Sexual Education And Teen Pregnancy

There are many different attributes to teenage pregnancy. The majority of teenagers do not realize the consequences of their actions. Taking that into consideration the influences of the teens are highly important during the pre teen stage all the way to adult hood. During the time of this impressionable stage many of the teens are having sex not because of love, but because it is a trend. The media is glamorizing teen pregnancy and leading to a cultural shift.

Sexual education teaches adolescents about the use of birth control, their bodies, STD’s, and pregnancy. Due to the awareness of sexual education, adolescents are more careful about sexual intercourse. The pregnancy rate has reached the lowest in modern era between 1990-2010. It declined to 51% pregnancies per 1000 females ages 14-19 to 57.4%. This is the lowest recorded since 1973. Sexual education was not offered in schools until 1983 and many people had close to no knowledge about the options. Even though teens today are aware of their options today, they do not take proper precautions.

Teen pregnancies is a major problem in the United States. Three in ten teens will get pregnant at least once before the age of 20. That’s nearly 750,000 teen pregnancies every year.Also about 32.8 percent of freshman, 43.8 percent of sophomores, 55.5 percent of juniors and 64.45 percent of seniors in high school are sexually active. Teen pregnancy is a result of many causes.

In society, the lack of insufficient sex education for teenagers is a major problem. This ongoing issue has led to the development of a bigger problem such as teen pregnancy, sexual transmitted infection, and emotional problems adolescence have to face when engaging in sexual activity at a young age. According to the Understanding Human Sexuality textbook (2010) sexuality education can occur in many settings such as at home or school, and in personal relationships or from information found on the internet. In this society kids are being introduced to sex at such an early age that it would be beneficial for them to learn about sex education earlier as well, that way they have a lower chance of contracting an STD/STI or having an unwanted

Sex education being taught in public schools is a reoccurring topic in many schools. More recently, it has also caught the attention of the public again due to rising unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted disease among young teenagers in the US over the last decade or so. “Each year, U.S. teens experience as many as 850,000 pregnancies, and youth under age 25 experience about 9.1 million sexually transmitted infections” (McKeon). Sex Education is attempting to educate students about human sexuality, sexual reproduction, sexual activity, reproductive health, emotional relationships, reproductive rights and responsibilities, sexual abstinences, and birth control.

In the future Sexual Education courses will prevent teen pregnancy and teen abortions as well as educate students about factors that can affect life such as the deadly disease AIDS and other STD’s, inform youth about making smart choices about sex now and in the future, prevents accidental pregnancies, and assist in empowerment and awareness against sexual violence.

Sex education also known as high quality teaching and/or learning about various sex topics relating to sex and sexual activities should be taught by schools. Schools teaching adolescents not only allow them to have a more depth understand of the topic, but allow adolescents to explore different values, aspects, and beliefs about the topic. Schools teaching sexual education allow children to learn, while gaining specific skills that are manage their own sexual health, relationships and life style. Intercourse is a natural part of life, with or with out sexual education in school individuals may engage in it. Even if an adolescent isn’t engaging in sexual behaviors, contraceptives, anatomy, and sexual topics should be discussed. Instead of children not having any knowledge of the topic and explore on their own, the school system should be responsible in making sure adolescents have a understanding of these topics. Despite sexual education being taught in our school systems, although 47% of high school students have engaged in sexual intercourse rates of sexual behavior have been slightly declining since 1991 (Dolgin, 2001). Schools teach sexual education in various ways through comprehensive which explores various topics including safe sex and contraceptives (Dolgin, 2001). Also rather than encouraging adolescents to engage in sexual behaviors schools teach abstinence which deter teens from having sex Dolgin, 2001).

The United States of America contains 50 states, and out of 50, 23 states and the District of Columbia require public schools to teach sexual education (Ruth). This means out of 98,271 public schools in America, only 37,835 schools, or 38.5%, teach sexual education (“Educational Institutes”). Many adults believe children in middle school and high school may be too young to know about sex, and therefore do not want their child to be educated about it, thus being the cause for the low rate of sexual education. Because of this low education rate, teenagers contract half of all new STIs and girls have been dropping out of high school to raise a child (“State Policies on”). Studies prove 3 in 10 teenage girls in America become pregnant at least once before they turn 20, resulting in nearly 750,000 teenage pregnancies every year (“11 Facts About”). All public schools should be required to teach adequate sexual education.

In a sexual education class, students learn about a natural part of life. Sexual education helps students prepare and think more carefully about a part of life. As a teenager learns about sexual education it encourages them to reduce sexual activities. “Students who reported being sexually active, 39 percent reported that they did not use a condom at last sexual intercourse, and 77 percent reported that they did not use birth control pills or depo-provera. Among teen couples who do not use any method of contraception, 85-90% will experience a pregnancy within one year (Bridges).” Many people believe sexual education leads students in the wrong direction such as, increasing pregnancy rates and encouraging sexual activities. Sexual education teaches students about the use of condoms and birth control. Providing Sexual education in schools is a valuable and positive resource for students.

The United States sex education poorly educates students on how to protect themselves from both unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted disease. When one looks at data comparing the United States to countries with comprehensive sex education, you can see the significant difference in numbers of these issues. You can also see how the lack of education among students leads to more sexual harassment towards females. In order to combat these issues, the United States should put in place a better education strategy that teaches young adults how to have safe sex that prevents unwanted pregnancy and STIs, instead of stressing the importance of abstinence.

Lack of attention or love can lead to teen pregnancy by these young men and women go looking for love or attention in all the wrong places. By trying to fill this void they may not have gotten from their own family or

Some causes of Teen pregnancy are absent parenting, lack of knowledge, substance abuse, living in poverty and peer pressure. The number of teens within the ages of 14-19 has substantially decreased over the last several years. While examining the causes of teen pregnancy, new methods of prevention can be defined. If there are different methods identified for preventing teen pregnancy than the number of teens can go down more.

Teen pregnancy in the United States is still an epidemic. The number of babies delivered by teen pregnancies in 2014 was 249,078. That is 24% per 1,000 women ages 15-19. This number has declined 57% since 1991 but is still an issue in United States today. Not only are these teenagers uneducated they are also not financially prepared to take on the task of raising a child. Teen pregnancy is usually unplanned and unexpected and cost approximately $28 billion a year in tax dollars, per The Office of Adolescent Health. Let us take a deeper look at some of the contributors to teen pregnancy and how it affects communities.

The majority educational facilities require the enrollment of middle school or early high school students in a necessary health class educators teach students about all of the “horrible” events that will happen to them if they have sex. Sexual education should not scare adolescents out of participating in sexual activities, it should teach them about their bodies and their bodies abilities. Adolescents are curious and some even become curious before they hit middle school. It is not worth it to bear the risk of not teaching the teenagers the safe way to perform a sexual activity in order to not corrupt their innocent minds. Teaching adolescents to avoid sex all together is only giving them additional drive to find out what it is like themselves. Therefore, sexual education is important in order to prevent unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases, to allow the adolescent to learn about their body, and to give the adolescent the knowledge needed to make educated judgements about participating in sexual activities.

Some reasons of Teen pregnancy are absent parenting, lack of knowledge, substance abuse, living in poverty and peer pressure. The number of teens between the ages of 14-19 has substantially decreased over the last few years. While it may be declining, we still need to look at the causes. While examining the causes of teen pregnancy, we can find new methods of preventing teen pregnancy. If there are different methods identified for preventing teen pregnancy than the number of teens can go down more.