Effective sexual education programs increase young people’s level of knowledge about sex and sexuality, push back the average age at which they first have sexual intercourse and decrease risk when they do have sex. The question many people ask is “Should sex education be taught in school?”, I believe the answer is yes.
Sex education is the process of learning about and forming attitudes and beliefs about sex and sexual identity, relationships, and intimacy. Sex education is also about developing young people’s skills so that they make informed choices about their behavior and feel confident and competent about acting on these choices.
I believe that current sex ed. Programs place too much emphasis is placed on teaching abstinence only. I think most teens understand that “yes” abstinence is best. However, after learning that…68% of teens will have had sex before they graduate high school, roughly half of the babies born in Nevada last year were born to mothers between the ages of 15-19, and according to the CDC…only 6 out of 10 teens reported using any form of protection during their last sexual encounter, teens account for roughly half of all new STD/STI’s reported each year (though they only account for about 25% of all sexually active population), 1 out of every 4 teens will contract and STD/STI and that the U.S. has the highest rate if sexually transmitted infection in the industrialized world. I believe that we definitely need to be teaching wholly comprehensive sex education that actually educates us about sex not just telling teens not to do it. Kids need to be taught about the consequences, given resources for their protection and given the information and tools to make confident decisions that, based on accurate information, they believe are right for them. There are many reasons why I believe we need comprehensive sex ed. in our schools. For instance, many parents are not comfortable discussing sex with their kids and are leaving it up to their child to get their information somewhere else and they are leaving up to the schools to teach their kids about sex. Another reason is that kids are bombarded with sexual topics and images in music, on T.V., in the media and online. Kids have easy access to sexual information and much of this info. is incorrect, false or morally questionable. Another reason is that the rate of STD/STI’s among teens is soaring. It is way up and climbing. Also, kids need to be armed with accurate information so they can make good, informed decisions about sex. I think it gives teens confidence to talk about sex with their parents and boyfriend/girlfriend and to discuss their feeling about having sex. A very important reason in my opinion is that it also teaches teens emotional and psychological effects that sex has on teens, especially those who had sex before they were ready. Sexually active teens, even teens who have only had sex once, are significantly more likely to be depressed and/or suicidal than teens who have never had sex. Mostly teens need to get the message about safe sex. Telling teens to “just say no” fuels their fire. When you tell a teen not to do something without explaining why, they are just going to run out and do it anyway. It’s teenage nature! Teens
