Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Sex education importance
The need for comprehensive sex education
The effects of pornography on teenagers
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Sex education importance
Additionally, comprehensive sex education programs are a way to educate young adults about right and wrong. A study by the American Association of University in 1993 stated that four out of five high school students have experienced sexual harassment (Lickona, 1993). Education is a powerful tool to teach young children between right and wrong. In the Havens, there is a confusion about what constitutes rape. According to the Havens, 77% of young men between 18-25 believed that having sex with someone who said “no” constituted rape. Due to this confusion, young men are looking more into porn magazines to gain information about sex (Cosslett, 2014). As schools only teach the bare minimal of staying abstinence, young adults are searching elsewhere …show more content…
Sexual remarks can be seen and heard everywhere in today’s society. Music, television, movies, and magazines are resources that can easily corrupt and be discovered by children through a push of a button. A child mind and body is consistently developing every day. Abstinence-only programs tell students to not have sex, but their body becomes curious as it develops. There are many people we object to giving directive sex education to young children because it can simply corrupt the young minds and are not the key to preventing sex between young adults. Family and Youth Concern director, Robert Whelan, states that people make claims of the benefits of comprehensive sex education, but the main determinant are family background and structure (Cornell, 2003). Comprehensive sex education programs are needed in school curriculum because it helps young adults mature appropriately through all the exposure. The study done by Kirby in Whitehead’s (1994) article states, “Once patterns of sexual intercourse and usage of contraception are established, they may be difficult to change.” Henceforth, it is important to educate young adults through the comprehensive sex education program at school. In Tobin’s (2001) excerpt, he states that children already began having sexual urges at a young age. As Freud has shown in his theories, adolescents must complete different stages throughout their childhood to avoid any fixation. Instead of repressing these sexual urges, the Nursery School Education (1939); by Wheeler and Earl; suggest that active curiosity to sex should be met with honesty. Any sexual fixation shown in the adult life can be traced back to the repression of the child’s curiosity (Tobin, 2001). Moreover, children can easily be scarred and fearful of their curiosity. The Nursery School Guide (1949) states that children who are yelled at for soiling or masturbating deem
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).
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...
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.
“…in the absence of comprehensive sex and sexuality education…adolescents are largely getting their sex education and socialization through media—and the higher their ‘sexual media diet,’ the earlier their sexual experimentation begins.” (Olfman 10) The vast lack of acknowledgment that the media controls childhood sexualization is astounding. As Dr. Sharna Olfman explains “Media can be viewed then as both a reflection and a shaper of society.” In the patriarchal society U.S. citizens live in, there seems to be a massive blindspot where there should healthy sexuality education. A direct result of this blindspot is the prevalent acceptance of rape as an inevitable, inextricable part of society. Men and women are both dangerously,
Communication: A Series of National Surveys of Teens about Sex. Menlo Park, CA: Henry J. Kaiser
A report published by the U.S Department of Health and Human Accommodations “suggests that as many as 50% of all adolescents are sexually active” (White, 2008, p. 349). A portion of those are puerile women who will become pregnant, adolescent men who will contract a sexually transmitted disease (STD) and teenagers who will suffer from emotional distress and regret. Albeit the majority concurs inculcation is the solution to this dilemma, one q...
Sex and relationship education (SRE) is supporting children through their moral, physical and psychological aspects of growing up to be an adult, and making sure they have knowledge on relationships, sex, human sexuality and sexual health (Sex Education Forum, 2010). There are three main elements in SRE, the first element is attitudes and values, which is about developing positive values and be able to consider moral issues before they make their decisions on having intercourse (Kirby, 2007). The second element is personal and social skills, which is about teaching children to have the confidence to value themselves and others to become respectful for individual conscience and the skills to judge the kind of relationship they want; the third element is about accessing the knowledge and understanding of human sexuality, reproduction, sexual health, emotions and relationships (Kirby, 2007). The potential effect of SRE should be seen in these three areas, which includes reduction in teenager pregnancy, and the chances of getting sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and being sexually assault, etc. As SRE can either be given at home to the child by parents, in school by teachers, or in youth organizations, alternative educational institutions, or youth offending organizations by Shine staffs or trained peer educators and volunteers (Levy 1992). This essay is mainly going to focus on the teacher-led SRE given in school and discuss whether it is beneficial or not, with the support of the positive outcome of children having SRE in relation of STDs, pregnancy and peer violence, and also the actual fact of SRE being not useful, supported with the data of teenagers not receiving the knowledge they should have been taught in SRE, and high te...
Upon further research, it came to my attention that only 24 of the 50 states require sex education. Sex has always been a touchy subject for man to discuses, especially in an educational environment. Due to my lack of knowledge of the subject, talking about sex makes me feel vulnerable, although I know it shouldn’t. Thankfully, I have gained a new appreciation to the educational element involved with sex, through this course and the Roger hock text
What is acceptable when it comes to teaching kids about sex education? “What Schools Should Teach Kids About Sex” by Jessica Lahey uses more of a logical approach to the issues of sexual education given to adolescence, compared to “Sex Education Is One Thing” by Anna Quindlen which tells more of her personal story and opinion using pathos to connect to the audience. After reading both articles about sex education, it is clear that there are many different interpretations of what qualifies as sex education, who is qualified to teach it, and what should be included in the curriculum. Both writers believe that there should be more sex education taught to high school kids but they go about it in different ways, using rhetorical appeals of logic versus pathos.
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...
One of the most damaging occurrences operating today subsists within the avalanche of sexual media that young children and teenagers have at their deposal, with basically no alternative other than lust to identify with. On average today, children are exposed to various sexual venues that illustrate sex as strikingly provocative and/or disrespectful and certainly lust driven; predictably this sexual magnetism persists as all they recognize or relate to. In addition, young people’s sexual acceptance usually develops through their peers and the status quo. The lack of healthy sexual guidance wreaks havoc on adolescents due to bullying, and sexual harassment that increases to a more critical level each year. Scores of tragic misfortunes continue,
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
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...
Rates of sexually transmitted disease and teen pregnancy are higher in the United States than in any other domesticated country. Not surprising since American culture has brought sex to the forefront over the last few decades. The need for comprehensive sex education in schools can teach children that the romanticized relationships and sexual interactions in the media aren’t showing the whole story. For children with ...
Sex education should be increased in schools. Nearly one million women under the age of 20 get pregnant each year. That means 2800 women get pregnant each day. If students are educated about the effects sex has on their lives, it lessens their chance of having children at an early age. Knowledge about sex can also lessen the chance of kids receiving STDS.