Comprehensive Reality-Based Sexuality Education Essay

While sexual education is mandatory in almost all secondary schools across Australia, the level of depth at which it is taught varies throughout every school. Many highly important areas of sex ed, such as learning about consent, contraceptive options and violence in relationships, are less commonly taught in high school, with puberty typically being the prime topic taught in PDHPE lessons instead. But when we look at the increase in things such as sexual assault, sexual violence, Sexually Transmitted Infections and teenage pregnancy among today’s youth, we must wonder why such imperative subjects to educate teenagers on are discussed so minimally.

Human sexuality can be fascinating, complex, contradictory, and sometimes frustrating. Sexuality is interwoven into every aspect of being human; therefore, having knowledge about sex is as essential as having education about human anatomy. However, it is highly recommended to pay close attention when sex education is delivered to youths. (Donatelle 171)

Over time many of the baby boomers that once had the outlook on life that each day was building onto the next in the same routine as always have changed from that and now pursue the “you only live once” view in how they will live each day. With that the need for advisement directed toward the older generation has spiked towards the need for sexual education in older adults.

I think it is safe to say that no two words elicit more feelings of concern, anxiety, and anger in parents, and stirs up more controversy and debate than the words “sexual education”. This especially true with the implementation of the new, revised sexual education curriculum in Ontario schools. Consequently, this controversy has strongly divided individuals, families, and organizations between those who approved of and those who opposed and protested against school-based programs that providee sexual health education to children. But why so much opposition? This is due to the significant changes made to the sexual education curriculum and the sensitive nature of the topics being taught to children regarding sexuality as a whole, changes which are seen as both radical and “even more explicit and more age-inappropriate than before…” (“Ontario’s Radical,” n.d.).

Master of Professional Health Debra Hauser states that sexual education is an essential part of the development and growth of teenagers. In her article “Youth Health and Rights in Sex Education”, MPH Hauser provides a report of teenage pregnancies and STDs incidences, which points out that each year in the United States, about 750,000 teens become pregnant, with up to 82 percent of those pregnancies being unintended. Young people ages 15-24 account for 25 percent of all new HIV infections in the U.S (Hauser). According to Hauser, “sex education teaches young people the skills they need to protect themselves”, such as the ability to recognize patterns of a toxic relationships, learning to value and have control over their bodies, understanding

All over the globe young girls are becoming mothers without the proper understanding of what it may do with their bodies and future. There is no question that there’s a stereotype connected to teen moms, especially in the United States. Think back to junior high while taking your sexual education course. You may remember a brief lesson about the dangers of having sex such as hormonal changes throughout teen years, sexually transmitted diseases and even the risks of teen pregnancy. Yes, this is enough to scare many juveniles to avoid intercourse, but there is still a minority of teens that think outside of the box. With an education system that only impacts a small range of students

sexuality and to promote healthy sex life of them. The appropriate form of sex education

In 1991 the average birth rate for Black females between the ages of 15-19 was 118.2 out of every 1000. An astonishing 11.8% of teenagers were having children. In 2013 the same demographic had a birth rate of 39 per 1000 ("Birth Rates (Live Births) per 1,000 Females Aged 15–19 Years, by Race and Hispanic Ethnicity, Select Years"). This is due to teaching safe sex, and encouraging the use of contraceptives. In order to provide the highest quality future for America’s youth, safe sex needs to be implemented nationwide. This means teaching comprehensive sexual education classes instead of abstinence-only, showing that parents want their children taught safe sex, and impressing the burden teenage pregnancies have on society.

One in four teens are diagnosed with STDs every year in the united states. There are 41,731,233 teens in the united states, so that is roughly 10,432,808.25 kids receiving STDs in the united states every year. With fewer than half of high schools and only a fifth of middle schools teaching all 26 topics recommended by the Centers for Disease Control Team(2015), these numbers shouldn’t be surprising. The majority of teens in the United States are taught that abstinence is the only way to prevent pregnancy or STDs, but in today's society temptation is very prevalent. In the United States 46% of high school age kids have had sex Conklin (2014), and represent 50% of all the new STDs dosomething.org(2014). It is

On August of 2011, Chancellor Dennis Walcott announced that all middle and high schools will be required to teach compulsory sexual health education as part of the core curriculum. Required Health classes focusing on human sexuality are provided as mandated at Edward R. Murrow high school. Some of the topics of this course include but are not limited to the following: HIV/AIDS, practicing of safe sex, sexually transmitted diseases, description of both male and female anatomical differences, birth control etc. In October of 2012,

Comprehensive sex education is the most realistic way of teaching sex education today. While remaining abstinent is the only way to be one-hundred percent sure one will not have an unwanted pregnancy or contract a Sexually Transmitted Disease (STD), it is unrealistic in today’s society. Teenagers, as well as adults, are engaging in premarital sexual activity. STDs can be a serious or life-threatening disease. Effective comprehensive sex education should contain information detailing sexual development and reproduction, methods of birth control, STDs and Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), abortion, and the different religious and cultural views on sex and sexual diversity. With this information,

The topic of sexual education has been controversial for a while now. There are many stances that are taken to defend the course of education, but there are also many positions that are completely opposed to this idea. One side of the spectrum simply doesn’t trust anybody to teach their children about this act. There lays an authoritative issue underneath the opinion of not allowing a professional teacher to inform their children of what would happen if one were to partake in this sexual activity. The opposite side believes this class has beneficial factors, due to children knowing nothing about what could happen, or even what intercourse is. However, the question that we boil down to is what exactly IS sex? Why do we treat this topic as something

Sex education has been an ongoing debate for decades. In the early 1970’s, twenty states voted restricting sex education from the school curriculum, leaving the District of Columbia and only three states (Maryland, Kentucky, New Jersey), requiring schools to teach sex education. By the mid 1980’s, a deadly disease permitted through sexual intercourse was recognized; the fear of catching a disease sex education quickly became accepted. In 1986, Surgeon General C. Everett Koop felt sex education should start as early as third grade stating, ‘“There is now no doubt … that we need sex education in schools and that it [should] include information on heterosexual and homosexual relationships. The lives of our young people depend on our

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

In addition, another thing students need to be educated on is a teenage pregnancy. There are so many young mothers and fathers who have no idea what they have gotten themselves into. When kids become sexually active they don’t think about the negative results of their actions, they just live in the moment. If students are educated about the burden of carrying and taking care of a child they may think twice about having sex. One way to show children how hard it is to raise a child as a teenager, is to bring teenage parents in to attest to the fact that parenting a child as a teen is not easy. They can tell them about the excruciating pain they went through and how difficult and sacrificial having a child is. Many teenage parents have no social life and are forced to grow up quickly because they have to bear the responsibility of taking care of a child. If students have knowledge about these things they are less likely to repeat other people’s mistakes.