Persuasive Speech About Sex In School

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.

Teenage pregnancy and condom use are one of the greatest debated and an issue that people cannot seem to agree on. While some parties feel that giving teenagers’ sex education starting from an early age will go a long way in helping curb teenage pregnancies, others feel that this only accelerates the rate at which teenagers are getting pregnant with the constant exposure to information that they use wrongly.

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.).

Imagine if the United States said “Okay, we’re banning driver’s Education in schools. We don’t think a sixteen year old is mentally and physically prepared to drive safely, and we don’t want to encourage that”. So of course, schools start pulling driver’s ed classes, but also say “Wait wait wait, sixteen year olds may not be ready to drive, but they’re going to anyway. Why not make it safer for them instead of putting them out on the road with no safety knowledge?” But, the country continues to say “They’re not ready so we’re not going to encourage that in schools” Sex education isn't just about pregnancy, it's about avoiding STDs and other health issues. The highest teenage STD rates are normally associated with abstinence-only education. Some STDs will cause life-long problems, and should be taught about to teens. Although there is an attempt to minimize teen pregnancy and stds, the rate of teen pregnancy is higher in the U.S. than other Western countries, Among teens aged 18–19, 41% report that they know little or nothing about condoms, and 1 in 4 teens in the US receives information about abstinence without receiving any information or instructions about birth control.

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.

Many young adults in the United States are ignoring the use of condoms, more to the extent college students, this declining trend can be seen at many US colleges because of a lack of efficient measures being taken to promote safe sex in ways such a lack of information in mandatory workshops, students failing to acknowledge the consequences of having unprotected sex, and poor promotion and advertising by the university to have safe sex. Many universities around U.S. are doing a really great job to promote safe sex among students by provide many useful advices as well as resources to help their student prevent from sexual diseases, but it’s still not effective enough. Writing in TIME Magazine, Katy Steinmetz explains that, " While teenagers in the U.S. are likely to use a condom the first time they have sex, their behavior becomes inconsistent after that." (Steinmetz 1) She also proclaims "with the use of condoms among teens stalling, STD rates are on the rise." (Steinmetz 1). Today, teens in the U.S. are the highest group to get contact with STD because of lack engagement in safe sex. Steinmetz believes part of the reason why is because of the public schools and their lack efforts to address the issue to students. She claims "Schools have competing health issues that they're asked to deal with, things like tobacco use, bullying, the obesity epidemic. It's been hard to keep attention focused on HIV and STD prevention." (Steinmetz 2) Also, with limited time frames for teachers, it is impossible to spend an adequate amount of their class periods on all of them, and often safe sex is not stressed like it should be. If teens do not understand why they need condoms, there is no incentive for them to seek them out and actually use them. Laura Kann, an

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.

For many years now, individuals in all states have been attempting to teach teenagers about safe sex. Administrators have designed special classes and foundations worldwide in order to help out with this subject. As said by K4Health, “The term ‘condom’ first appeared in print in 1717, in an English publication on syphilis, although its origin still remains uncertain” (Stryker). The reason why schools should be giving teenagers condoms is because most teenagers do not tell their parents that they are sexually active. Most teenagers are more comfortable telling one of their teachers that they are really close to, or another administrator. If the parents are not aware that their child is sexually active, they will not have the educational

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

What would you do if you or someone you knew found out they were pregnant or had a sexually transmitted disease because of unprotected sex? Would you only care once it’s too late? Wouldn’t you wish you could have prevented what you thought you were incapable of ever dealing with? Surprisingly to many, unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases can be preventable with the proper education. Sexual Education classes should be mandatorily taught in public schools to benefit the adolescents who are more susceptible to sexually transmitted diseases, who are sexually active, and who lack positive decision making skills.

According to the Department of Health and Human Services in 2014, 76% of US public and private high schools taught students abstinence as the most effective method to avoid pregnancy, HIV, and other STDs (American 1). In ¾ of US high schools, just saying “no” remains getting taught as the most effective way to avoid pregnancy and STDs. Abstinence programs are not effective in delaying pregnancy and STDs. If the way this program continues to be taught remains so ineffective, schools need to discontinue teaching this subject that way. If students do not know how to use a condom or how to get on birth control, teens are at an increased risk of STDs. STDs, sexually transmitted diseases, are an extremely serious issue. While some STDs, like herpes, can be cured with treatment, other STDs, like HIV, can turn into a bigger problem and lead to death. If teenagers get educated about how dangerous, and disgusting, these STDs can be, adolescents will avoid STDs at all

Sex education can be traced back to the beginning of the 20th century. “Chicago’s public schools introduced the Nation’s first formal sex education program” which has raised controversy throughout the years. Many believe that talking about sex in the classroom raises the initiation of such behavior. Others believe that ignoring the subject keeps teens in the dark which leads them to make unsafe decisions when they become sexually active. Whether it is at school or at home, teens must be taught about the dangers of unprotected sex as well as abstinence. Being unaware of protection puts teens at risk of becoming pregnant or contracting an STD or STI. Sex education must be taught at school and it must be taught right, without lies or myths and without giving teens the idea that the only perfect time for them to become sexually active is when they are married. If sex education was taught at school instead of abstinence-only education, it would help young adults make correct decisions when becoming sexually active as well as helping them make wise choices that can affect their future.

Coinciding with the onslaught of the new millennium, schools are beginning to realize that the parents are not doing their job when it comes to sexual education. The school system already has classes on sexual education; these classes are based mainly on human anatomy. Most schools do not teach their students about relationships, morals, respect, self-discipline, self-respect, and most importantly contraceptives. Everyday students engage in sexual activity, many of them with out condoms. This simple act jeopardizes these students' futures and possibly their lives. An increasing amount of school systems are starting to combine messages involving abstinence from sexual activity,