proper sexual education in our schools.
“Sex sells.” This is a common phrase used very often in social media and entertainment industries. Today, the youth generation is highly exposed to social media and products of entertainment industries from music to movies on the big screen. Most of the products produced by these industries are sexually explicit, and they tend to send the wrong messages about sexual behavior. Adolescents almost spend the same amount of time watching television and engaging with social media as they do in an educational environment. Therefore, the best way to tackle the misconceptions of sex among adolescents is to provide sex education in school. Sex education should be taught in school in order to provide a mutual learning experience for adolescents among
Martinez, Gladys, Joyce Abma, and Casey Copen. “Educating Teenagers About Sex In The United States”. CDC.GOV. Center of Disease Control and Prevention, 15 Sept. 2010. Web. 09 Feb.2014
Before moving on, one must know that sex education is about, but not limited to the discussion of sexual intercourse. As a Buzzle article states, it involves a multitude of topics that introduce human sexual behaviors such as puberty, sexual health, sexual reproduction, sexuality, and more (Iyer). If formally received in school, these topics are brought up and discussed at age-appropriate times over the course of children’s junior high and high school education. Moreover, as I have introduced earlier, the way sex education should be taught is divided into two approaches. It is between taking either a conservative, abstinence-only approach or a more liberal, comprehensive approach. Abstinence-only education, approaches students by stressing the importance of “no sex before marriage” as be...
In today’s society, many individuals are aware of the issue of teenage pregnancy and the high rate of sexually transmitted diseases among the youth. One can simply turn on their television and become quickly aware of the popular, yet controversial, discussion of teenage sexual activity in the United States through the news and shows like Teen Mom and 16 and Pregnant. Almost ever, discussion about teenagers and their sexual activity refers back to Sex Education in the public school system. Many individuals would consider Sex Education to be the source and/or solution to the problems that occur as a result of sexually active teenagers in the United States. For many decades, Sex Education has been taught in public schools but also has been a topic of controversy. Proponents of Abstinence-Only Education argue that Traditional Sex Education should not just focus on teaching students about contraceptives and how to use them, but instead it should also help students develop and acquire the virtues of prudence and temperance, and teach students the importance of abstinence and the emotional risk that comes along with being sexually active at such a young age. Other people like to argue that Traditional Sex Education should be taught in schools because they believe that informing students about how to be safe when participating in sexual acts is very important. Abstinence-Only Education is the best form of Sex Education for students and should be taught in the public school system because it teaches students the importance of abstaining from sex along with helping them develop or acquire the virtues of prudence and temperance.
According to World Association for Sexual Health, "to achieve sexual health, all individuals, including youth, must have access to comprehensive sexuality education and sexual health information and services throughout the life cycle" (Sexual Health for the Millennium 4). In the fifteenth century, scientists and educators raised the issue of sex education of children and adolescents. This topic particularly was discussed after the sexual revolution that occurred in the past century, when there were the first attempts to introduce sex education courses first as electives, and then as a mandatory class. Sex education should be taught in schools as a compulsory subject in order to develop knowledge about puberty as well as to prevent unintended pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections.