Sexual activity among young people is a matter of serious concern. Parents around the United States are very worried about their children and their loss of innocence when it comes to this subject. Sexual education is an optional program that is taught in some schools to inform the youth about sexual health. Many people are torn when it comes to this topic and feel that sexual education leads to premature sexual activity; where others believe sexual education is extremely beneficial to all students who are involved. Sexual education was previously taught to delay sexual activity, however recently it has been used as a tool to help educate the youth about medically accurate information in hopes to prepare them for their futures. Sexual education is not a federally mandated program, so across the United States some students are receiving information and some are not. Schools offer a safe learning …show more content…
Young people around the United States would extremely benefit if they were educated about sexual health. Sexual education offers accurate information on medical terminology and biology; by the youth obtaining this information, they can help themselves as well as others. Mandatory sexual education also limits the spread of sexually transmitted diseases by teaching about the signs and symptoms and proper condom usage. The loss of innocence is a huge concern when considering mandatory sexual education; however educational lessons are based around the age of the student and are not meant to be too mature for their age group, as well as there being no scientific evidence that proves sexual education leads the youth to partake in sexual activity. A further prediction is that eventually sexual education will become a federally mandated program throughout the United States, and the rate of sexually transmitted diseases will decrease because of the information being taught to these young people in
Sexual education in schools has become a highly controversial topic over the past few years. Some people believe students should be taught abstinence-only education, while others believe students need the full on “sex talk”. While the sex education controversy may seem silly, it is very important that students receive the most efficient education possible. When it comes to education parents want their children to receive the most effective kind. This is also very true in terms of sex education. Sex education is very debatable right now as to whether students should be taught abstinence-only education or comprehensive sex education.
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 U.S. has the highest rates of sexually transmitted diseases and teen pregnancies of any industrialized nation that put young teenagers at risks. It is estimate that 20,000 new cases of sexually transmitted diseases reported each year comes from people under the age of 25 and 82 percent of all teen pregnancies are accidents that account for one-fifth of all unintended pregnancies annually (CDC 2006). As a result, the government needs to stop funding and promoting abstinence only programs and start focusing on comprehensive sex education. Comprehensive sexuality education according to Sexuality Information and Education Council of the US (SIECUS) provides a complete message by teaching age appropriate and medically accurate information
Sexuality is an intrinsic part of being a human being. Hence, it follows that as we grow sexual development is normal and for most a point of curiosity. In an age where even a curious five year old could ask the internet where babies come from instead of asking their parents, it is becoming increasingly evident sexual education is a necessity for the sexual health of America’s youth. Sexual education is an important class that should be integrated into the public school system in order to prevent the problems of teen pregnancy and STDs such as HIV. The CDC reports that in 2015 about 230,000 babies were born to teen girls aged 15-19 and that nearly half of the 20 million new STD cases reported in 2015 were among young adults between the ages
Author Bob Smith once said, “In America, when we decide to ignore a subject, our favorite form of denial is to teach it incompetently. Familiarity without true understanding is not only the basis of our families but of our educational system as well.” Smith refers to the inadequate sexual education of teenagers in the United States. Sexual education is the instruction on issues about bodily development, sex, sexuality, and relationships. Comprehensive sex education teaches about abstinence, condoms, and contraceptives to avoid sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and unplanned pregnancies. As well as, the skills needed to help young people explore their own values and options. Comprehensive sexual education should be taught in the United
Each of the fifty states has the power to implement its own sexual education system, but this may not always be for the best. In a modern era where youth is engulfed by the Internet and instant communication and an increasingly liberal media, many adults consider sexual education an uncomfortable topic to discuss. However, does establishing a comprehensive sexual education curriculum encourage children and teenagers to engage in dangerous sexual acts that lead to life-changing consequences? I hypothesize that a comprehensive sexual education proves itself beneficial in all cases because it keeps children and teenagers informed about the dangers of sexually transmitted diseases and potential pregnancies as well as the emotional
Comprehensive sexuality education has always been a focal point of the debate across the United States. Any topics related to sexuality education would make tremendous amount of people feel embarrassed and uncomfortable because sex education is fallaciously perceived as a stigma of the society on an increase rate of unintended pregnancy, the outbreak of sexual transmitted diseases, and other social ethical issues. From a U.S. review, however, “the overwhelming weight of evidence shows that sex education that discusses contraception does not increase sexual activity.” The understanding of sex education not only covers simply a part in reproduction, or how babies are conceived and born but also helps the teenager to have some basis understanding of virtually every aspect of sex by the time he or she reaches full maturity, and more importantly, it encourages confidence and improves communication skills, the social issues surrounding sexuality and reproduction as well as cultural norms, family
In today’s society, teenagers are becoming sexually active at an earlier age. Consequently, sixty-six percent of American high school students have reported partaking in this activity by their senior year – sex (Masland) (SC#8). Because of this promiscuous behavior among teens, there have been alarming rates of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and even unintentional pregnancies (Masland) (BE#3). In the United States, high schools usually decide whether or not to implement sexual education as a course (Sexuality) (BE#9). While schools may encourage abstinence of sex until marriage, most teenagers will need to know safe sexual practices before they are married. If the teenager is not informed on how to keep themselves and their partner safe during sex, major consequences could ensue. If high schools required a course about sexual education, teenagers would know the implications and consequences of engaging in unsafe
More than 1 million American teenage women become pregnant each year. Why is this happening when there are so many contraceptives at everyone's fingertips? Why do so many people have unrecognized STD’s? The initial thought that comes to mind is stupidity, but after looking into the topic, the real problem happening is that teens are uneducated when it comes to safe sex. The average age of first sexual intercourse is 16.2 for women and 15.7 for men. That’s a pretty young age to be having sex. Comprehensive sexual education should be mandatory in schools standard curriculum. It’s not necessarily unethical for teens to be having sex, others may have different beliefs and that's okay but to be completely honest, it’s bound to happen someday so
In the united states, there are two schools of thought when it comes to educating students on human sexuality. Sexual education is a broad term that applies to the teaching to information from basic contraceptive use, biological reproduction, the spread of infectious disease, and sexuality. One type of sexual education is referred to as Comprehensive Sexual Education. Comprehensive Sexual Education is curriculum rooted in health and life skills, that strives to teach students medically accurate information on healthy relationships, development, side effects and benefits of birth control methods, abstinence lifestyles, and how to avoid unwanted sexual advances. The other type of sexual education is referred to as Abstinence
One of the taboos in the United States is the lack of dialogue surrounding controversial issues, specifically sex education. Unfortunately, the absence of serious and constructive discourse is a major difficulty that adversely affects the teenagers of the nation. The problem is that most programs tasked with teaching American youth the proper way to approach topics regarding sex do not provide effective advice or knowledge to handle such situations. Furthermore, the negligence of the country’s sexual health services have served to exaggerate the adverse and preventable results of sexual activity, like pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases. That being said, the way the United States treats the subject of sex and the medical services associated with reproductive health should be reformed to supply the country’s youth with better knowledge so that they may handle sexual situations safely.
Sexual education has been prominent in the United States for many decades. It has been the backbone of teaching adolescents what comes from sex and what does not it dispels certain beliefs such as not being able to get pregnant for the first time. There are many views on whether or not sexual education should be taught in school. Some of those include that they are too young to know about such things and others conclude that anytime will be the appropriate time to teach children about safe sex. A large number of research has been done regarding the two different programs that are implemented in the United States, the AOUM, abstinence-only-until-marriage, and the EBIs, “evidence-based” interventions. I believe that evidence-based programs,
The debate over whether comprehensive sexual education should be taught in has been a controversial issue in the United States for over a decade. The United States has more than double the teenage pregnancy rate of any western industrialized country. Recent statistics has shown that more than a million teenagers become pregnant annually. In addition, teenagers have the highest rates of sexually transmitted disease of any age group. In fact, one in four young people contract a sexually transmitted disease by the age of twenty-one. Comprehensive sexual education in educational institutions is crucial as a means of combating the alarming rates of sexually transmitted diseases and unwanted pregnancies amongst teenagers.
The use of sex education in our schools continues to be a polarizing question for many Americans. Only 22 states in America require schools to teach their students about sexual safety (Siebold). Without sex education, teenagers are not learning the basics of safe sex and the different types of STD’s. Many people think teaching sex education is promoting sex in our school by addressing the idea of sex. Although many states believe abstinence is the only method to protect from early pregnancies and outbreaks of STD’s, research shows sex education teaches children about the importance of contraceptives, lowers teen pregnancy rates, and reduces the spread of STD’s.
Controversy is rampant regarding the sexual education of grade school children. Some insist that it is prudent to educate children on this subject beginning as early as kindergarten. Others strongly disagree that earlier education has any effect at all on teen sex and pregnancy and, therefore, abstinence should be the focus. Lastly, we have those who believe advocating abstinence is appropriate, but agree that a more in depth sexual education is also necessary for those who are going to have sex anyway despite our best efforts to teach them otherwise.