From a young age, children are bombarded by images of the rich and the famous engaging in torrid public affairs or publicly discussing their increasingly active sex lives. No longer is sex education left to teachers and parents to explain, it is constantly in our faces at the forefront of our society. Regardless of sex education curriculums and debates about possible changes, children and teenagers are still learning everything they think there is to know about sex from very early on in their young lives. However, without responsible adults instructing them on the facts about sex, there are more likely to treat sex in a cavalier and offhanded fashion. According to Anna Quindlen’s essay Sex Ed, the responsibility of to education children about sex is evenly distributed between teachers and parents. Currently, sex education in schools is primarily centered on the distribution of information without elaborating about the moral implications dealing with sex. Teenagers are well versed on things such as how long sperm lives inside the body and can identify all of the workings of the female reproductive system. However, they are still getting pregnant and still contracting sexually transmitted diseases. Anna Quindlen examines this trend in her essay, “Sex Ed”. Quindlen points out that it is the moral implications of sex that have been left out of the curriculum and it is the responsibility of parents to make those moral connections with their children (277). Understanding the morality of sex, she argues, may help teenagers to make more informed decisions on taking the next step towards sexual activity. They must understand that “…when you sleep with someone you take off a lot more than your clothes” (Quindlen 277). Sex is not simply a... ... middle of paper ... ...e their favorite stars earning notoriety for their active sex drives. Imagine the effect that would have on society and look at the ways it already has affected the behavior of children in modern-day society. Protect the future leaders of tomorrow by keeping them well-informed today. According to Quindlen, the fight to educate our children may begin with sex education classes but it ends at home with the parents. Works Cited Collins, Chris, Priya Alagiri, and Todd Summers. "Abstinence Only vs. Comprehensive Sex Education: What Are the Arguments? What Is the Evidence?" AIDS Research Institute. University of California, San Francisco, Mar. 2002. Web. 19 Feb. 2011. . Quindlin, Anna. "Sex Ed." The McGraw-Hill Reader: Issues across the Disciplines. By Gilbert H. Muller. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2011. 275-77. Print.
The family talks openly about sexuality and the sexual experiences of other teenagers, but the two daughters do not talk to their mother about their own sexuality. The mother of these two girls believes that her daughters are not ready for sex, but in reality one of the girls has already had sex and is struggling with the decision of whether she should tell her mother or not. In America our society has created a fear surrounding the discussion of sex and this inadvertently leads to a lack of information as children must discover the facts about sexuality from unreliable resources. When sex education does occur within the school setting the extent of this lesson focusses on the negative aspects of sexual experience such as sexually transmitted infections. Rather than taking the opportunity to teach comprehensive sex education and decrease negative consequences of sex, a staggering amount of schools in America teach abstinence-only education. Although studies have found that these programs do not in fact work and that America has the highest rates of teenage pregnancy in the industrialized world, schools still accept these
Sex Education. (2010). In Current Issues: Macmillan social science library. Detroit: Gale. Retrieved from http://ic.galegroup.com.byui.idm.oclc.org/ic/ovic/ReferenceDetailsPage/ReferenceDetailsWindow?query=&prodId=OVIC&contentModules=&displayGroupName=Reference&limiter=&disableHighlighting=true&displayGroups=&sortBy=&search_within_results=&p=OVIC&action=2&catId=GALE%7C00000000LVZ0&activityType=&documentId=GALE%7CPC3021900154&source=Bookmark&u=byuidaho&jsid=97f094e06dbbf5f2bcaec07adbde8e61
Sonfield, Adam. "Sex Education Remains Active Battleground." Contraceptive Technology Update 1 Mar. 2012. Academic OneFile. Web. 4 Apr. 2012.
Masland, Molly. “The Sex Education Debate: An Overview.” Sex Education. Ed. Kristen Bailey. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 2005. At issue. Opposing Viewpoints In Context. Web. 23 Oct. 2013.
Sawyer, Kate. “Sex Education Is The Key To Curbing Teen Sex.” Teen Sex. Olivia Ferguson. Michigan: Greenhaven Press, 2011. 29-39. Print.
Sex is a natural, healthy part of our lives and we have the right to a proper sex education in schools. Sex education in schools have been a controversial topic since 1912, which is when teachers began to be trained on how to teach sex education. The main debate today is whether the sex education should focus on abstinence-only programs or comprehensive programs. Abstinence-only programs focus on teaching students that the only socially acceptable time to have sex is during marriage and abstinence is the only way to protect yourself from contracting STD’s and from becoming pregnant. Comprehensive sex education focuses on reducing the spread of STD’s and teen pregnancies by giving you the facts and information of the different forms of contraceptives that are available. Although America’s various cultures have different views of sex education, it’s important to teach students proper sex education in schools because there is hardly any
encompasses sexual development, reproductive health, interpersonal relationships, affection, intimacy, body image, and gender roles.” Sex education discusses important aspects of reproduction, sexuality, and just growing up in general in a physical and emotional sense. One would have to wonder though; does sex education actually serve its purpose? Does it enlighten teens enough about sex and the consequences, to the point where you can actually tell the difference between those who are sexually educated and those who are not? According to a study done bye Coyle (1999) sex education no matter where, at home or in school, and no matter the program does indeed help decrease the amount of teens having unsafe sex. Based on information from that same study about 3 million teenagers a year get an STD, and roughly 10% of adolescent females ages 15-19 get pregnant every year unintentionally. In an article from The Alan Guttmacher Institute (1999) there has been a 20% drop in female pregnancies between n 1990 and 1997 and the drop has continued, they have stated that the reason for this i...
Sex education in public schools has been a controversial issue in the United States for over a decade. With the HIV and teen pregnancy crises growing, sex education is needed.
It is evident sexual education in schools can provide students with substantial knowledge and skills to make informed decisions for sexual behaviours (Mueller, Gavin & Kulkarni, 2008). That being said, there is a significant lack of acceptable sexual education being provided to adolescents throughout the school system. This in turn requires the majority of adolescents to turn to their peers and family members for information and guidance. The film The To-Do List demonstrates the shortage of sexual education provided in schools, and results in the main character having to seek external sources for information. The problem with turning to outside sources for information is that is tends to be unreliable. Without formal information and proper facts being provided, students truly do not understand most components of sex. This unawareness could result in unwanted pregnancies, sexually transmitted infections as well as other sexual health concerns.
(1985) Sexual education and sexual experience among adolescents. American Journal of Public Health: Vol. 78, No. 1, pp. 113-117. 75, No. 58, No.
Stanger-Hall, K. & Hall, D. (2011). Abstinence-Only Education and Teen Pregnancy Rates: Why We Need Comprehensive Sex Education in the U.S. PLoS ONE 6(10).
The government likes to pretend that if high school students get taught the “abstinence-only” method they would never think of taking part in sexual activities. Statistically this is incorrect. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, “56 percent of high school students are virgins”(Martin). For the 56 percent abstinence only is doing them well, but there are still 44 percent of high school students engaging in sex without knowing the precau...
Martinez, Gladys, Joyce Abma, and Casey Copen. “Educating Teenagers About Sex In The United States”. CDC.GOV. Center of Disease Control and Prevention, 15 Sept. 2010. Web. 09 Feb.2014
“Sex sells.” This is a common phrase used very often in social media and entertainment industries. Today, the youth generation is highly exposed to social media and products of entertainment industries from music to movies on the big screen. Most of the products produced by these industries are sexually explicit, and they tend to send the wrong messages about sexual behavior. Adolescents almost spend the same amount of time watching television and engaging with social media as they do in an educational environment. Therefore, the best way to tackle the misconceptions of sex among adolescents is to provide sex education in school. Sex education should be taught in school in order to provide a mutual learning experience for adolescents among
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 changes and applies the necessary criteria to the curriculum. Sexual connotations being prevalent in society these days is bringing up the question about the importance of sex education classes in schools. Sex education is a necessary part of the information provided to our children and adolescents in public schools. Schools should require sexual education because there is a chance that children may not be getting educated by their parents about sex, they may not know how to approach their parents on questions regarding sex, and with the rising rate of younger kids having sex it is imperative for them to be taught about STD’s and pregnancy. On the latter, some would argue that sex education being taught in school could lead children to a higher interest and curiosity in sex, the worry that teachers would take a non-personal approach to teaching such personal subject matter, and that some children may not be mature enough to handle the adult content of the course.