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How do we know that teenagers are getting all the information in sexual education class that they need? Many students have questions about sex that they are too afraid to ask, but many are wondering about. In libraries and book stores, you can even find books of questions we all wonder about but are too shy to ask about. Though they are seldom checked out or purchased because once again, the fear of calling negative attention. Often times “additional questions” are addressed through anonymous questions written by students then read and addressed orally by the teacher. While this may in effort to prevent embarrassment of the student(s), it may still be difficult for students to ask questions with a controversial nature. There has also been a restriction of topics deemed “not suitable” for students in school, put in place by parents, the government, and other such figures. While teachers try to education teenagers on sex, because of the controversial nature of the subject, only focus on body parts and not what young adults need to know.
Sex/health educations in schools have only been around for about 74 years in schools. It has been argued for the past 30 or so years whether all-inclusive or “abstinence-only-until-marriage” (advocatesforyouth.org) education should be taught in classes. Advocates for youth is a website dedicated to teens/youth to help aid in sex and reproductive health education. With a pro-comprehensive sex education program students are taught that sex is a part of healthy part of human nature while sex education with an abstinence approach teaches to stifle this expression until their married life. With more open health education classes, students are still taught “about abstinence as the best meth...
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7. Shianna, . "Abstinence." This I Believe; A public Dialogue about belief - one essay at a time. This I Believe, Inc., 13 April 2013. Web. 25 Feb 2014. .
8. Sullivan, Amy. "How to Bring An End to the War Over Sex Ed." Time Magazine. 30 003 2009: n. page. Web. 25 Feb. 2014. .
9. "11 Facts About Sex Education in the U.S.." Do *Beta Something . org. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Feb 2014. .
10. "Comparing effectiveness of birth control methods." Planned Parenthood; Care. No matter what.. Planned Parenthood Federation of America, n.d. Web. 26 Feb 2014. .
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.
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
Thomas, . "Abstinence-Only Sex Education Statistics - Final Nail in the Coffin." Open Education: Free Education for All. N.p., 5 Jan 2009. 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.
“Throughout the 1980’s these arguments began to lose legitimacy as the American republic reiterated its support (Fose)”. “Although this topic is highly debated, 93 percent of Americans support “sex or sexuallity” courses being taught in high school and 84 percent supports teachings in junior high (Fose)”. More people requested sex education because of the AIDs epidemic. The AIDs epidemic cau...
What is acceptable when it comes to teaching kids about sex education? “What Schools Should Teach Kids About Sex” by Jessica Lahey uses more of a logical approach to the issues of sexual education given to adolescence, compared to “Sex Education Is One Thing” by Anna Quindlen which tells more of her personal story and opinion using pathos to connect to the audience. After reading both articles about sex education, it is clear that there are many different interpretations of what qualifies as sex education, who is qualified to teach it, and what should be included in the curriculum. Both writers believe that there should be more sex education taught to high school kids but they go about it in different ways, using rhetorical appeals of logic versus pathos.
Malone, Patrick, and Monica Rodriguez. "Comprehensive Sex Education vs. Abstinence-Only-Until-Marriage Programs." Human Rights Magazine 38 (2011). Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 20 Nov. 2013. .
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. .
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.
Strasburger conveys the message that there is a problem with sexual education and urges his readers to do something about it. Teens should be able to make educated decisions, so they can protect themselves and their partners from unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and be able to maintain that safety from teenage years to adulthood. The bulk of sexual education programs within the United States are not assisting teens to achieve and uphold these standards. Sexual education curriculum in the United States needs to be examined on both a federal and state level, and comprehensive sexual education programs must be implemented.
Santelli, J., Ott, A., Lyon, M., Rogers, J., Summers, D., &Schelifer, R. (2006). Abstinence and abstinence-only education: A review of U.S. policies and programs. Journal of Adolescent Health 38 p.p.72-81.
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...
Having comprehensive sex education in the schools gives teens safe place to discuss these issues in fact it has been shown that. Seeing that some teens are shy about asking the important questions from their parents, and the parents themselves are not always comfortable or brave enough to answer these questions which can be harmful the child. Having this be taught at the schools wil...
The concept of sex education is argued many different ways; however, a conclusion can be reached that abstinence only sex education does not work, and something needs to be changed about the school systems in which that is the only option offered. Most kids do not understand the changes happening in their bodies, and certain urges and sensations that they may be feeling. In addition, they need to be able to differentiate a safe versus unsafe sexual relationship and how to practice safe sex. Most parents of elementary school-aged children are apprehensive to the idea of giving their children sex education because they believe it will encourage their children to be sexually active at a young age; however, sex education throughout
Before moving on, one must know that sex education is about, but not limited to the discussion of sexual intercourse. As a Buzzle article states, it involves a multitude of topics that introduce human sexual behaviors such as puberty, sexual health, sexual reproduction, sexuality, and more (Iyer). If formally received in school, these topics are brought up and discussed at age-appropriate times over the course of children’s junior high and high school education. Moreover, as I have introduced earlier, the way sex education should be taught is divided into two approaches. It is between taking either a conservative, abstinence-only approach or a more liberal, comprehensive approach. Abstinence-only education, approaches students by stressing the importance of “no sex before marriage” as be...