Sex Education

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Sex Education

Two drastic Emergency Room cases were handled in 1998 at Mary Washington Hospital. Concerned mothers brought their 12 year old daughters into the hospital thinking they were suffering from severe stomach pain or even appendicitis…both girls were actually in labor (Abstinence, 2002). The United States has the highest teen pregnancy, birth, and abortion rates in the Western world (Planned Parenthood, 2003). Are teens getting enough knowledge on sex and how to prevent STDs and unwanted pregnancies? Another heartbreaking statistic is that teenagers have the highest rate of STDs of any age group, with one in four young people contracting an STD by the age of 21 (Sex-Ed Work, 2003). Is sex education really working in school? Or do we need to change the type of curricula that is taught? There is no question that sex education should be taught in schools, but the question is how? The purpose of this paper is to determine which curricula of sex education should be taught in schools to be most effective in lowering STD and pregnancy rates among teenagers.

The first type of curricula is abstinence-only. Abstinence-only based curricula is taught to more than 50 percent of students worldwide (Sex in Review, 2003). Abstinence programs teach teens how to say no. It does not teach them about STDs and how to protect themselves, therefore keeping them in the dark about sex. This type of curricula typically uses fear and shame to encourage premarital abstinence. It usually provides a distorted view of sex and can lead to sexual anxiety. Students are taught misinformation and lies; You will learn that sex is horrible unless it takes place in a monogamous marriage. President Bush asked Congress for a thirty-three per...

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....) Retrieved April 23, 2003 from http://www.advocatesforyouth.org/publications/factsheet/fssexcur.htm

I used this website for studies showing how comprehensive based programs are proven effective in lowering STD’s and unwanted pregnancies.

Sex education in schools. (n.d.) Retrieved April 8, 2003 from http://www.plannedparenthood.org/vox/sexedschool.html

I used this to show how Congress is asking for a raise in abstinence programs when those types of programs haven’t even been proven to help teens.

Zwillich, Todd. (1994). Parents Want More Comprehensive Sex Education in Schools.

Retrieved April 23, 2003 from http://wwwbiology.ucsd.edu/classes/bild36.FA00/extra_html/sexand_school.html

I used this to show what type of education parents would like their children to have in schools today to help the sexual transmitted disease rates decline.

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