Persuasive Essay On Sex Education

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.

With the new outbreaks of sexually transmitted diseases and the fact that sexually active persons are becoming younger, sex has now become a daily topic. Sex scandals in the media and talk such as 'who slept with who at last night's party' are making these daily conversations apparent in high schools, middle schools, and in a lot of cases grade schools. As the saying goes 'monkey see monkey do' one can only assume that this concept will pertain to these easily influenced children. That is why it is imperative that another side of this issue is presented on a regular basis, a side that demonstrates safe sex as well as no sex. Sex is a basic instinct in all-living beings;

Did you know that 24 states in the US require their public schools to teach sex education and HIV education to their students (NCL.org)? Do they even need to understand sex or STDs? Well of course not. That’s why schools should not even teach these students sex because it’s just going to be too much for the high school students’ young mind, sex education will definitely motivate the students to have sex—regardless of their sexuality--, and it’s up to their not so busy parents to explain sex—and all its glory—to their children who are attending high school.

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.).

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.

Current programs have been successful in lowering the teenage birth rates from their 1991 rates to their current rates, a difference of more than 50 percent. While the STD rates in the United States have not improved, they have ceased to increase in recent years (Satcher, Carmona & Elders, 2015). Sexual education programs differ in what information the program covers, who teaches the class, and how relevant the material is to a diverse student body. In order for a sexual education program to be successful in reducing teenage pregnancy and STD rates, the United States needs to ensure that schools are offering comprehensive sexual education classes that incorporate information on contraceptives and condom usage, are facilitated by both trained and qualified teachers and health professionals, and are tailored to a diverse student

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

Sexuality is one of the most powerful and universal forces for human-kind. Whether before or after marriage, everyone engages in it at one point in their lives. Unlike calculus, sex education is something you are going to use in the future. When I took a class survey, most of you either agreed or strongly agreed that sex education was important for teens to learn about. However, many people in America, specifically parents, believe that sex education should not be taught in schools and boycott any measures to educate teens. These people have led me to create this speech. I am up here today to persuade the audience that a fundamental lack of comprehensive sex education can lead misinformation, teen pregnancies, and negative views about sex.

“While the teen birth rate is declining nationwide, that isn't the case for conservative states such as Mississippi, in which 55 out of every 1,000 teen girls gives birth. Compare that to New Hampshire, which offers comprehensive, medically accurate sex-ed: just 16 births out of every 1,000 teens” (Rudulph). In America, teens are often encouraged to postpone sex until marriage in place of being taught about sexual intercourse and the need for change is evident. Although the teen pregnancy rates have continuously been dropping each year, many states, such as Mississippi, teach abstinence in place of sex-education. As a result, students have no information on STDs and have no idea how to practice safe sex. While encouraging abstinence is not

Sex education provides the youth with the skills and knowledge needed to practice safer sex behavior, refuse sex, and engage in positive youth development programs. The positive youth development programs provide the youth with motivation and confidence to gain and utilize the skills listed above. The federal government invests $1.5 billion dollars in abstinence-only programs, which have been proven ineffective among the adolescent population (Advocates for Youth, 2009). Nevertheless, there has been proposed budgets to create funding for programs that have been proven effective in reducing teen pregnancy, delaying sexual activity, or increasing contraceptive use (Advocates for Youth, 2009). limit the youth with information that is contradicted through the media everyday.

This is a familiar story that far too many young people go through every day. If she would have received more education about sex and pregnancy prevention, would this story have had a different outcome? We will never know, but can educate other young girls to prevent them from following in her footsteps. To accomplish this, we must incorporate comprehensive sex education into our school’s curriculum nationwide; that way the largest population of students possible is reached to ensure that they will have accurate information about protection and pregnancy prevention.

The girl looked down at the pregnancy test, seeing those two straight lines, almost staring into the scared eyes of the sophomore in high school. One time, one mistake, and the girl’s life would be changed forever. In order to prevent devastating situations like this from happening, students need to be properly educated. If this girl would have learned how to safely use a condom or alternate forms of birth control, this crisis may have been averted. Teenage pregnancy and STD’s can be prevented if educated properly. Since comprehensive sex education leads to declining pregnancy and STD rates, school’s sex education curriculum must incorporate a more comprehensive based focus.

Every year in America, one million teen girls become pregnant and at least three million teens become infected with an STD (Donovan, 1). Though these numbers slightly fluctuate, problems facing American adolescents today, like HIV/AIDS, other STD’s, and teen pregnancy. This means that some needs to change. These problems will decline when sex education is revamped everywhere in America, by making the curriculum completely comprehensive in addressing problems facing adolescents today such as teen pregnancy, STD’s, rape, pressures and emotions dealing with sex, and give teens good communication skills. Right now teachers approach these subjects on their tip toes, dance around the issue, and not fully give out all the information.

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

Sex education should be increased in schools. Nearly one million women under the age of 20 get pregnant each year. That means 2800 women get pregnant each day. If students are educated about the effects sex has on their lives, it lessens their chance of having children at an early age. Knowledge about sex can also lessen the chance of kids receiving STDS.