Comprehensive Sex Education

Abstinence only education is hindering the lives of teens in today’s world. Schools should stop teaching abstinence only education since, it increases the rate of teens having sexual relations with other people, it does not give students adequate lessons on preventing STDs, and the rate of teen pregnancy is higher for students who receive abstinence only education. As a nation we need to help teens protect themselves with this topic and most importantly approach it with caution. Many schools believe that abstinence only education is the most effective way to instruct students on the topic of sex when it clearly is not.

Comprehensive education teaches students about contraception, including emergency contraception, reproductive choices, LGBT issues, anatomy, and other traditional topics, including abstinence, as part of the curriculum, because of this comprehensive education is referred to by some as abstinence plus. (“Comprehensive Sex Education vs. Abstinence-Only-Until-Marriage-Programs”) Comprehensive education focuses on giving student options on how to manage if they do choose to have sex. As the average age at which Americans start having sex drops, teaching students about how to prevent or deal with sexually transmitted diseases and avoid unplanned pregnancy becomes increasingly important. (“Sex Education Promotes Understanding and Safety”) 34% of sexually active students said they didn’t use a condom the last time they had sex, which is what increases the odds of getting an STD or becoming

Abstinence is a remarkable topic to be taught, however, should not be the only choice taught, and it’s impractical to expect the youth to hold out until marriage. Abstinence, along with STD and pregnancy prevention is imperative for the youth in the nation. It is factual that accepting promiscuity as part of our culture might cause a rise in STD's, teen pregnancy, and Aid’s. These increases are the reason we must begin early in educating children about the diseases, how to prevent them, and how to practice safe sex. Schools are insane for not lecturing the importance, or proper use of

Teenagers have been having sex since the beginning of time. Instead of telling them “just don’t” shouldn’t we educate our teens so that they can be safe? The problem with traditional Abstince- Only-Until-Marriage is that instead of educating they use fear tactics to unsuccessfully keep children ignorant. This causes children to turn to other outlets like porn and other children their age, it’s like a bad game of telephone where people end up getting pregnant or catching STI’s. The other problem with Abstince-Only education is that it does not cover all of the subjects of sexuality, there are the obvious things such as STI’s and pregnancy prevention but there are

The first argument made by those who are against schools teaching sexual education to their children state that the school has no right to teach their children about sex. Those parents argue that they can educate their child themselves about the dangers of sex. Parents fear what the schools are teaching their child, and fear that they will become “more accepting of sexual behavior” (Lenth). Another fear is that the classes will make students believe that all teens have sex, peer pressuring them into having

Students in the United States should be required to take sex education classes that promote abstinence instead of safe sex. Why is sex education prominent than abstinence? Focusing on abstinence will lead to a better outcome in life, while sex education has major disadvantages. Abstinence is the way to go, because the best safe sex is no sex.

was to put STD prevention programs within the states it would help tremendously. It would help students academically, by taking responsibility for their own health. It would also help reduce sexual risk behaviors and asset development. This would provide more general skills to engage in healthy behaviors (“effective HIV and STD Prevention Programs for Youth”). Although there are Abstinence Only Programs within numerous schools and teach a variety of subjects they are still unlikely to go over important matters that the students need to know. The main topic within these programs is “just say no to sex.” Another topic that is, the only way to prevent STD’s and prevent pregnancy is to stay abstinent. The teachers are less likely to cover birth control, abortion, obtaining contraceptives, STD’s and sexual orientation. The teachers do not think that the message is not getting across to the students affiliated with this program, and believe that the students should start learning about sex at a younger age, and cover the topics; STD’s, correct condom use, and how to resist peer pressure as well as abstinence. There is now 23% of public schools that teach Sex Education that compromise with Abstinence Only programs opposed to 2% in 1988

Talking about sex conjures up all kinds of taboos, misinformation and uncomfortably feelings. This seems to a common occurrence no matter who is talking. This is why this topic sparks heated debates as well as reactions that run the gamete. Thus this topic has been taboo no matter the country or the culture. Some people in the United States have tried throughout history to approach this subject with civility and objectivity. This is when we see the influence of public policy. In the United States educating people of the consequences and perils of the ignorance of the proper or healthy approach to sex has been a constant struggle. I find this issue extremely important because of the many consequences ignorance fosters. It is my belief that all young children should have comprehensive sex education classes. It saves lives, prevents unwanted pregnancies, and helps prevent the spread of STI’s.

Sex education and abstinence needs to be taken more seriously in the educational system and in the homes of young adolescents. This subject is extremely important to me and is prevalent today because sex ed is an issue that many men and women fail to comprehend, whether it is sex education or abstinence. Throughout many middle schools , high schools and adulthood sex education is “sugar-coated.” When you don’t call it what it is, it seems unimportant an example is “The birds and the bees” when the bee’s get the pollen and puts it in flowers and how birds lay eggs which is pretty explanatory but not enough seriousness is being put into account. An issue that still prevails is that the school system wants students to know about it in as early as the sixth grade for preventative measures; avoidance of teenage pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases. In my experience the sixth grade is a bit too young. I was only twelve years old learning about sex education and I had no idea what was happening since they just “dropped” the subject on us all at once and did not really ease it on too us bit by bit.

Because all students deserve the opportunity to have equal access to sex ed; it should be mandated by all schools to teach comprehensive sexual education, with the option for parents opting their children out of class. During interviews conducted with parents of school aged children, by the author of this paper; it was found that all the parents also thought sex ed should be mandatory for schools to teach sex ed, and mandatory for schools to offer parents the choice of opting their children out of the programs. The parents also thought it necessary for schools to allow parents to review the information that would be taught to students prior to their children taking the

Understanding the issues that come with sexual education in the classroom is the first step in being a comprehensive sex education advocate. To this day, we see classrooms in middle and high schools preaching about abstinence, shaming children and not being able to give proper, thorough, and informative resources and guidelines on how to approach healthy, body-positive, accessible information about sexual activity. The ideal image abstinence curriculum advocates are hoping for is all adolescents will not have sex prior to marriage, that there will be no STI’s flowing from person A to B, and that the risk of unplanned teen pregnancies will just disappear. The realistic comprehensive approach to sex education states that we are aware that no matter how many ‘do not have sex’ programs we fund and promote, there will always be the handful or more of the population who won’t follow through.

It seems to be that sex is a major topic among teenagers, and young adults. This is a topic that is sometimes frowned upon by families. Some parents are afraid to discuss sex with their children, and there are others who just don’t feel the need to bring it up. Each child deserves the opportunity to be given the knowledge to protect themselves from the cons, as well as how to be prepared for the pros of having sex. They should be informed of everything that has to do with sex from the beginning to the end in order to understand the blessings, and situations that this thing called life unexpectedly throws at us. How to protect themselves is a major part of this. This is why a sexual education class should be implemented as a mandatory class

Many states in the Unites States require that public schools teach some form of sex education. Sex education is a broad topic that covers many things including human sexuality, reproductive health, safe sex, birth control, and abstinence, etc. There are primarily two forms of sex education that are taught. The first of the two is an abstinence-only program, where schools teach their students not to have sexual relations with others outside of marriage; they also do not teach about safe sex or birth control. The other form of sex education that is taught is comprehensive sex education. Schools where comprehensive sex education is taught teach their students about the importance of sexual abstinence, but also teach about proper use of birth control. There are many people who have different opinions on what kind of sex education should be taught; and the best way to teach it in public schools.

For many decades, sex education has remained an important class that many students across around the world are required to take. Since sex education classes were first introduced into secondary schools in the early 1900s, the government has taken steps to alter how the topic is taught. While many parents feel that teaching sex education in a classroom setting is appropriate, a large portion of America believes that parents are responsible for educating their child on the subject. The country seems to be deeply divided into two groups: those who support school-led sex education, and those who believe sex education is the responsibility of the parents. The article “Obviously, Sex Education Should Not Be Taught In Schools” by Cullen Herout presents the opinions of one parent who is against government-sanctioned sex education courses. Herout provides ample support and reason to back up his thesis, but his argument is poorly written due to its strong personal bias, unreasonable language, and lack of credible sources. *comment *another comment

There is a lot of controversy over teaching comprehensive sex education among people, some people believe that teaching comprehensive sex education causes rates of teen pregnancy and STI/Aids rates to go up. Just like we keep up with teaching the youth Math and Science, we also need to keep them up to date on issues like Sex Education. This is important so the youth can be aware of these things like STIs when they are adults and know how to protect themselves, and possibly others .“There is no evidence that teaching kids to use condoms causes a spike in sexual activity”(“Comprehensive”). In past surveys ninety percent of Americans over the age of eighteen felt sex education was very important to include in public school curriculum.Comprehensive Sex education has been proven statistically to be better than teaching abstinence only education. The population council declared that Abstinence only programs are ineffective at preventing teen pregnancy and STI’s.