Comprehensive Sex Education

The Effectiveness of Comprehensive Sex Education Programs
The article “Selling Safe Sex in Public Schools” by Michelle Bryant is about sex education in schools. In that article Bryant appeal to Knox and other to support her claims about sex education against the abstinence claims which are supported by the education system in the US. Bryant state her position from the beginning of her article by saying “teenagers are viewing sexual content in music videos, movies, and, thanks to Paris Hilton, even hamburger commercials”(1) and “some people feel schools need to teach abstinence only”(3).And after that Bryant try to prove that sex education programs would help rather than only teaching teenagers abstinence, She tries to show the effectiveness …show more content…
Knox is a member of the Lubbock Youth Commission and has got filmmakers attention and even received an award for her role in championing for comprehensive sex education in schools. The author has often uses Knox’s experience to support her claims and arguments for make a changes in the current formal system on sex education. By using Knox, the author can shows the efforts made to educate students on sex and also shows the problems and challenges that people who support sex education programs face. For instance, by using Knox’s experiences in Lubbock Youth Commission the author shows that people who have different views to the formal system are not given a chance by school boards. Also, the author has used ethical appeal by showing the credibility of her source of information which is mainly Knox. By stating that Knox is” a student at The University of Texas at Austin and has plans to participate in an internship program with Advocates for Youth or the Sexuality and Education Council of the United States” the author shows that Knox has the credibility and knowledge towards comprehensive sex education in …show more content…
And by giving some statistical proves she shows that the federal budget towards sex education was increased from $80 million in 2001 to $167 million in 2005 and the government proposed making a further increase to $206 million in 2006. Bryant said that the increased budget was meant to educate teenagers on the need for abstinence, but the rates of teen pregnancy, and STD infection was still very high. The author has used logical appeal by showing that since the rate of teen pregnancy, and STD infection was still very high so the high budgetary allocation on sex education had not achieved the results they were looking for. This claim shows that schools should think about an alternative way to teach those teenagers. And Bryant also uses logical appeal by stating that the rate of STDs and teen pregnancy has increased in Lubbock since the comprehensive sex education was

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