Should Condoms Be Distributed In Public Schools Essay

Some high schools in large cities do distribute condoms to their students, just as many colleges all over the United States. Yet this should not be limited solely to college students and inner city high school students.

Public schools are attempting to teach birth control in their curriculum, but is it encouraging more teens to start being sexually active? “Studies show that 39% of schools teach how to use a condom; 58% of schools are encouraging their kids to wait, but they urge them to use birth control if they do have sex.“(Nicole De Coursey, Jennifer Hoppe, Amy Sims, and Caroline Sorgen) Most U.S. public school districts require the education about sex in class but not enough schools do not provide abstinence teaching programs. Abstinence messages are very important, but clearly the coverage of contraceptive topics is also crucial in helping our youth prevent unplanned pregnancy and STD’s. “One-third of teachers indicated that they had to be careful about what they taught because of the possibility of a bad community reaction.”(USA Today). Birth control was taught a lot more back in the 1980’s than it is compared to now. “Six in ten of teachers

I strongly agree that condoms do help the prevention of teen pregnancy. Condoms should actually be placed in schools, doctor offices, community youth centers and just about everywhere teens are found. I believe that everywhere teens hang out there should be condoms available to them either free or little to no cost. The more access and availability to condoms teens have the more they will use them to protect themselves and the less teen pregnancy and STI rate they will have. Convenient condom access and availability simply helps our teens because they will most likely receive education and confidentiality with those condoms. Also the financial burden of purchasing condoms will be lifted from the teens.

Also, schools that hand out condoms students are less likely to have unsafe sex than schools that don’t (ACLU). Research shows that when teenagers are required to get parental permission, more 15% of them would rather have unsafe sex than get parent permission. A law that requires teenager to gain parental permission before receiving contraceptives will have some harmful consequences (Guttmacher Institute). One half of new HIV cases in America come from adolescents, 3 million teenagers get an STD, and almost 900,000 girls become pregnant (ACLU). These results will rise if teenagers are required to get parent

A censored sexual education does not discuss contraceptives, safe sex practices, nor does it promote abstinence. In fact, abstinence-only education, defined as encouraging teenagers to not engage in sexual intercourse or sexual acts whatsoever, is found in roughly 34% of public schools ("Abstinence Only Vs. Sex Ed. - Effectiveness & Statistics"). Theoretically, abstinence-only is ideal and it truly is the only 100% effective way to prevent STD’s or unplanned pregnancies, though is not practical for modern society. Sexual education was originally omitted from the classroom and left for parents or religious groups to discuss and teach. Abstinence-only sexual education became mainstream in schools as a fear reaction from the teen pregnancy epidemic in the 1970’s and 1980’s (Greslé-Favier, 414). This sexual education style was implemented with good intentions to protect the youth from diseases that had not yet been studied enough such as AIDS, HIV, and Gonorrhea as well as preventing pregnancies that correlated with high teenage dropout rates

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

Also, the distribution of condoms and availability of birth control will not cause teens have sex, only will stop from unwanted pregnancy. In addition, informing teenagers about sex, condoms and make birth control available will prevent teens from becoming young and inexperienced parents. Any measure that can be taken to prevent pregnancy and disease among teens should be utilized, and offering birth control in schools is one of the ways to do this. It offers an option to those kids who, for example, may not feel comfortable going to their parents or into a drug store to buy condoms. An amazing solution to this problem is Baltimore’s program. The city has mounted a major public information campaign to educate teens about the choices they have and how to access contraceptives. Health officials are working with the school system, planned parenthood and health clinics to implement an evidence-based sex education curriculum that was standardized across the

I’ve never heard of the abstinence-only before marriage programs. I graduated high school in 1990 and there was no sex education at my school. There was a small section of the health class that talked about sexual reproduction and it was extremely brief. STD’s was never mentioned however teen pregnancy was a topic that was ok to discuss openly. It seems odd to have people sign a vow of abstinence during school. When people get into trouble they have nowhere to turn for help or support. I’m not for promoting sex is school, but it seems the better educated they are about negative aspects the more effective they would be at promoting abstinence. The military has mandatory STD training, which was nothing, but gross pictures and it worked

The United States has the highest rate of teenage pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases (STD’S) compared to other developed countries (Darroch, Singh, Frost, 2001). There are several arguments when it comes to sexual education being taught in school systems. Many parents fear their student will learn too much at young age and won’t know how often sexual education is being discussed. Children in today’s society are going through puberty at young ages and obviously waiting years to become married. According to Health News (2009), students in the United States 12 years of age had already participated in vaginal intercourse by 12%, 7.9% of 12 year old students participated in oral sex, and 6.5% participated in anal sex. The statistics just mentioned are very startling! Teenagers becoming sexually active by age 14 are at a higher risk of having multiple sex partners throughout their lifetime. A study found about 8 in 10 males and 7 in 10 females had become sexually active by age 19 (Guttmacher, 1981). Another survey proved 64% of males and 44% of females were sexually active by their 19th birthday. By 15 years of age, 7 in 10 males and 5 in 10 females reported having sexual intercourse (Masserman & Uribe, 1989). Proper condom use is important to be taught to students. Many sexually active teens don’t know how to properly use condoms. Proper condom application will prevent the risk of unwanted teenage pregnancy, spread of sexually

Many Americans have long and wrongfully assumed that the best approach to decrease teen pregnancy and spread of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) is by committing students to an abstinence-only sex education. However, professionals have repeatedly revealed that while abstinence-only sex education programs have good intentions, they have shown both consistent and positive correlations with pregnancy and STDs. In contrast, research has indicated that high schools who offer comprehensive sex education and provide access to contraceptives, such as condoms, are extremely effective at preventing both teen pregnancies and STDs without increasing teen sexual activity. However, “condom availability programs remain relatively rare” (qtd. in Eisenberg 417). While I am aware that these comprehensive sex education and condom provision programs are unpopular amongst many people, I truly do believe that these programs have the potential to drastically drop teenage pregnancies and spread of STDs.

Abstinence-only sex education courses do not inform students of the functions and efficacy of contraceptives, as evidenced in a poll of 1,800 young men and women, which showed that “six in 10 underestimated the effectiveness of oral contraceptives.” (Frost, Lindberg, et al.). Unintended pregnancies from lack of understanding of contraceptives is the most prominent impact the current sex education curriculum is having. With the highest proportion of unplanned pregnancies being 98% and belonging to teenagers, the impact the improper sex education has is straightforward (Unintended Pregnancy Prevention). Unplanned teenage pregnancies can inhibit the mother’s ability to continue her education, ostracize her from society, and be a significant financial burden on, not only the mother and her family, but American taxpayers, as “teen childbearing costs . . . between $9.4 and $28 billion a year.” (Negative Impacts of Teen Childbearing). Moreover, contraceptive use, specifically condoms, are crucial in preventing the contraction of sexually transmitted diseases. Due to the fact that “nearly half of the 20 million new cases of STD's each year” are attributed to teens and young adults, the teaching of the methods of contraceptive use are not reaching the standard at which they should be (Adolescent Development and STDs). It is vital to the well-being of the students of America’s public school system that they are instructed with accurate information that will protect them from unintended pregnancies and contracting sexually transmitted

Even though many are getting pregnant there are also many who don’t get pregnant. They aren’t getting pregnant because they are getting protection. Joyce Tsai states, “…teen pregnancy rates have declined 51 percent and teen births are down 61 percent…” (1) which is a big improvement for teens. Some teenagers are irresponsible and don’t use protection when they are having sex so the girl gets pregnant and they don’t know what to do. Schools are also helping teens be a little more prepared and responsible about their sex lives. A woman from Planned Parenthood in Mar Monte says “…the move to offer condoms to middle school students at school-based health centers, where nurses, counselors and trained professionals can help students make more responsible decisions, is more important than ever.”(Tsai 2). She explains that students will be more responsible if they get everything they need at school by professionals. There are parents who are outraged by this because they think giving students condoms is a bad influence for them to have sex. As a result of that research has proven giving condoms to these students does not encourage them to become sexually active in any way. One parent says it is their responsibility to teach their kids about sex, “I’m one of those parents that believes in being open with my kids… it comes down to parents to teach their kids values and morals…” (Tsai 2). Even though many teens are

Condom usage prevents numerous pregnancies. It is common knowledge that a condom is a protective layer of latex that traps semen and stops it from entering the vaginal canal, but many don’t realize the issues of having sex without a condom. Various people don’t have to access to this type of contraceptive, so they follow the drive and have unprotected sex which leads to unplanned pregnancies. An articles written by Alyssa DiSabito argues that “another reason teens have trouble obtaining contraception is that they are too afraid to purchase it in public” (1). If condoms were offered at school then teens would more likely to use them. With young adults having condoms more readily available to them, the number of unplanned teens pregnancies would decrease.

Teens have difficulty grasping the consequences of unprotected sex for themselves, their parents, family members and possibly their unborn child. Unprotected sex among teenagers in El Paso has become an issue seeing as they are not receiving the right information they need to know about sex and how to prevent it, sexually transmitted diseases can be passed on through sexual contact in which can be harmful and be passed on from one person to another, and teen pregnancy and STD’s bring substantial social and economic costs through immediate and long-term impacts on teen parents and their children. Nowadays social media and technology seem to really take a toll on teenagers, the both has impacted teens in a way that it is all they are on. My proposal of fixing this solution is getting the message across through social media and doing presentations at different schools, this will impact teenagers mostly because this is the generation where social media has become a part of their lives. To those with low education about unprotected sex, will pay attention to what is being said, which will be no problem since Google and the internet are there to provide answers to their questions. Lastly, teens do not pay attention to adults in general, but if they listen to what a teen has to say then they will most likely understand, thus a presentation at their school will help them learn more.

   The topic of condom distribution in public schools has caused many heated debates throughout our country in the last decade. Proponents of distribution state that free condom distribution will ensure that teenagers will practice safe sex and that the rate of sexually transmitted diseases and pregnancy will decline. Opponents of distribution state that free condom distribution will encourage sexual activity and foster the idea that premarital sex is acceptable. Judges in federal court have even considered whether or not condom distribution and sex education without prior parental notification violates parents' First and Fourteenth Amendment rights. The only viewpoint absent in a discussion of this