Sex Education Anna Quindlen Analysis

I chose to reflect on the essay, Sex Ed by Anna Quindlen promoting the importance of sex education and how immensely beneficial it can be to teen students. More than a million teenagers become pregnant annually. The United States has more than double the teenage pregnancy rate of any western industrialized country. In addition, teenagers have apical rates of sexually transmitted diseases of any age association. In point of fact, one in four young people acquire an STD by the age of 21. Sex education is a very important subject in today's society, its mere absence in my educational and social progression utterly affected me and my peers in adolescent years.

Growing up as a teen in the early 2000’s I knew that neither my peers or I were confident talking to our parents about sexuality or contraptions. In my opinion many parents were also too embarrassed, reluctant, and vague if they were at all to give any informal information on the dispassionate subject of sex. I comprehend that the lack of communication and information about sex between the parent and adolescent is identified as a contributing part to teenage

pregnancy.Services like parental education and guidance for parents on what, how and when we talk to our children about sex can possibly improve their decision-making ability on safe sex and abstinence.

The fact that teenagers have the highest rates of sexually transmitted diseases in any age group is particularly daunting evidence for me to consider.

According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention adolescents ages 15-24 account for nearly half of the 20 million new cases of STDs each year. Today, four in 10 sexually active teen girls have had an STD that can cause infertility and even death. The reality of such a high rate of STDs among teens that are miseducated and ill-informed shrieks out the need for sex education in schools. If all teen students had precedent access to sex education it could definitely advocate prevention of sexually transmitted diseases and early teenage pregnancy. I conclude that if teens were knowledgeable on how STDs are spread and contracted they'll be more inclined to practice safe sex or

abstinence.

The joint absence of parental intervention and sex education affected me immensely, my curious mind and lack of knowledge was like a flame to a cocktail. I allowed myself to be sucked into the peer pressures like many others when it came to sex, it was cool and everyone was doing it. Consequently I became the statistic, a young adolescent father because of my lack of knowledge and responsibility thereof. Could sex ed have potentially benefited a different outcome? The answer to that question I will never know but, I can assert that if I had the advantage of sex education then I would have had the knowledgeable appliances to make healthier decisions about sex.

Research tells us that many teens today are sexually active in some way and this has increased over the last decade. STDs and pregnancy rates are the highest in adolescent teens today and more educational programs like sex ed are being cut and deemed insignificant in

politics and public policy. In concluding I credit sex ed as a preventive course for teens. Sex education is a significant tool that can be utilized to understand sexuality, sexually transmitted diseases and make educated determinations to practice safe sex or abstinence. Parental intervention on sex is also an important moral responsibility that should be addressed as well, so that teens are more prepared for reality. This essay on sex ed relates to me personally because I experienced the reality, adversity and challenges of being a young teen father. After abundant self reflection and critical thinking I truly fathom the compelling significance of sex education in our school systems today. Sex education is a very important subject in today's society, its mere absence in my educational and social progression utterly affected me and my peers in adolescent years.