The Importance Of Sexual Education In Schools

That way is through sex education, it will provide a safe and stable environment for students and even parents to understand options and routes each teen can take. Hopefully involving this education into all schools can overall affect almost all teens as well as their families, bringing a positive impact to the topic that people are weary of. Abstinence-only education may be effective for some and is a great way to teach kids, but sex education provides a more specialized learning for every student. Therefore it is a necessity in any child's education, young or old, it is never too late to

The teenagers and children of today read about, listen to and watch all sorts of information about sex. While most adults have had some form of sex education, we must ask if this new generation is learning anything new or helpful from their sex education classes. The American culture and way of living is so absorbed in sex that children should be taught about it, people just can not agree on how to teach them. In her article New Sex ed Funding Ends Decade of Abstinence-Only, Kelli Kennedy proves that abstinence-only sex education classes and programs are not as good as regular sex education classes better than Shari Roan does in her article Teen pregnancy rates rises. Are abstinent-only programs to blame?

Studies have also shown that abstinence-focused programs have failed to reduce STI rates. The American Sexual Health Association states, “More than half of all people will have an STD/STI at some point in their lifetime,” (“Statistics”). Comprehensive sex education would teach teenagers how to improve their sexual health, prevent unwanted pregnancies, and prevent sexually transmitted diseases and infections. Providing students with this information does not encourage them to participate in sexual activity sooner. Several findings show that, “[Comprehensive sex education] effectively promotes abstinence and may delay sexual debut, reduce sexual frequency, reduce the number of sexual partners, reduce STI risk, and increase the likelihood of consistent contraceptive use,” (Jeffries 173). Comprehensive sex education will be beneficial to students by teaching them how to have sexual intercourse safely, if they choose to not remain abstinent.

While the department of education does include a recommendation for school districts to develop and implement age-appropriate sex education, it’s not mandated in many states. There is confusion among teenagers about the different methods they can use to protect themselves; for example, contraceptives (such as birth control) do not prevent STI’s, but do prevent pregnancies. In fact, almost 37% of "18-25 year olds incorrectly believe at least one of the following: transmission of HIV is possible by sharing a glass, kissing, or touching a toilet seat" (The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation 2006). Without the proper knowledge, teens simply cannot be expected to act accordingly. Abstinence-only education gives students an incomplete education, and expects students to disregard the gaps in teachings. This isn't just unfair; it is dangerous. In a study performed by the American Journal of Public Health involving 4,000 teens over a period of seven years, they found that adolescents who used condoms during their first intercourse had on average the same number of partners as those who did not use a condom. However, the former group was 30 percent more likely to have used condoms in their most recent sexual encounter,

Abstinence only education is hindering the lives of teens in today’s world. Schools should stop teaching abstinence only education since, it increases the rate of teens having sexual relations with other people, it does not give students adequate lessons on preventing STDs, and the rate of teen pregnancy is higher for students who receive abstinence only education. As a nation we need to help teens protect themselves with this topic and most importantly approach it with caution. Many schools believe that abstinence only education is the most effective way to instruct students on the topic of sex when it clearly is not.

Schools should educate students about their bodies, and how to protect them. “The point of this kind of sex education is to inform teenagers about the possible risks of being sexually active and to educate them about methods of birth control and sexually transmitted infection protection.” Students deserve the basic human right live freely, and if their choice may be, considering about 70% of the national teenage population usually make this decision anyway, to be involved in sexual relations than there needs to be a basic knowledge of safety

The U.S. has the highest rates of sexually transmitted diseases and teen pregnancies of any industrialized nation that put young teenagers at risks. It is estimate that 20,000 new cases of sexually transmitted diseases reported each year comes from people under the age of 25 and 82 percent of all teen pregnancies are accidents that account for one-fifth of all unintended pregnancies annually (CDC 2006). As a result, the government needs to stop funding and promoting abstinence only programs and start focusing on comprehensive sex education. Comprehensive sexuality education according to Sexuality Information and Education Council of the US (SIECUS) provides a complete message by teaching age appropriate and medically accurate information

Teens are using the internet and the media to learn about sex, if they are not getting the information from credible sources at school. The perpetuation of sexual objectification in the media can influence young adults, especially young girls. Half naked women are all over magazines, internet and television. This images along with shows such as Teen Mom, can add to the confusion and curiosity about sexual behavior. If these young students are bombarded with all of these over sexualized ideas in the media, but only are told to abstain from sex, it can cause many issues for the students. One side of society tells these students that sex is a positive act, while abstinence only programs tell them that sex is bad and to avoid

Studies show that teenagers who’ve had sex later regret it. Abstinence only education should be the only education taught in schools instead of comprehensive education. The most popular ways of teaching about sex are abstinence teachings and comprehensive education. Abstinence education is a better option than comprehensive because it is the only effective way to avoid pregnancy, protects against sexually transmitted diseases, and proves the partner is interested for more than sex; comprehensive education teaches that there is a way for safe sex if students choose that path but teenage sex should not be an option. “…encouraging teens to just say no to sex may be the most effective at delaying early sexual activity”

There are many other reasons why sex education in high schools are so important. It will lower teen pregnancy ratings in an obvious way. There will also be a huge drop in teens without STD’s. It will encourage abstinence and saving yourself until you are absolutely ready. It may not save every teenager but it will inform them of their options and of the consequences of unprotected. Therefore, Sex Education should be a class in every young adult’s life. There will always be a girl who is clueless of the consequences and will need the class to make her decision smarter and

In both cases, Abstinence-only education did not direct them, in any way, to abstain from sex (Valenti). Therefore, given that so many teens will not desist from sex, effective sex education programs have the responsibility to help teens to be aware of the risks and consequences that come along with sexuality, like early pregnancy or STDs (Alford). Such effective programs should employ personalized interviews and follow-ups for each student and parents; as well as committees including doctors, psychologists, pediatricians, and real young people with shocking experience as a teen

Whether its safe sex practices or even abstinence, all of these issues must be dealt with in an educational setting, because when we look at the teen pregnancy rates, sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV/AIDS, it only makes sense to have as much education as possible. Adolescents have a human right to accurate and comprehensive sexual health

Anyone who wishes to pass on information to another person, similar to the work that teachers do, will always delve into the information they feel is most important, but what is truly important can be perceived in many different ways. The safety issues that arise with abstinence only education are numerous. Young adults will not know anything about the action itself let alone the precautionary steps that every person should take before engaging in intercourse. It is almost impossible for teens to know the countless risks that threaten them when a condom is not in play. As well they have no idea how permanent a lot of those risks are. In abstinence only education it can only be hoped that they have heard something about sexually transmitted diseases, or pregnancy rates in relation to sexual activity and if they have this almost always would be very surface level information. With this situation being setup young teens, who will no doubt face their sexual urges during a very dynamic time in their bodily development, will then go in blind and act on impulse rather than accompanying their urges with cautious thought. Sex education

With abstinence only sex education teens wouldn’t be learning about STD prevention or pregnancy prevention and if they did decide to have sex, they wouldn’t know much about STDs and how devastating they can be and that would eliminate their fear factor and they wouldn’t really worry about getting them. “At the moment the favored approach is called comprehensive sex education. The nation's highest-ranking health officer, Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders, has endorsed this approach as the chief way to reduce unwed childbearing and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) among teenagers.”(Whitehead). The big controversy is that parents don’t want some stranger teaching their children about sex, but instead they want to be the ones that educate their children when they feel like the time is right. Yeah that’s great and all but the problem is that when the teens parents teach them about sex, they often times miss some key information and that could leave the teen confused, or they could give information that is structured based on an opinion and could mislead the teen to perceive sex as a bad thing which can’t be true because it’s the root of life. When comprehensive sexual education is taught in school it’s information is 100%

If schools had sex education classes and made them mandatory then they would actually learn about sex and sexuality like they are suppose to. “Sex education teaches them about their bodies, informs them of the risks of having sex, and teaches them about safe sex” (Blick). Learning about sex in school would be less uncomfortable for the student, because it would feel like a normal class they have to take, instead of a one on one talk with their parents, who makes it worse than it is since they do not know how to talk about it. Letting the school teach about sex and sexuality would take the pressure off of the parents, and they wouldn’t have to struggle thinking of something to tell their child. Sex education in school would be a sure way to be certain that students learn about everything they need to know.