Sex education, arguably one of the most controversial topics to surface in American politics over the past half century, poses a complicated problem to citizens and lawmakers alike. Following the AIDS epidemic and spike in teen pregnancy in the 1980s, lawmakers and educators began drafting and implementing more sex education classes and courses in public schools in an attempt to remedy the ever-growing issue. While few object to the idea in itself, the method and content of its teaching is highly controversial. Should we teach abstinence or safe sex? How early should children be exposed to this material? How effective are these classes? These are just a few questions surrounding the issue, which are often disputed.
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Aligned quite closely with the modern view on sexual education, the article uses countless graphs and statistics to back their support of extensive ‘comprehensive safe sex’ education. Statistics from over two decades are strategically used to support the authors’ position, including charts siting the differences between teen pregnancy rates when abstinence and safe sex tactics are used. Despite the seemly sound intellectual integrity of the piece, the Halls’ bias is quite evident. The clever way in which many of the charts displaying the ‘failures’ of abstinence education are presented can be quite misleading and even confusing to the reader, along with the authors’ selective choice of data. The Halls also fall victim to the collective responsibility/guilt fallacy in the final paragraph of the work as the authors …show more content…
Each piece, largely, properly used factual evidence (found through various studies and research) to either simply present or back their standing on the issue. Coupling the three pieces with my prior knowledge of the subject as well as personal experience, I can confidently say that I am indeed ‘pro sexual education’. More specifically, I prefer programs in which safe sex is taught thoroughly, but teens are highly encouraged to sublimate their sexual desires until adulthood. However, I might add, this was my original stance; nothing presented in any of the works against sexual education as a whole were persuasive enough to change my view on the subject. Rather, the articles simply reinforced, or rather reaffirmed, my
The issue of the paper Misinformed and Unprotected is that Abstinence-only programs lack to inform teens about sexual contact because the system is current set up as only teaching teens to not have sexual contact till marriage, leaving out important information for teens who what to learn how to be safe with sexual contact. The writer’s position on the paper is that the education system should be changed to inform teens more than just wait till marriage to have sex. The evidence list is that Abstinence-only education advocates claim that abstinence-only programs prevent premarital sex, but that the programs need to stop being publicly funded because these programs may make those who have suffered from sexual abuse feel ashamed and unwilling
The teenagers and children of today read about, listen to and watch all sorts of information about sex. While most adults have had some form of sex education, we must ask if this new generation is learning anything new or helpful from their sex education classes. The American culture and way of living is so absorbed in sex that children should be taught about it, people just can not agree on how to teach them. In her article New Sex ed Funding Ends Decade of Abstinence-Only, Kelli Kennedy proves that abstinence-only sex education classes and programs are not as good as regular sex education classes better than Shari Roan does in her article Teen pregnancy rates rises. Are abstinent-only programs to blame?
Since the HIV/AIDS epidemic began in the U.S. in the early 1980s the issue of sex education for American youth has had the attention of the nation. There are about 400,000 teen births every year in the U.S, with about 9 billion in associated public costs. STI contraction in general, as well as teen pregnancy, have put the subject even more so on the forefront of the nation’s leading issues. The approach and method for proper and effective sex education has been hotly debated. Some believe that teaching abstinence-only until marriage is the best method while others believe that a more comprehensive approach, which includes abstinence promotion as well as contraceptive information, is necessary. Abstinence-only program curriculums disregard
The author does not seem to be focusing on the teenagers’ health when much of his logos came from the expense of sex education programs and the wasted money involved with abstinence only programs. He stated the dollar amount spent on these programs more than five times and one time mentioned the money spent to observe the effectiveness of these programs. One example of this is when he criticised that “this extension equals another $ 250 million for failed abstinence-only-until-marriage programs over the next five years” (SIECUS, 2014, p.3). He also did not explicitly state how these programs failed so the audience assumes that it failed because of his following sentence about how taxes pay for abstinence only programs. Although money is always a factor, these programs are being provided for a reason and are paramount in teenagers’ lives. The safety of teenagers is usually the concern whether their education is abstinence based or with additional education on STIs and unplanned pregnancy. Hence, the author should have mentioned how many unplanned pregnancies teens have faced or a provided a statistic on the spread of STIs. Furthermore, the author did not even provide pathos evidence that abstinence based education was harmful through a personal recollection of someone who was affected negatively. With neither of these evidences present, the audience is left to wonder whether abstinence only education is really affecting anyone. However, the author had a pattern of providing mostly irrelevant statistics such as money spent on programs. Therefore the author sometimes breaks down the opposing side, but does not strengthen his own side through his often misused logos and a lack of
Sex Education in schools remains one of the most avoided questions in modern-day society, yet, as more years pass, the Sex Education debate only grows in strength and importance. Stuart C. Reid, the author of “Sex Education is a Parental Responsibility,” believes that Sex Education is the last topic schools, especially schools occupied by pre-teens and young teenagers, should be considering. Within Reid’s article, he addresses the direct disadvantage of Sex Education through a number of smaller instances: the immoralizing of children without parental consent. Reid directs his article towards parents, namely parents voting for a new bill against the incorporation of Sex Education in Utah schools. In interest of reaching his audience, Reid uses
Such a controversial vote ignited a great debate throughout the community: among parents, school officials, government officials, and religious leaders. It forced the community to discuss a topic that is still uncomfortable for many confer --youth sex education. “How should we go about teaching sex education to children?” When should children be exposed to this type of information?” These are the types of questions the community pondered while weighing in on the debate. Despite the sexual revolution of the 1900’s and into the 2000’s, discussing sex education is still a contentious topic even in 2015. The author Nancy Gibbs does a extraordinary job examining the various perspectives of the debate in “Birth Control for Kids?
In 1981, the Adolescent Family Life Act (AFLA) was signed into law by President Reagan. Through the act, the federal government first invested in sexual education programs, all of which encouraged “chastity and self-discipline.” After this came the Title V abstinence-only-until-marriage program, which was created in 1996 as part of the welfare reform legislation. Finally, the Community-Based Abstinence Education (CBAE), was created in 2000. Now, for over three decades, people are still debating whether the original approach of teaching abstinence should be kept or if schools should go into further detail in teaching how to prevent pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases and infections.
Schools should educate students about their bodies, and how to protect them. “The point of this kind of sex education is to inform teenagers about the possible risks of being sexually active and to educate them about methods of birth control and sexually transmitted infection protection.” Students deserve the basic human right live freely, and if their choice may be, considering about 70% of the national teenage population usually make this decision anyway, to be involved in sexual relations than there needs to be a basic knowledge of safety
The controversial topic of whether or not sex education curriculum should teach contraceptive use or abstinence-only is heavily debated. In 2013, the U.S. totaled 273,105 babies born by teenagers, ages from 15 to 19 (“About Teen Pregnancy”). This raises the question: why is the number of pregnancies so high? Is the reason for that unsettling high, number because abstinence-only is being taught or contraceptive use is being taught? Students who are taught abstinence-only are more likely to wait to have sex, which results in the lowering of teen pregnancy. The abstinence-only curriculum also reduces students sexual activity.The sex education curriculum in the U.S. should consist of abstinence-only education.
In the article “Abstinence Is the Best Policy in Preventing Teen Pregnancy” posted on the Opposing Viewpoints database, it is argued that teenagers are incapable of assessing and considering the risk of premarital sex and comprehension of the challenges in facing an unwanted pregnancy. The article goes on to say that while they are maturing, teens are drawn more to risky behavior including sexual behavior, and “as those choices get more risky […] guidance and limits from parents that are reinforced by peers, teachers, and other authority figures are critically important”. This article also challenges the results of sex education by stating that it is merely educational and shown to inform rather than change teens
It has been almost thirty three years since the first federal funding was put to use in “. . . sex education programs that promote abstinence-only-until-marriage to the exclusion of all other approaches . . .” according to the article “Sex education” (2010) published by “Opposing Viewpoints in Context;” a website that specializes in covering social issues. Since then a muddy controversy has arisen over whether that is the best approach. On one hand is the traditional approach of abstinence (not having sex before marriage), and on the other is the idea that what is being done is not enough, and that there needs to be a more comprehensive approach. This entails not only warning against sex, but also teaching teens about how to have
My paper examines the issues relating to sex education programs in high school which has been a controversial subject since its inception. It evaluates how the recent increase in sexual activity among teenagers indicates that the subject should be revisited for further inspection and scrutiny. It shows how opponents of sexual education in schools argue that the subject promotes promiscuity and liberal sexual attitudes in teenage students whereas supporters of sexual education programs believe that they often reduce the incidence of sexually transmitted diseases as well as unwanted pregnancies. It also looks at how these courses often usurp the role of parents in the education of their teenage sons and daughters as well as
As children grow, they accumulate knowledge over the years about a variety of subjects to prepare them for the future. Children learn from parents, schools, life experiences, what they watch and other influences around them, and it can be either positive learning or negative learning. There is one subject that is difficult to teach and have control over because of misunderstandings, lack of teaching, and publicity. Sex education has been a major debate for children under eighteen, because there are some parents that want it taught in schools and others that do not because of different reasons. There are currently eighteen states and the District of Columbia that require schools to provide sex education and thirty-two that do not require
Coinciding with the onslaught of the new millennium, schools are beginning to realize that the parents are not doing their job when it comes to sexual education. The school system already has classes on sexual education; these classes are based mainly on human anatomy. Most schools do not teach their students about relationships, morals, respect, self-discipline, self-respect, and most importantly contraceptives. Everyday students engage in sexual activity, many of them with out condoms. This simple act jeopardizes these students' futures and possibly their lives. An increasing amount of school systems are starting to combine messages involving abstinence from sexual activity,
There are many states that do not provide the kind of sex education that New Jersey strives to convey to its students. It more often than not ties in with the religious right proclaiming that students are too young to be exposed to sexual material, and thus sexualized as a result. These fundamental groups oppose any suggestion towards a comprehensive approach. Instead, they ask that their children be taught after grade school and additionally, they steer towards ‘abstinence-only’ education. Instead of teaching students how to protect themselves, they teach that the only way to protect oneself is by abstaining from sex. The problem arises, then, when these students decide to have sex. They are unaware of how to conduct themselves responsibly, how to take precautions to prevent against unwanted pregnancy and disease. What kind of ‘education’ are students receiving when they are withheld crucial information?