Talking about sex is something that majority of our youth is uncomfortable to talk about. Sex is something that is completely normal but yet it is not treated as so in our education system. Teachers are required to teach certain levels of math that comes with a curriculum, but on an everyday basis how frequently is this information being put to use? Not very often. Sexual education needs to be taught accurately, efficiently, and appropriately with a required curriculum in all schools. Treating the subject with maturity and respect will change the outcome of how students look at it. In most states, sex education isn’t even required. Those states force it’s youth to fend for themselves.
Only 24 out of the 50 states in the U.S. are required to teach sex education. Just 20 of those state are required for it to be taught medically correct(NCSL). When history classes are taught the students are to learn the material correctly, if not the student will fail that course and would have not learned anything. The same goes when teaching youth about sex. Some states only teach the abstinence portion of sex education with regards to religion affiliation, but it’s no surprise to hear that almost everyone has/will have sex at some point in their life. According to the Penguin Atlas of Human Sexuality, Sex occurs 120 million times a day
A 2013 a survey found that roughly 47% of high school students have reported to having sexual intercourse (ReCapp). I conducted a survey among my peers asking them what they recall from sex education class and the followed was said:” I went a catholic school , we were taught only about chastity and abstinence” , “Use condoms, and don’t have sex with a lot of people because you might get an STD”, “How boys and girls go through puberty”, and “My school never taught anything about
Every schooling system generally has sexual education programs or speakers that will come to educate the students, but during these programs they are usually pushing abstinence. Statistics state that “Since 1997 the federal government has invested more than $1.5 billion dollars in abstinence-only programs—proven ineffective programs which censor or exclude important information that could help young people protect their health.” Most young people will not choose abstinence just because they are told to; they are adventurous and need to know all the real details of what is in store for them no matter how uncomfortable it may be. If a person is hired to inform students on sexual education they should include every detail of things that could happen to them. Informers may feel as if they are looking out for the better interest of the child by holding back some information about sex but that is not the case at all, the more information provided the more helpful it will be.
From a young age, children are bombarded by images of the rich and the famous engaging in torrid public affairs or publicly discussing their increasingly active sex lives. No longer is sex education left to teachers and parents to explain, it is constantly in our faces at the forefront of our society. Regardless of sex education curriculums and debates about possible changes, children and teenagers are still learning everything they think there is to know about sex from very early on in their young lives. However, without responsible adults instructing them on the facts about sex, there are more likely to treat sex in a cavalier and offhanded fashion. According to Anna Quindlen’s essay Sex Ed, the responsibility of to education children about sex is evenly distributed between teachers and parents.
Sex is a natural, healthy part of our lives and we have the right to a proper sex education in schools. Sex education in schools have been a controversial topic since 1912, which is when teachers began to be trained on how to teach sex education. The main debate today is whether the sex education should focus on abstinence-only programs or comprehensive programs. Abstinence-only programs focus on teaching students that the only socially acceptable time to have sex is during marriage and abstinence is the only way to protect yourself from contracting STD’s and from becoming pregnant. Comprehensive sex education focuses on reducing the spread of STD’s and teen pregnancies by giving you the facts and information of the different forms of contraceptives that are available. Although America’s various cultures have different views of sex education, it’s important to teach students proper sex education in schools because there is hardly any
Sex education in public schools is the first of the four topics I will be discussing. This topic was a no brainer for me to choose, due to the fact that I grew up in the public and private school systems, and am able to connect my personal experiences with the opinions I hold today. Although sex education was not very prominent throughout my educational experience, I believe all students would greatly benefit from the knowledge one can acquire through a diverse sexual education experience. My first experience with sex education came in sixth grade (I’m 22), and unfortunately is the only experience I’ve had, while in the public school system. Although I cannot recall this event in its entirety, I can still remember the minor details.
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
“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). These shocking statistics are conspicuous to any ordinary American, yet the United States schools have taken little initiative to teach effective sexual education. Sex education programs in the U.S. mainly fall under two categories – comprehensive or abstinence-only. Abstinence-only sex education programs present abstinence as the only effective means to prevent teenage pregnancy and sexual transmitted diseases and infections; whereas comprehensive sex education programs teach abstinence as a secondary choice, while also informing students about birth control and contraceptives. Comprehensive sex education should be the only sex education method taught in schools because it is the most effective technique to keep students well-informed, prepared, and safe.
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.
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.
Due to culture, such customs have been hard to get rid of and improve upon, especially with many of this shame originating from organized religion. In recent years though, conservatism on this education has lessened and allowed for students to be taught about sex, especially through health class. Debra Houser puts it as “[a]bout half of all young people begin having sex by age 17. Providing a foundation of quality sexual education is the only way to ensure that young people grow into sexually healthy adults.” Based on this study it would also be wise to start teaching about actual intercourse and everything that goes with it, contraceptives, pregnancy, diseases, and healthy relationships, before puberty.
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...
The need for sex education is very questionable in today’s society. An article by Pamela DeCarlo, from the Centre for AIDS Prevention Studies, discusses why sex education is needed in schools. She asks why education on this subject is needed and if will help or hurt today’s children. Her view of the issue is that kids do need to have education to help to protect them but that it isn’t enough to prevent them from receiving STD’s and becoming pregnant. “Knowledge alone is not enough to change behaviors.” DeCarlo also says that, “Programs that rely mainly on conveying information about sex or moral precepts-how...
The truth is that sex education does not encourage students to do it. Sex education prevents sexual diseases and teenage pregnancy. But how? Students are taught how to use condoms. These kids are in danger of sexually transmitted diseases. There is also a big possibility for them to become pregnant and that is why sex education should be taught to avoid these things from happening. In sex education, students are also taught of abstinence. They are taught that they should only have sexual intercourse after they get married. In case the parents are always away from their children, sex education should be taught to them so that they would learn it from an educated and responsible adult instead of learning it from the media or from their friends There will always be peers who would badly influence others. I remember my bus-mates when I was in High School. They are only ages eight to ten but the words that come out of their mouths are foul sex languages. I was really surprised and our bus driver did not even intend to lecture them. When I was their age, I still did not know anything. The generation today just keeps on getting worse. The media and technology played a big role on this. Students can now access any site on the internet that contains adult content or pornographic materials. That is why sex education should be
“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).