Essay on Comprehensive Sex Education

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

Barr et al. (2014) study reported in the study that sexual education taught only by the teachers would be effective in preventing teen pregnancy. The teachers would have to be competent, skillful and content on the subject of sex with the student. The National Teacher Preparation Standards for Sexuality Education is an unexpected effort but with years to come the program will become active (Barr et al., 2014). The results of the study indicated that by letting teachers teach teens about sex education decreased teenage pregnancy (Barr et al.,

“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.

Sexuality is an intrinsic part of being a human being. Hence, it follows that as we grow sexual development is normal and for most a point of curiosity. In an age where even a curious five year old could ask the internet where babies come from instead of asking their parents, it is becoming increasingly evident sexual education is a necessity for the sexual health of America’s youth. Sexual education is an important class that should be integrated into the public school system in order to prevent the problems of teen pregnancy and STDs such as HIV. The CDC reports that in 2015 about 230,000 babies were born to teen girls aged 15-19 and that nearly half of the 20 million new STD cases reported in 2015 were among young adults between the ages

Sex education has always been a controversial topic, especially to the extent that it is taught to. Under the early years of the Reagan administration, the Adolescent Family Life Act was passed for abstinence-only education based on the presumption that talking about sex in school would promote sexual activities among teenagers. The two-point act was quietly passed in 1981, as it was not voted on by the House and was coded under Title XX of the Public Service Health Act. The first point was to provide at least two-thirds of funds to support pregnant teenagers, while the second point’s purpose was to use the remaining one-third or less to discourage sexual acts until marriage. Lawrence (2007) asserted that teenage pregnancy rates at the time of passing were rising, so the government wanted to stop everything all together. Since then, billions of dollars have been spent and more laws have been passed to promote abstinence-only education. Pregnancies, sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), and sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in the U.S. actually continued to rise, despite what was believed that the acts and funding could accomplish (p. 2). Though scientists and accredited researchers saw this coming, they continued with research to finalize conclusions with the majority hypothesis that comprehensive sex education would show the greatest improvement among teenage pregnancy. Comprehensive sex education

Sexual education in public schools is one of the most controversial issues in education. In today’s society, it is almost impossible to ignore the responsibility of informing adolescence about the issues of sex. Since the lack of knowledge, leads to an array of issues ranging from teen pregnancy to sexually transmitted diseases. The debate over whether to implement sex education in American schools has ended. The question is whether comprehensive sex education classes are more impressionable than those stressing abstinence only.

Since the first sex education video, "Human Growth" was shown in public schools in the 1940's, sex education in school has remained a controversial subject (Bellafante 9.1). In the present however, it is no longer disputed whether or not sex-ed should be taught, but what should be taught in a sex education program. Conservatives and Liberals both agree that sex education in public schools is important but, their views on what should be taught differ dramatically. Despite the various monikers to describe different sex education programs and curricula, there are really only two types: abstinence-until-marriage and comprehensive (Sex Education Programs: Definitions & Point-by-Point

Most young people (around %70) say that they did not know enough when entering into the stage of adulthood or when they first felt ready to have some sexual experience. Even the physicians spend an average of only 36 seconds with teens talking about sex. Lack of effective sex education can have real and very serious health

?Since most parents are reluctant to talk about sex, schools have tried to fill the gap. 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. When it comes to sex, Americans have been reluctant to spell it out since the time of?The Scarlet Letter? (Smith).

The development of children is an inevitable aspect that needs sufficient preparation if there is to be the chance of seeing it through. As such, there is the need to establish frameworks that could be used in the capacity of an effective enlightening on the natural changes that they are bound to undergo in the course of their developmental stages (Kelly & Kapperman 519). At the forefront of the considerations that need to be held in high regards and impart into the children is the education about sex. More often than not, there is the common trend of some school curricula to exclude this imperative aspect of the learning process. The immediate impact that comes into the fold is the perpetual development of the children without the proper knowledge

Birth control had been invented, this lead to premarital sex becoming more acceptable in society. This demanded for sex education. In addition, in the 1980s the AIDS epidemic began, causing the risk-prevention aspect of sex education. In fact this epidemic set about the best prevention of teen pregnancy and STD’s, abstinence.

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

When are children first exposed to sex? It is hard to control what a child is exposed to with the growing trend of sexual imagery in advertising, television, movies, and in the general public. An article, Children Learn Best by Observing Behavior of Adults, written by Jodie Michalak states “While children will always have their own personality and emotions, they are constantly influenced by their environment” (2013). What and how children learn is a very significant part of how healthy our society will be in the future. School has been an integral part of a child’s progression into adulthood since the 17th century. Schools carefully build the curriculum that is proper for a child’s age group. The educational system adapts to societal

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.