The Importance of Sex Education Essay

Sex education, as it is understood today, was unknown until about 200 years ago. Since children were taking part in almost all adult

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

The role of educating students about the importance of healthy sexual relationships has fallen hard and fast on public schools. School aged boys and girls are not receiving information from their parents on what decisions they should make in regards to sex. Parents are finding this topic of conversation too taboo to breach and as a result, students are getting what little information they are receiving from school. Less then half of school aged adolescents talk to their parents about sex and abstinence (Smith, 2005).

“The ideal of what historian Anne Higonnet calls the Romantic Child, our modern image of a naturally asexual, pure child, is at the heart of century-long conflicts over sex education. By definition, the romantic child’s innocence depends on protection from sexuality” (Talk About Sex 13). Parents, in general, do not feel at ease thinking about their children having sex, nor do they want to encourage them to do so. The fact that most parents are not comfortable talking about the subject with their children only increases the importance of doing so in our schools.

To begin, some parents may debate that their child isn’t old enough to receive such graphic information, the truth is while children become teenagers puberty sparks interest in sexual activity and with some children starting puberty as early as ten or eleven years old sex is a natural thing to think about at that age. Following, some may also say that having an extensive sexual education course can present unruly ideas to our youth. To argue, as the 21st century has changed what Americans consider right and wrong allowing more understanding and acceptance of difference. Understanding themselves at an early age will help them achieve comfortability in their adult lives. Teenagers need an explanation to why their bodies and minds are changing and with a comprehensive sexual education course they may seek out the answers they have been questioning themselves, as well as answering questions they haven’t thought to ask yet. Lastly, considering how the teenage body and mind work, why would it be beneficial to explain a wide range of sexual education? With proper education teens can prepare themselves for the future, whenever they choose to become sexually active they will know who they can talk to including school counselors, pediatricians and more importantly their parents. Juveniles will also have the understanding of birth control, what the most effective ways to protect yourself

Healthy sexual development begins at birth. It is a holistic process that involves the emotional, cognitive, behavioral and physical experiences. The physical development aspect has played a pivotal role in sex education discussion. As such, the discussion of sex education in this forum will focus on the emotional, cognitive and behavioural sexual development and the responsibility parents and teachers have in educating themselves to assist adolescents through this development.

Parents want their children to practice abstinence for their health and for a healthy marriage, but would prefer schools encourage and teach abstinence. Many parents do not feel comfortable talking about sex and remaining abstinent . “Some researchers have found that when parents talk to their adolescents about sexuality, adolescents are more likely to delay intercourse and if they have intercourse, to use contraception and have fewer partners.” (Hutchinson Mk, Jemmott JB 3rd, Jemmott LS, Braverman P, Fong GT, 2003) ; “when parents talk about these topics , they tend to lecture possibly inhibiting open communication. “( Jaccard J, Dittus PJ Gordon VV, 2000 ) Parents who feel more confident in their communication with their children have an open, healthy and receptive conversation.

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.

Sex is always a touchy subject, adolescents feel embarrassed discussing it with their parents or teacher and adults feel awkward answering questions. When people discuss being pregnant or breastfeed it’s often referred to as a natural thing, but when discussing sex it is a natural thing that a lot of adults feel uncomfortable confronting. There can be number of problems that can occur in the area of adolescent sexuality, but it is important to keep in mind majority of adolescents have healthy sexual attitudes and engage in sexual behaviors that will not compromise their journey to adulthood (Adolescence pg. 193). Are the “suttle” and “private” talks about sex harming adolescents versus helping them? Is the sex education that is being taught being embedded in adolescent’s heads? Many people have a different opinion on wither sex education should be taught in school and how it should be taught. When looking at the statistics, sex education can play an important role in adolescents now days. In 2011 54% of twelfth graders have had sexual intercourse and 38% were currently sexually active (Adolescence pg. 197). Many adolescents that are sexually active do not use contraceptives. 34% of the sexually active adolescents did not use contraceptives the last time they had intercourse (Adolescence pg. 206). I am all for teaching adolescents about abstinence but truth of the matter sex is becoming more and more popular in adolescent lives. The way sex education is being presented

What isn’t so funny is the fact many adolescents learn about sex from everybody else apart from their parents. I’m quickly reminded of back then when I was just approaching puberty, I was a ‘late bloomer’ as many would call it. This obviously came along with it’s pros and cons. On one hand, I oftenly got teased for being a baby but on the other hand, I got the first hand information from my friends about the changes they were experiencing. Imagine my shock when one of the girls told me that her mum had informed her that if she let any boy touch her then she would become pregnant, best believe she never went close to any boy until she got to high school. This statement might have come from a place of love with the intent to protect her little girl but the reality is it was very ,misleading.

Humans have a natural impulse to reproduce: It is imbedded in our genetic code and a major influence in our conscious and subconscious stream of thoughts. It is scientifically proven that humans are the only species that struggle with sexual identity and have sex for pleasure. While this may be the case our natural instincts can become negative when we are not properly educated on these subjects, it can lead to miscommunication, abuse, and mishaps regarding sexual topics among teens. The job of parental guides and of teachers in the nations schools is to properly educated children on sexual topics to ensure their understandings of wrong and right. However, even with the success rate of schools current health and sex education program, the

Sexual education should begin at home. Parents and guardians ought to be the primary instructors of sex education for their children. Daily, parents should

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

First of all, the main reason children have sex prematurely is because they are curious. Students lack knowledge about sex because they haven’t been taught about it, however, when children know the consequences behind their actions and the risks they are taking they less likely to want to have sex. If we take the time to show kids what it is like to take care of a child as a teenager

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.