Importance of Sex Education in the School

School is the basis of learning that most children get. We learn how to spell, we learn our ABC’s, and we learn a lot of things that if we did not have school, we would not know what they are. Sex education is another one of these things that is taught in school as well. Sex education is the education about the different types of sexuality, the different types of contraceptive methods, those including condoms, surgery, or drugs, and also on how to prevent sexually transmitted diseases with the importance of learning how to protect yourself and also the general stigma around sex.

Sex education is divided into 2 categories: Abstinence-Only programs and the Comprehensive education. Abstinence-Only programs focus on not having sex before marriage and the Comprehensive education focuses on the important parts including the dangers of STD’s and learning to practice safe sex. Both of these programs teach about the process of sex education which can lead to teenagers getting a better understanding about sex and if they want to participate in it. Sex education should be mandatory in schools because it helps inform children of the risks of sex including STD’s. It also helps educate children on their bodies and teaches them to be more responsible.

As of today, only 24 states and the District of Colombia mandate sex education across the country. According to Planned Parenthood, “Fewer than half of high schools and only a fifth of middle schools are teaching the sexual health topics that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) considers “essential” for healthy young people. This is unacceptable. (PP)” Some state and local requirements on sex education are helpful to the cause. For instance, 13 states require the information and instruction to be medically accurate, 26 states and the District of Columbia require that it be age-appropriate for the teaching. Now there are 37 states require that abstinence to be included in sex education which is okay but don’t let that be the only practice that is being taught, and only 18 states require the educators to share information about the different birth controls, those including the pill form, the birth control implant, IUD, Birth control shot, Vaginal Ring, etc. Here is the thing that many people know, too many young people are not getting the sex education they need and deserve to live a healthy and active lifestyle. States get to decide what they want their schools to have and some sates want an abstinence program and others are more inclusive. No matter the problem this means that students in the same state that attending different schools could possibly have totally different sex education experiences depending on the district or county.

Teen Pregnancy is sometimes the result of the lack of sex education. In the United States alone; the rate of teen birth and abortions is the highest amongst other western countries with teenagers over a number of one million going through multiple pregnancy’s every year. According to the article, “Sex Education in School: Young People’s Views,” Since the 1970s health education has gained importance in the general school curriculum. The Education Act of 1993 included a section entitled ‘Sex Education in Schools’ which set out legislative changes for implementation in UK schools. In 2001 a national strategy for sexual health and HIV was published that included targets for reducing teenage pregnancy rates by half by the year 2010 (Bourton). While teen pregnancy was at a low in the United States it still considered the highest compared to other western countries. So with this information sex education should be implemented in schools because sex education will help reduce teen pregnancy because teenagers are still children themselves and are not ready to be full time parents. It is better for teenagers to get information about sex and sexual protection methods from the right sources rather than from the media. It has been shown that sex education in schools can also protect children and teenagers form the dangers of the unknown.

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