More handpicked essays just for you.
The importance of sexual education
Essays on comprehensive sexuallity education
The importance of sexual education
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
When Beth Leyba was eighteen years old, she had sexual intercourse for the first time and, to her disbelief, became pregnant. Because of the lack of information her school's health class provided, Leyba did not understand how to obtain and use birth control or know that she could become pregnant from her first time having sex. At her school, they strictly taught abstinence only and strongly encouraged all of the girls in the class to take purity pledges. Leyba did just that, little did she know, research actually shows that among youth that had taken a purity pledge, 88% broke the pledge and once those who broke the pledge began to have sex, they had more partners in a shorter period of time and were less likely to use contraception than their …show more content…
non-pledging peers. It’s no wonder that she felt mislead and betrayed by her school. According to Leyba, the main and only point made about human sexuality in her school's health class was that a girl's virginity was a gift that she should give only to her husband after marriage, anything else would send her life into “a never ending spiral of sins” (Leyba 1). The abstinence only education her school provided her with was suppose to encourage her to refrain from sexual activity but actually, research done by the National Survey of Family Growth determined that teens who received comprehensive sex education were 50 percent less likely to experience pregnancy than those who received an abstinence-only education. If the state she lived in had mandated schools to teach a comprehensive sex education curriculum, she would've known all of the risks of the behaviour she was engaging in.
The fact of the matter is that a high school student in the United States has an extensive probability of receiving a sub par sexual education based on where they live. Currently, there are only twenty-two states mandate sexual education and only thirteen states that require the information that’s taught to be medically accurate. It’s the education systems responsibility to equip youth with all of the information they need to know to make the right choice about sex. That kind of irresponsibility isn't tolerated in any other subject, and health class shouldn't be the exception. If all school subject enjoyed those same loose guidelines, a history teacher could tell their class that Ariana Grande ended the Civil War in 1999 and it would be perfectly legal (Oliver). In her article addressing the shortcomings of american sex education, social activist Beth Leyba wrote “statistics have shown that [abstinence-only] does not work and, in fact leads to higher rates of teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections, as kids who are only taught abstinence are less likely to use contraception and condoms when they begin having sex”
(Leyba).
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).
There is not a lot of sex education being taught at school and it’s affecting the outcome of our generation. A sex education class does not mean that the students should pledge to be abstinent because in reality most students will not stay abstinent and will or are currently sexually active. "If we consider the enhanced risk of failure to contracept against the benefit of delay, it turns out that with respect to pregnancy, pledgers are at the same risk as non-pledgers. There is no long-term benefit ...
In the United States, there are many school districts that are not required to teach sex education at all. Instead, these districts teach what they call “abstinence-only education”. This education is to teach teens and young adults about not having sex, instead of how to have sex safely. So, is abstinence-only education effective enough to continue it in these districts?
In today’s school systems, students are taught the basics: math, history, language arts, and science. However, what they are also “taught” is sex education. Currently, when people think of how they were taught sex education in high school, most would say something along the lines of that they were taught the anatomy, and they were taught to never actually use it. This approach to sex education has been going on for decades, and despite being proven unsuccessful countless times, continues to be taught in this fashion because this is what makes the people happy. There have been numerous attempts to try and change this system to something that would benefit teenagers, but these attempts never were able to be put into affect due a laundry list
In today’s society having an abstinence-only education doesn’t lower the risk of adolescents becoming pregnant or catching sexually transmitted diseases, also known STD’s. Teaching abstinence as the only morally acceptable option is wrong. The only thing that will lower that risk is teaching sex education in public schools. Adolescents will become more aware of the risks and factors that come along with sexual intercourse at a young age. Bringing a sex ed course into public schools will set better knowledge into a student 's mind rather than telling them “having sex is bad, just say no”. What happens when the adolescent is ready and says yes?
It is a common phenomenon in coed schools that when an instructor asks a girl to answer a question in a science or math class, some boys always interrupt and answer that question correctly. Many girls at that moment may feel embarrassed, frightened, and even want to be invisible. In many cases, instructors do not punish the boys for their rude behaviors. As The learning environment and teachers’ attitude make girls feel pressure and decrease their Learning enthusiasm. As a result, girls and boys receive a different education even though they have the same class. In the U.S., the discrepancy in academic performance persists across gender. In order to close the gap and provide an equitable and quality education
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.
The government likes to pretend that if high school students get taught the “abstinence-only” method they would never think of taking part in sexual activities. Statistically this is incorrect. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, “56 percent of high school students are virgins”(Martin). For the 56 percent abstinence only is doing them well, but there are still 44 percent of high school students engaging in sex without knowing the precau...
The glamorous side of sex is everywhere; music, tv shows, movies and social media. To a mature adult, it is easy to ignore the sexual messages in those outlets. However, to a teenager, going through mental and physical changes and peer pressure, it is extremely easy to fall for what is shown to “cool.” Everyone has fallen for half truths to be cool in their teenage life. It just so happens that teen pregnancies and STDs are not one of those things that one can simply walk away from. Babies and STDs leave a lasting effect on everyone involved. The National Conference of State Legislatures states:
Sex before marriage is very often a touchy subject. However, I feel that sex before marriage is a very important subject that is not brought up and talked about enough. There are many different viewpoints brought to the table when talking about this particular subject. The standards of society are constantly changing. One sign of this change is that nowadays many young adults seem to be open to premarital sex. Although I have heard many good arguments from people both pro- and anti- sex before marriage, I have yet to change my stance on this matter. In my opinion, having sexual intercourse before getting married is absolutely a bad tendency in our society.
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...
Overall, my point of view is that sexual education should be taught in school. It’s a subject that should not be looked over and should be taught before you go to high school when those things come into play. This is my point of view because boys and girls need to know about their bodies, know about STD’s, and know the different types of methods to prevent pregnancy. Sexual education should be taught regardless. Another important thing that everyone needs to learn are the different ways to stay protected so that you do not end up getting pregnant, or getting a girl pregnant. Instead of having unprotected intercourse they need to either use a condom, or be on some sort of birth control. There are many ways to be able to prevent pregnancy but they also need to know that you are never fully guaranteed that pregnancy won’t occur. They need to be informed
“Forty-one percent of teens ages 18-19 said they know nothing about condoms, and seventy-five percent said they know nothing about the contraceptive pill” (Facts on American Teens). Even if schools taught just abstinence it still would not be enough. “In 2007, a study showed that abstinence only programs have no beneficial impact on the sexual behavior of young people” (Facts on American Teens). Sex education is not taken as seriously as it should be in schools, it is treated like it is not a big deal. Schools should require a sex education class that specifically teaches students about sex and goes into depth of all the possible consequences because of the high pregnancy, abortion, and virus rates.
Sex education in our schools has been a hot topic of debate for decades. The main point in question has been whether to utilize comprehensive sex education or abstinence-only curriculum to educate our youth. The popularity of abstinence-only curriculum over the last couple of decades has grown largely due to the United States government passing a law to give funding to states that teach the abstinence-only approach to sex education. But not teaching our children about sex and sexuality is not giving them the information they need to make well educated decisions. Sex education in our schools should teach more than just abstinence-only because these programs are not proven to prevent teens from having sex. Children need to be educated on how to prevent contracting sexually transmitted diseases and unwanted pregnancies and be given the knowledge to understand the changes to their bodies during puberty. According to the Guidelines for Comprehensive Sexuality Education: Kindergarten-12th Grade from the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States (SIECUS), comprehensive sex education “should be appropriate to age, developmental level, and cultural background of students and respect the diversity of values and beliefs represented in the community” (SIECUS).
In the U.S., more than 750,000 girls ages 15-19 become pregnant every year. More than 80 percent of these are unintended pregnancies. (Lorrie) Sex education and how it should be taught has been a controversial issue for many years. This is such a hot topic because everyone wants to find the best method to teach sex education so that children will be well informed and able to take care of their bodies and health. The need to teach children sex education will continue to be an ongoing issue and is not something that cannot be ignored. Educating students on sex education in school will ensure students are receiving correct accurate information.