Benefits of Sexual Education

Benefits of Sexual Education

We live in a time of heightened sexual activity. The United States has suffered a great increase in sexually transmitted diseases and teenage pregnancy. One out of every ten teenage girls in the United States between the ages of 15-19 become pregnant. As a result, five of every six pregnancies are unintended. Ninety-two percent of all these “unintended” pregnancies are conceived premaritally. There is such a high rate of teenage pregnancy because of two main things: one, teenagers believe that conception is rare and two, they never anticipated intercourse to occur, therefore they never use any type of contraceptives. Research has shown that only one in every three teenagers use contraceptives. These are only a few examples that support the need for sexual education to be taught to young people as early as elementary school through high school.

Pregnancy is not the only consequence young people face when engaging in unprotected sex. They also accept the possibility of contracting a sexually transmitted disease. The Center for Disease Control reports that an estimated 10-12 million people contract some type of STD every year. This number has quadrupled in the last twenty years. An alarming one in every five Americans from the age of twelve and on are reported with herpes every year. Consequently women suffer this disease at an ungodly figure: one in every three women become infected with herpes every year (www.thriveonline.comhealth/Library).

Sexual Health Education has been a debated topic since its beginning. Many parents feel that exposing young people to things such as anatomy, condoms, reproduction etc. only encourages sexual activity. Gaining sexual knowledge ca...

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...ation they chose. As a parent I want to be involved in what my child learns. I also want he/she to feel comfortable to come and talk and confide in me with topics and things they may not understand. This type of program with the parent-child interaction enables this to occur.

Regardless the type of sexual education each individual school chooses, it is absolutely essential for young people to make educated decisions about their sexual health. it has been a proven fact in communities that taught sexual education the rates of pregnancy showed rapid declines. Sexual education not only teaches young people how to protect themselves, it also teaches them self respect and a sense of moral perspectives. Without these such programs it is inevitable that the number of sexually transmitted diseases as well as the number of unwanted pregnancies will continue to rise.