Sexual Education in Schools
By
Katelin Garchow
Professor Delong
English 111
October 10, 2015
Sexual Education in Schools Sexual intercourse is considered to be between two people that love each other very much. It is romanticized in movies and books, and is alluded to everywhere. As the age for sexual experimentation grow lower many question whether or not have sexual education in our school systems. Many argue that by educating the children at younger ages about sex, it promote the early experimentation. Also that it is not the school 's job to teach about sexualatity and that what they would teach would be against their religion, beliefs, or values, but should promote abstinence. Others argue that the experimental rate is grong and if teens will have sex it is better to educate them on how to be safe. They also arguer that sex is everywhere and children will learn about sex in some way shape or form, whether it be from friends, family, or the media. The first argument made by those who are against schools teaching sexual education to their children state that the school has no right to teach their children about sex. Those parents argue that they can educate their child themselves about the dangers of sex. Parents fear what the schools are teaching their child, and fear that they will become “more accepting of sexual behavior” (Lenth). Another fear is that the classes will make students believe that all teens have sex, peer pressuring them into having
Human nature has shaped and developed many different social norms in our society, however, they also create many social problems when conflicting views come under scrutinization. Sexual education in America has been problematic since the late 1900’s because there is simply a lack of it. Sexual education has transformed over a hundred years, abated by the effect of religious upbringings and conservative outlooks. However, as evolved as it is today, it is still a national issue because of the ongoing struggle of comprehensive sexual education against abstinence, and in the midst of the two, students are still not being exposed to proper sexual health.
As sexually-transmitted diseases and teen pregnancy numbers increase, arguments regarding sexual education classes being taught in high school have been continuously debated: Does abstinence-only sexual education classes work, or do they encourage students to become sexually active? Sexual education in high school has never really been as analyzed as much as it has been over the past decade due to the rise in sexual nature of the world today. Teenagers are exposed to the work of becoming a parent and the embarrassment of diseases through various types of media without explanation of prevention and actual consequence, such as the show 16 & Pregnant. Because of the constant display of the reprimands of unsafe sex, teenagers
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
In 1991 the average birth rate for Black females between the ages of 15-19 was 118.2 out of every 1000. An astonishing 11.8% of teenagers were having children. In 2013 the same demographic had a birth rate of 39 per 1000 ("Birth Rates (Live Births) per 1,000 Females Aged 15–19 Years, by Race and Hispanic Ethnicity, Select Years"). This is due to teaching safe sex, and encouraging the use of contraceptives. In order to provide the highest quality future for America’s youth, safe sex needs to be implemented nationwide. This means teaching comprehensive sexual education classes instead of abstinence-only, showing that parents want their children taught safe sex, and impressing the burden teenage pregnancies have on society.
Often, sexual education can go against an individual's moral or religious beliefs. Many schools do not teach abstinence only but teach safe sex, whereas many religious groups and families do not value intercourse before marriage. Teachers may input their own beliefs or morals into the subject matter rather than stick with the facts if they are not properly trained on how to conduct a sex education course. Sex education classes are briefly focused on during a health class or physical education. This is not a long enough period to educate students on such serious material. These arguments does not take into account the fact that students will be taught on subjects such as, sexually transmitted diseases, the reproductive system, sexually and birthing issues rather than the stuff they learn through peers, television or the internet. Many of the myths learned by students about sex swill also are discussed, such as not being able to get pregnant the first time. Classes for those of a younger group are separated by gender, saving embarrassment amongst students and teachers. Teaching sex education can have a major impact on preventing unplanned pregnancy and other sexual problems in adulthood.
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
They argue there is something simply wrong with the idea that teaching kids about risky behavior is something that could be avoided all together. Some advocates for abstinence-only programs argue that there should not be sex education taught in public schools because it is the parents place to talk about sex in that much detail with their own child (Should sexual education be taught in public schools?). However, what happens to the children who do not receive the same, well-educated treatment from their parents as others? Not all children have parents who know all the right information to tell them, the right answers to their questions, or maybe they just do not care to further explain to them what it is all about. That is where the school steps in, and teaches them everything they need to know to make the right choices. They also argue that it could make females a lot more promiscuous as well as males more curious for themselves. Though, in a study of 35 sex education programs around the world, statistics from the World Health Organization found there is no evidence that these comprehensive programs encourage any sort of negative promiscuity or sexual activity (Carnal Knowledge: The sex ed debate). Some students also say that learning that type of information in the classroom is sometimes uncomfortable which makes them distracted and not focused in on the main lesson of sexual education. And even though, according to research, teaching about sex education has positive impacts on children and provides them all with the information they need to make life-affirming decisions for themselves, opposing groups continue to stand by their beliefs that it has negative impacts and makes kids so much more tempted to actually do it. However, we still witness a large sum of teenage pregnancies each year. Why is this? The whole
What if a rapist was coming at someone? Do kids know what to do besides lie on the ground and cry? What if a teenager had an unplanned pregnancy? Do they know their options about abortion or adoption or keeping the baby? Will young adults know the results of their choices? Sexual education teaches all of the following, and kids in the curriculum are more likely to defend themselves in a plot when they were approached by a stranger (“Teaching children in schools…”). Sexual education teaches students about sexual health, abstinence, and information such as contraception, condoms, unplanned pregnancies, and sexually transmitted diseases (“Sex Education Programs”). Comprehensive sexual
According to Lee, M., Flynn, Simone Isadora, Points of View: Sex Education in Schools, 3/1/2016 "Since teen pregnancies is a major social and political issue nationwide, much of the discussion about sex education has to do with its effectiveness in reducing the number of unplanned pregnancies among young women" (Par 4) If schools are supposed to prepare students for life, it doesn't make sense to treat sex education like it don't matter. Many parents are reluctant to take the initiative and teach their children about sex, so most of the time they are educated be the T.V and other teens around
The topic of sexual education has been controversial for a while now. There are many stances that are taken to defend the course of education, but there are also many positions that are completely opposed to this idea. One side of the spectrum simply doesn’t trust anybody to teach their children about this act. There lays an authoritative issue underneath the opinion of not allowing a professional teacher to inform their children of what would happen if one were to partake in this sexual activity. The opposite side believes this class has beneficial factors, due to children knowing nothing about what could happen, or even what intercourse is. However, the question that we boil down to is what exactly IS sex? Why do we treat this topic as something
Sex. You may ask, sex, why do we want to talk about sex? Well simply because if we don 't talk about sex now then when? We are sitting here watching teens get pregnant and yet we still are not talking about sex. Along with that more and more kids are sending nudes to be exact 13% of 14- 24 year olds have sent multiple naked photos (Indianapolis Recorder Newspaper). Then we have the fact that ages 15 - 24 are 25% of the sexually active population but obtain a little over half of all stds and stis (Indianapolis Recorder Newspaper). Sexual Education should be taught in school to help lower teen pregnancy rates, how much std’s and sti’s there are among people ages 15-24 (Indianapolis Recorder Newspaper)
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".
Sex Education is a controversial but extremely important topic. Yet, we are doing very little to address it. Teaching sex education in schools are essential for teens to help build a strong foundation of sexual health. Although sex education must begin at home, some parents feel uncomfortable talking about the topic with their children and they believe teaching their children about sex can end up encouraging them to engage in sexual intercourse. Due to that, parents and schools try to emphasize the importance of abstinence. Parents and schools try to teach children to never have sex until they are married. However, this program is flawed because it promotes a bias perspective. The goal of the program should be to inform and educate
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.
Schools play a major role in a child’s life. Students generally spend more time in school with their teachers and peers than they do at home. They learn about Math, Science, English, Social studies and much more. One of the major things that needs more emphasis is sex education. Society is changing boys and girls are starting puberty earlier than when schools provide them with information about it. “52% of teens have has sexual intercourse out of that 52% 42% say they did not use a condom during the last instance”(Sex Education in Texas Public Schools). With all the information on the Internet students should be informed on what is correct and what is not. The way we can do that is be placing students in sex education classes. Sex education is a necessary component in a child’s life; with society changing it needs to be offered at a younger age. There are many reasons for this it can help prevent unwanted teen pregnancies, educate youth on sexually transmitted diseases and teach them how to be safe. One of the issues people have with sex education in schools is the belief that it corrupts the youths mind.