Sex Education For A Child 's Life Essay

During 1920s, U.S. schools began to incorporate sex education to their courses. A 2002 study conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that “58% of secondary school principals describe their sex education curriculum as comprehensive programs provide factual information about birth control, sexual transmitted disease, and continue the message to children about waiting to have sex.” (Johannah)

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.

Sex education should be implemented at an early age beginning at the middle school level. A discussion of contraception, the risks of diseases, the risk of becoming an unwed teen parent and the disadvantages of not having an education will help decrease the number of teen pregnancies with future generations. Parents should not feel threatened of having their children learning about sex in class. Parents should feel empowered; it will allow their children opportunities to feel they are able to discuss future topics of sex at home to help promote

Everyone has their own way of rising children. This sometimes causes problems while deciding on what children should learn in school. While some schools cater to religion being taught the same thing is not set in place for sex education. Many believe that sex education is vital in today’s world. Meanwhile others feel that the sex talk should be left up to the parents. With pregnancy rates going up and adolescents getting pregnant younger soon there will not be a choice. One thing is certain that public schools should educate children in some way. Nevertheless not all parts of sex education will be accepted.

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.

An alarming rate of Sexually Transmitted Infections and Pregnancy among teenagers has been an ongoing concern and could be linked to the lack of sex education in schools. Statistics show that 3 in 10 teenagers are becoming pregnant every year, and 1 in four teenagers are contracting sexually transmitted infections. There are numerous opposing views towards the teaching of comprehensive sex education in school districts. Many people are opposed to this because they believe that it encourages premarital sexual promiscuity in young adults, is destructive to religious belief, and is inappropriate and harmful. “Comprehensive Sex Education Is Inappropriate and Harmful” is and article that provides concrete evidence, for example, it states in the article that “Teens enrolled in these classes are given false information about how pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases can be avoided and may actually be encouraged to engage in activities that could lead to sexual intercourse” which is quite the contrary. My personal view is that as a nation we should be teaching students comprehensive sex education also known as abstinence plus, because it will better educate students and save money. Comprehensive sex education stresses the importance of abstinence, but also provides important information for the prevention of STI’s and unplanned pregnancies. I believe this needs to be taught in schools because I come from a school that taught abstinence only and nothing more, and the number of

Mary Calderone, a physician and public health advocate for sexual education, said, “Before the child ever gets to school it will have received crucial, almost irrevocable sex education and this will have been taught by the parents, who are not aware of what they are doing.” Under our interpretation, this means that children, even if their parents are wrong or even unaware of what they are doing, will default to what was taught to them by their parents. As a result, it would be a costly, in regards to time, mistake to leave the teaching of sexual education in the hands of school officials. That being said, Parents and guardians should be the primary sexual educator(s) of their children.

Students can now access any site on the internet that contains adult content or pornographic materials. That is why sex education should be implemented in schools. It is better for children to be informed earlier because they will still know about it when they grow up as they will be more exposed to it through their peers and the media (Cooper, n.d.). Through sex education, young people are able to communicate, listen, negotiate with others, ask for and identify sources of help and advice when it comes to sexual relationships. Through communication teenagers more confident and know better about the consequences of having sex before marriage.

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

There are problems with not teaching sex education at school. There are some parents that don't know how to talk to their children about sex. If the school doesn't children about sex, then they will learn it the "hard way", maybe by contraction of a sexually transmitted disease. One of the most deadly and well-known sexually transmitted diseases today is HIV. According to the Web page AVERT, HIV infection is increasing most rapidly among young people ("Does"). This disease is killing hundreds of children each year, because they had to learn it the "hard way".

The topic of sex education in the United States has long been a controversial provision stemming from varying notions and disagreements about what students should be taught regarding human sexuality. More than two decades ago, Texas Legislature made the decision to promote abstinence over any other method of sexuality education in Texas public schools. Revised in 1995, Chapter 28 of the Texas Education Code (TEC §28.004) requires that health educators and health education curricula in Texas public schools direct students to a standard of behavior in which abstinence from sexual activity before marriage is the most effective way to prevent pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases—a provision still governing our health education classrooms today despite overwhelming research that reveals a deep ineffectiveness of such programs.

Parents’ Sex Talk with Kids: Too Little, Too Late, authored by Alice Park, states “Parental talks about sex and sexuality need to occur much earlier than they do, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that parents have only one shot at getting it right… experts also say that parents should discuss certain issues with their children at age-appropriate times, and that the discussion should evolve as children mature” (2008). When a child is curious about anything they will investigate on their own, usually the investigation leads to questioning peers and other people their age. When a child learns about sex through other children or adolescents they will, most likely, not be getting all the facts and it may lead to personal investigation through physical exploration. This can lead to children having sex too early. Having sexual education in schools can ensure that children and adolescents will be getting educated properly.

Firstly, what is Sex education? It is an explanation about bodily development, sexuality and relationships. Also, it teaches young people how to make good decisions when engaged in sexual intercourse. This is extremely important, as it can help prevent issues such as teenage pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases from spreading. Some might argue that sex education shouldn’t even be discussed on whether it should be in schools or not, but that it is a right for students to know. There are numerous benefits to a person’s education as a result of sexual education. Some include: Communicating about sexuality and sexual health, autonomy of one’s body, and even as much as protecting a student's’ academic success. The CDC reports that people who engaged in health-risking activities were more likely to score lower on examinations than those who did not. Teenage pregnancies can lead as far as absenteeism or even dropping out.

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.

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,