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.

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.).

As Coach Carr from Mean Girls once said, "Don't have sex, because you will get pregnant and die! Don't have sex in the missionary position, don't have sex standing up, just don't do it, OK, promise? OK, now everybody take some rubbers. . . . At your age, you're going to have a lot of urges. You're going to want to take off your clothes, and touch each other. But if you do touch each other, you *will* get chlamydia... and die." While Coach Carr is supposed to be a satirical representation of the average abstinence-only high school sex education teacher, many real sex ed. classes are run similarly to his. The idea that high school students should only be taught abstinence-only sex education has been a debate since it was legally established

Teenage sexual activity has sparked an outcry within the nation. With such activity comes a high price. Studies have shown that there has been a significant rise in the number of children with sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), emotional and psychological problems, and out-of-wedlock childbearing. Sex has always been discussed publically by the media, television shows, music and occasionally by parents and teachers in educational context. Teens hear them, and as the saying goes, “monkey see, monkey do”, they are tempted to experiment with it. Therefore, it is important for every teenager to be aware of the outcome associated with premature-sex. If students are educated about the impact of

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.

Secondly, when sexual education is taught in schools there are fewer health consequences. Teenagers are curious and thus, will not understand the effects that sex can have emotionally, physically and psychologically. Teen pregnancy is a disquieting reality for many teens. Not surprisingly, as pregnancy has a large impact on adults, but how much more so for naive teenagers? Sexual education empowers teens by providing them with solutions to epidemics such as teen pregnancy. In fact, pregnancy rates decrease when teenagers are being taught comprehensive sexual education. According to SIECUS.org, “comprehensive sex education [is] associated with a 50% lower risk of teen pregnancy”. This is because sexual education programs teach about contraceptives and birth controls. Some parents do not teach their children about

The question of sexuality education is never whether or not it should be taught. If schools and parents don’t teach young people about sex, the hypersexualized modern media will. Research shows that the younger a child is exposed to sexual media, the younger they will become sexually active and the more reckless they will be when they do (Ross), and that children are indeed being exposed to sexual messages at younger and younger ages. The Guttmacher Institute, a sexual and reproductive health organization, reports that forty-four percent of teen girls and forty-nine percent of boys report having had sex (“American”), but other studies and estimates run as high as seventy percent. Moreover, while American culture becomes increasingly aware and accepting of the “sex positivity” movement, which seeks to promote and embrace healthy sexuality with few constraints beyond consent and safety, it also struggles to address issues like LGBTQ rights and deeply-embedded rape culture. Sex, while a very private act, is a very public issue. These conflicting conversations very much affect American teenagers. A close look at sex education programs is now more prudent than ever. A 1996 federal act allocated $50 million for programs that promote abstinence until marriage as the only way to prevent unwanted pregnancy and STDs. Programs outside federal funding teach abstinence as one option among many. Abstinence-only education has been shown largely ineffective in reducing teen sexual activity,

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.

Teenage pregnancy rates are higher in American than they are in most other industrialized countries. This is a direct cause of the prominence of abstinence-only-before-marriage (commonly known as abstinence-only) education in United States schools. Besides teen pregnancy, abstinence-only education does a lot more harm to America’s youth. Even though abstinence-only-before-marriage education in schools promotes abstinence, a comprehensive sex education gives teenagers accurate information, has community support, and is empowering to youth.

“Same-sex education also known as single-gender education is the practice of conducting education where male and female students attend separate classes or in separate buildings or schools”. Coeducational schooling is the education of students of both sexes at the same institution. Study.com states that gender stereotypes are overgeneralizations about the characteristics of an entire group-based on gender. Another term that you might see being used in this paper is gender differences, gender differences is self-explanatory it basically is the differences between male and females. Single-sex education started in the 1980’s in the United States. According to (oxfordbibliographies.com) the latter half of the 20th century dealt with many countries moving away from single-sex education claiming it to be “unconstitutional.” During the 20th century, in the U.S, women began integrating into male colleges. At the same time the all-female schools remained segregated until further notice. That’s when the debate between parents/schools for or against single-sex education started.

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 can be awkward. Uncoordinated. Funny, even. But there is more to sex than the act itself; it comes with a whole world of new sensations, contraceptives, emotions, and potential infections. Just like it is vital to do research before going on a trip to somewhere new, it is incredibly important to have knowledge of sex before it is faced, as it can have a lot of consequences. Yet lots of teenagers, adolescents, and young adults do not have the information, simply because it was not taught. The CDC has sixteen topics that are essential for a complete sexual health education curriculum, yet most schools do not teach all of these. Teenagers are missing out on lessons about contraception, consent, self-care, and sexually transmitted diseases, all important for their health. This kind of ignorance needs to be eliminated; sex ed programs need to be developed further in order to teach adolescents what they need to know about sex and health. Comprehensive sex education curriculums should be taught in schools throughout America from a young age, as it is important for kids to have an understanding of basic anatomy, the risks of sexual intercourse, and contraceptives to keep themselves safe.

Many states have argued that sex education encourages teen sex. As an alternative to sex education, public schools have resorted to teaching abstinence, the practice of teenagers not participating in sex until marriage. Supporters of abstinence say sex education promotes sex as addressed in this article, “Teaching teens about birth control sends them the message that it is acceptable to have sex” (Opposing Viewpoints). Abstinence is not a realistic idea since many teenagers will continue to have sex. Without sex education, teenagers will be at disadvantage knowing the proper sexual safety. Proper sexual safety is vital to stopping outbreaks of STD’s and prevent unwanted pregnancies. Abstinence ignores informing the student of how pregnancies occur and how contraceptives promote safe sex. Even with this knowledge, only

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.