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The importance of sexual education at a tender age
The importance of sexual education at a tender age
The importance of sexual education at a tender age
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Sexual Education Every year, teens in the U.S. experience as many as 850,000 pregnancies. By the age of 18, 62 percent of U.S. males and 70 percent of U.S. females have lost their virginity. Thousands of high school students are thrown into the real world on their own, unprepared to live a sexually healthy life. With the absence of sexual education being taught in high schools, teens do not have healthy sexual behaviors and only hurt themselves. Comprehensive sex education has been proven effective at assisting younger students to make healthy decisions based on sex and adopt much healthier sexual behaviors. Sexual education programs have shown the effect by delaying the initiation of sex until appropriate times, such as marriage. Not only that, but it informs people about healthy sex and how to protect yourself and be free of HIV and other life threatening diseases.Sexual education should be taught in schools because it better prepares students for the real world outside of high school.
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However, (NAME HERE) says that "young people will not be prepared for the adult world" (CITE STILL). Many students are thrown into the real world unprepared to live out a sexually healthy life. With teen pregnancy rates as high as they are now, it will not hurt to start teaching students how live out a sexually healthy and knowledgeable adulthood. Students deserve to be made aware of the real world and how to be successful in it. Christian Garuka says sex education will help students with not only knowledge and skills in decision making, but gender equality and human rights as well (Garuka 0000). Sexual Education in schools will help students take responsibility for their behavior along with their behavior towards others around them. Not only that, but students will learn how to live out a sexually healthy
How many girls have you see around school who are pregnant? Do you ever come to think that they may not have had the “sex talk” with their parents or any sort of sex education at school? “The United Stated still has the highest teen pregnancy rate of any industrialized country. About 40 percent of American women become pregnant before the age of 20. The result is about 1 million pregnancies each year among women ages 15 to 19.” (The Annie E. Casey Foundation) At the age 15-20 most teen males and females don’t have a stable job and are still going to school. There is much at risk when a male and female decide to have sexual intercourse. Having a sex education class would help decrease the teen pregnancy rate. Learning what one can do to prevent a teen pregnancy and the consequences that can lead up to it, will help reduce the amount of sexual activity among teens. Having a sex education class that is required will benefit the upcoming teens of the next generation. Some parents don’t want their teens to have premarital sex and some parents don’t want the schools to be the ones responsible to teach their kids about sex education because they feel like it’s their job. There has been much controversy on sex education being taught at school.
Since the HIV/AIDS epidemic began in the U.S. in the early 1980s the issue of sex education for American youth has had the attention of the nation. There are about 400,000 teen births every year in the U.S, with about 9 billion in associated public costs. STI contraction in general, as well as teen pregnancy, have put the subject even more so on the forefront of the nation’s leading issues. The approach and method for proper and effective sex education has been hotly debated. Some believe that teaching abstinence-only until marriage is the best method while others believe that a more comprehensive approach, which includes abstinence promotion as well as contraceptive information, is necessary. Abstinence-only program curriculums disregard medical ethics and scientific accuracy, and have been empirically proven to be ineffective; therefore, comprehensive sex education programs which are medically accurate, science-based and empirically proven should be the standard method of sex education for students/children in the U.S.
Today’s young Americans face strong peer pressure to be sexually active and engage themselves in risky behaviors (Merino 100-109). Anyone deciding to have sex must first think about all the risks involved. Kekla Magoon, author of Sex Education in Schools, says that “half of all teens aged 15 to 19 years old in the United States have had sex” (Magoon 64-65). It is currently not required by federal law for schools to teach Sex education and those few schools that do teach Sex education have the decision to determine how much information is allowed. Advocates from both sides of the Sex education debate agree that teens need positive influences in order to make practical decisions (Magoon 88-89). Opponents of Abstinence-only education believe it fails because it does not prepare teens for all the risks of sex (Magoon 64-65).
The “talk” about sexuality has never been a topic many like to discuss with tweens or teens, but it has to be addressed sometime during their lifetimes. Sex is a natural experience that is used for reproduction and the building of an emotional connection. However, many teens engage in pre-marital sex and have no knowledge about protecting themselves. Sexual education teaches about human sexuality and how abstinence should be practiced to prevent sexual transmitted diseases (STDs) and unplanned pregnancies. Yet, sexual education classes are mostly for those in college.
In the U.S., more than 750,000 girls ages 15-19 become pregnant every year. More than 80 percent of these are unintended pregnancies. (Lorrie) Sex education and how it should be taught has been a controversial issue for many years. This is such a hot topic because everyone wants to find the best method to teach sex education so that children will be well informed and able to take care of their bodies and health. The need to teach children sex education will continue to be an ongoing issue and is not something that cannot be ignored. Educating students on sex education in school will ensure students are receiving correct accurate information.
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.
There has been a heated debate over the years on whether sex education should be taught at schools instead of abstinence-only. Many believe that talking about sex in the classroom raises the initiation of such behavior, and by stressing discipline, self-control, and self-respect, advocates argue, abstinence-only programs build character in students. Others believe that ignoring the subject keeps teens in the dark which leads them to make unsafe decisions when they become sexually active. In order to fix this problem schools should teach Sex Education, but emphasize that abstinence is the only 100 percent effective way to prevent pregnancy or sexually transmitted diseases.
In the United States, there is a rising problem that is not going anywhere anytime soon, that is if we, as citizens, don 't change it. This problem is causing billions of dollars and people 's futures all because schools would rather teach ignorance than the truth. What’s the problem? Sex education. Although sex education may not seem like a rising conflict, it is actually one of the top controversial topics in our country regarding education. According to Brigid McKeon, “Each year, U.S. teens experience as many as 850,000 pregnancies, and youth under age 25 experience about 9.1 million sexually transmitted infections (STIs)” (McKeon). This number is so unbelievable to any sane person, but somehow schools still won 't take the initiative to teach realistic sex education. Sex education can be taught in two different procedures- comprehensive or abstinence only. The difference between the two methods is that comprehensive sex education teaches abstinence as a secondary choice, so that teens who decide not to wait are well educated on how to keep themselves protected. Comprehensive sex education should be required in every single public school because it is the most effective method on how to keep teenagers well informed and prepared.
If comprehensive sex education is offered at schools to children, it will allow them access to more information that if the parent tried to educate them. The reasons for this are that the teachers are specially trained to teach the children this information in a way that they can understand. Having this class at schools also provides the children with textbooks which offer even more things like drawings, diagrams and accurate information about sex education. Making sure teen have accurate information about sex important making sure that they are ready for sex instead of leaving them guessing or worst using inaccurate information.
Starting at an earlier period of time increases the chance of healthy life choices to become a lifestyle, and allow the students to become accustom to healthy sex lifestyles. Sex education classes provide knowledge about various sexually transmitted diseases and how they are transmitted, safe sex, different contraceptives, and consequences of choosing not to practice safe sex. Providing adolescence with this type of knowledge would decrease STD rates. For example, many adolescent do not know that STDs can be transmitted while performing oral sex or they do not know that they can become pregnant their first time having sex. The awareness of different contraceptives that are offered would help decrease the rate of unwanted teen pregnancies. Most adolescent drop out of high school in order to work jobs or to stay home and care for their children. Changing the trend of unwanted teen pregnancies would result in more high school graduates, which would set the foundation for successful, responsible adults.
First of all, the main reason children have sex prematurely is because they are curious. Students lack knowledge about sex because they haven’t been taught about it, however, when children know the consequences behind their actions and the risks they are taking they less likely to want to have sex. If we take the time to show kids what it is like to take care of a child as a teenager or show them AIDS victims; they may be much less likely to want to indulge in sexual activities. Sex education probably can’t prevent teenage sex, but it can ensure students have the knowledge they need so they’ll be aware of what they are getting themselves into.
Children is an early age needs to be informed of the dangers that come with life in regards to sexuality. Some students have never learned about the diseases that are possible by not being safe about sexual activity. That’s why it is important that they find out about it at an early age. It is important to know about the consequences of not being safe. Another reason, what if a teen has a disease? Sexual education will hopefully help the individual with seeking treatment.
Whereas, the Sexual Education program promotes safe sex and knowledge of the sex and it’s consequences. The motto would be, “Knowledge is Power.” As a result of this program has decreased the rate of unplanned pregnancy and sexual disease outbreak. This is why it is argued that Sexual Education should be taught in the public school system.
“Forty-one percent of teens ages 18-19 said they know nothing about condoms, and seventy-five percent said they know nothing about the contraceptive pill” (Facts on American Teens). Even if schools taught just abstinence it still would not be enough. “In 2007, a study showed that abstinence only programs have no beneficial impact on the sexual behavior of young people” (Facts on American Teens). Sex education is not taken as seriously as it should be in schools, it is treated like it is not a big deal. Schools should require a sex education class that specifically teaches students about sex and goes into depth of all the possible consequences because of the high pregnancy, abortion, and virus rates.
Overall, sex is supposed to be responsible, which means that it must be safe for the person as well as his or her partner, and it assumes knowledge. Society has to provide classes in sexual education in order to not force adolescents to gain this knowledge on their own experience. Schools, where children spend much of their time, are the most appropriate place for children to receive information about sex, relationships, and sexually transmitted infections. Consequently, children and adolescents who have sex education classes know more about sexuality, and their knowledge is more reliable.