Does the lack of sexual health education in the Chinese education system pose serious consequences within Chinese society? This summary of my thesis argument intends to present more understanding regarding the comprehensive literature surrounding sexual health education in China. My thesis will aim to contribute a focused argument to the sexual health education dialogue by providing a case study of the sexual health education system in China, in order to analyze the current problems of the system and the possible serious results regarding the Chinese population because of these problems. While conversing about the current state of sexual health education, I will focus on the different ways that sexual health education is carried out in the school systems throughout China compared to other countries, what these effects have on society and how this could be changed. This is only a short compilation of the number of sources I will eventually have, as I plan to find much more information as I continue my research. Professor Zhou-Yu Feng touches on the problems within Chinese society in her thesis “The Comparative Research on Sex Education for Adolescents of China and the US”, by saying “it is known that sex education is a blind spot in China’s basic education. Many social problems are caused due to the lack of sex education, which has gradually aroused people’s attention” (Yu-Feng). The importance of providing clear and correct sexual health education by the education school system is also of great importance because as many Chinese citizens are increasingly having premarital sexual relationships without concise or clear sexual health education, this poses the risk of sexually transmitted diseases, HIV, unplanned pregnancies,... ... middle of paper ... ... of Comprehensive Sex Education in China: Findings from Suburban Shanghai”, International Family Planning Perspectives (2005): 63-72. Wen, S.H., J.D. Zeng, and M.L. Ng. 1990. Sex and Moral Education. Hong Kong: Joint Publishing. Will, Rachel. "Contraceptive Use In China." US-China Today:. 30 Mar. 2012. Xinhua News Agency, First sex education VCD for youngsters released, May 31, 2002, , accessed July 16, 2003. Yifen, Wang, and Chen Wei. "Progress or Pornography." News China Magazine RSS. News China, Dec. 2012. Web. 12 Apr. 2014. Yu-feng, Zhou. "The Comparative Research on Sex Education for Adolescents of China and the US." US-China Education Review 408-417 (2012): 408-17. Web. . Zhu, WeiJing. "The World of Chinese." The World of Chinese. 20 Aug. 2013.
Sex Education. (2010). In Current Issues: Macmillan social science library. Detroit: Gale. Retrieved from http://ic.galegroup.com.byui.idm.oclc.org/ic/ovic/ReferenceDetailsPage/ReferenceDetailsWindow?query=&prodId=OVIC&contentModules=&displayGroupName=Reference&limiter=&disableHighlighting=true&displayGroups=&sortBy=&search_within_results=&p=OVIC&action=2&catId=GALE%7C00000000LVZ0&activityType=&documentId=GALE%7CPC3021900154&source=Bookmark&u=byuidaho&jsid=97f094e06dbbf5f2bcaec07adbde8e61
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.
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).
Sex education in the United States has been an bi-polar opinionated topic within the education system. It's use and curriculum are affected by many forces such as politics, public health concerns, and religious affiliation to name just a few. There has though been clearly documented need for publics support for sex education programs in schools. What is often unknown, is Sex education was been introduced into the education systems as early as 1912. At this time the National Education Association requested for teachers to be trained in sexuality education. In the 1940s the United States Health Services supported Sex education programs in the school systems saying there was an urgent need for awareness. Though it wasn’t till 1955 that the American Medical Association in union with National Education Association published five pamphlets which were to be used for sex education in schools. Although even with the support of teachers and public health officials the use and implementation of sex education programs in school were heavily debated by many.
McAvoy, Paula. “The Aims Of Sex Education: Demoting Autonomy And Promoting Mutuality.” Educational Theory. Academic Search Premier, 1 Oct. 2013. Web. 24 Jun. 2014.
Sex education does not appear to be growing more comprehensive with time. Sex education books continue to omit crucial information. They confuse children, (and sometimes even teens,) with cryptic descriptions and diagrams. Feminine and masculine stereotypes, while not acknowledged in any constructive way, are strongly perpetuated. Sex education materials, such as those cited above, fail to provide comprehensive sex education.
The Sexuality Education Initiative was developed by the Planned Parenthood of Los Angeles with the goal of “improving the sexual and reproductive health of low-income youth in high school.” By decreasing the student’s risk of pregnancy and STDs through education, as well as teaching them how to carry themselves, they aimed to make improvements on the students overall quality of life both short and long term. About 1800 students were studied, half receiving the new curriculum (variable group) and half receiving the basic sex education (control group). The students were tested before and after learning the material, and the results were astounding. The results found that there was a consistent pattern of the variable group scoring significantly better than the control group after being taught for 6 weeks. These results suggested to researchers that if this curriculum were to be integrated into public schooling, there would be a sharp decrease in the amount of students dropping out of high school, or becoming infected with an STD
Teenage sexual activity is a major problem confronting the nation and has led to a rising incidence of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and teenage pregnancy. The existence of HIV/AIDS has given a sense of urgency to the topic of sex education. The issue of sex education in schools especially in the formative years has been a subject of intense debate among parents, school officials, health scientists and religious authorities worldwide for a considerable period of time. The debate centers on comprehensive sex education versus abstinence-only sex education in school. Abstinence only sex education is a sex education model that focuses on the virtue of abstinence from sexual activities; therefore, encouraging sexual abstinence until marriage. This form of sexual education completely ignores all other elements of comprehensive sexual education like safe sex and reproductive health education issues like the use of contraceptives and birth control methods. Comprehensive sex teaching encourages promiscuous sexual activity as “a natural part of life.” Proponents of abstinence only education activists cite several reasons why this type of education is the best. It focuses on the upholding of moral virtues. They also claim that sex outside marriage hat is “encouraged” by the comprehensive sex education which as a result, has some emotional and physical downfall especially when done at a very young age. They blame the comprehensive sex education for failing to discourage premarital sex especially at this time when the HIV pandemic is busy devouring young people in various parts of the world (Deborah 2). In fairness, both programs were designed to decrease the incidence of STDs...
Many individuals of a different culture, race, and religion trust that, keeping in mind the end goal to give a chance to wholeness, we should likewise give data that will empower all individuals to settle on life insisting choices—and this incorporates giving far reaching data about sexuality (Hanson). Accoding to Newsweek (1991), starting 1991, 1600 school areas across the country has been utilizing sex instruction educational modules called Sex Respect. Sex Respect adopts a significantly unique strategy from the other instructive projects. Sex Respect is a political preservationist's approach for sex training where the main goal of this educational program is to teach and that abstinence is the only approach that is moral and safe. The educational module shows that condoms can be the street to destroy in light of the fact that many fall flat and pregnancy comes
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.
In the United States, there is a rising problem that is not going anywhere anytime soon, that is if we, as citizens, don 't change it. This problem is causing billions of dollars and people 's futures all because schools would rather teach ignorance than the truth. What’s the problem? Sex education. Although sex education may not seem like a rising conflict, it is actually one of the top controversial topics in our country regarding education. According to Brigid McKeon, “Each year, U.S. teens experience as many as 850,000 pregnancies, and youth under age 25 experience about 9.1 million sexually transmitted infections (STIs)” (McKeon). This number is so unbelievable to any sane person, but somehow schools still won 't take the initiative to teach realistic sex education. Sex education can be taught in two different procedures- comprehensive or abstinence only. The difference between the two methods is that comprehensive sex education teaches abstinence as a secondary choice, so that teens who decide not to wait are well educated on how to keep themselves protected. Comprehensive sex education should be required in every single public school because it is the most effective method on how to keep teenagers well informed and prepared.
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
In mainland China, with the deepening of reform and opening up, people’s concept of sexual behavior also changed significantly, especially teenagers’. Of unmarried teen pregnancy is increasingly concentrated in the crowd, teenage unwed give them tremendous physical and psychological trauma. Due to the cultural background of China, it is not practical to get exact figure about adolescent pregnancy, let alone the future trend of this problem. The issue of “早戀” has already become a taboo in school. Schools and parents act like detectives, tracing every detail and trying to stifle potential relationships in the cradle. However, the atmosphere of avoiding sex issue in school and society leads to the inaccurate knowledge of sex which received by students for they try to get these knowledge through unreliable resources.
Whereas, the Sexual Education program promotes safe sex and knowledge of the sex and it’s consequences. The motto would be, “Knowledge is Power.” As a result of this program has decreased the rate of unplanned pregnancy and sexual disease outbreak. This is why it is argued that Sexual Education should be taught in the public school system.
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.