Should Sex Education Be Taught In Schools Essay

Improved Essays
Sex Education in Schools Sex Education being taught in schools is a big debate between many Americans. Many people believe that it should not be taught, because it is too inappropriate. Others believe it is an important subject for teens to learn. Sex Education should be taught to students and teenagers in school. It has many benefits and advantages for teens. Although some teachers and parents may be uncomfortable with it, Sex Education is a necessity, because it can provide prevention or absence of diseases and pregnancy in teens’ lives. Sex Ed. can affect and impact a teenager in many significant ways. One of the most important ways that Sex Education would impact teens is the prevention of teen pregnancy. One in four girls will become pregnant at least once by the age of twenty (“State Policies on Sex Education in Schools”). Students and …show more content…
If teens are not provided with the right terminology or education, they will hear false information from other places, such as the Internet, television, or friends (Universal Life Monastery). If teens are provided false information, they will not know or see the bad effects that sex or sexual intercourse could have. Even if teens decide to take part in sexual intercourse, they need to know proper and correct ways to help prevent pregnancy or a STD. Teens could get the wrong ideas about sex when they see the wrong material. This is the big reason teens need to be taught proper Sex Ed. in schools. It is a school’s job to properly educate and teach students on what they need to know. Nineteen states in America require schools that teach Sex Education provide medically, technically, and factually correct knowledge (Dewitt). By knowing the correct facts and information, students and teens are more likely to make better decisions and be aware of what is possible to

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    As defined by the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States (SIECUS), comprehensive sex education programs start in kindergarten and continue through 12th grade. While abstinence-only supporters believe that sex education programs expose the children to sex too early, which in turn leads to more sexually active youths, this is not true. These programs provide the youth with “complete, accurate, age-appropriate sex education that helps them reduce their risk of HIV/AIDs, other sexually transmitted diseases, and unintended pregnancy.” Though it is true that abstinence is the safest sex measure, people will have to face reality and remember that sex is a natural part of life. There are too many people living in “denial” about their children being sexually active; and even if their children are abstaining from sex, eventually there will be a point in life where they will be. Teaching comprehensive sex education in the school system is essential to youth’s development as the information learned on the subject could help them avoid potential problems in the future.…

    • 847 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Abstinence In Teens

    • 1512 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Almost all teens state they or their partner got pregnant because they did not know what to do. (Promise) This is also a reason that sexual diseases are spread. A lack of sexual education can also create problems for teens in their later life. Neglecting to instruct teens about practicing safe sex can result in many different things such as pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases. To help prevent this public schools should teach everything that they can about sex to help educate these teens. Hopefully in time the teenage pregnancy rate will go down. In fact the gap in teen pregnancy between the United States and other developed countries is quite drastic, because of this the United States as has a goal to hit 4.3 percent of teens to have a child between the ages of thirteen to nineteen. (Teen)Though right now this does not seem possible, but with the correct sexual education it is…

    • 1512 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Teens need to be educated about sex, sexually transmitted diseases, birth control, and how to prevent pregnancy. Not only is it the responsibility of the school system, but it is ultimately the responsibility of the parents. A child’s education, regardless of the topic, starts at home. As parents, we need to take the time to educate our children about sex. I was a teen mother at the innocent age of 16. My friends and I were taught the abstinence-only program through our school system and also from our parents. I was not comfortable with talking to my parents about sex; therefore, I was having unprotected sex. I’m a firm believer that comprehensive sex education is what adolescents need to be taught. Regardless, if a teen chooses to have sex at a young age or wait till they become an adult they need to be educated. If teens are not educated by the school system or by their parents, they will learn through websites, peers and personal experiences. This information has the potential to be incorrect depending on the source. Young children don’t need to be walking around with the wrong information about sex. If I had been taught about birth control or if my parents were open to the idea of me using contraceptives, I may have not became pregnant at such a young age. “According to the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, teenage mothers are less likely than other…

    • 1135 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Sex education has been a notorious failure in the education system. Such programs fail because they teach teenagers to be judges of their own sexual behavior—not society, not their authoritarian parents, and certainly not the church. Sex education programs approach sex from a “neutral” viewpoint by teaching students to postpone sex until they are more mature, but encourages them to use proper protection if they are unable or unwilling to wait. From this “neutral” viewpoint, there is no good explanation for why students should not have sex when the technology to prevent or terminate diseases and pregnancies is readily available. Sex appears to be just another sport activity where only the proper gear is needed to stay safe.…

    • 1510 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Comprehensive sexual education courses can be pushed by parents, voters, and even older students who themselves struggled when they were not taught what they needed to know about sexuality. If more people become active in advocating the positives of comprehensive sexual education to the public, then teenagers would become able to think for themselves about what they can do to make sure that they protect themselves from disease and early parenthood. The benefits of a well-informed young adult are definitely worth any worries that someone might have. After all, the better informed anyone is about a topic, the better off they are in the future, and that includes teenagers with the topic of…

    • 2113 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    A lot of teen pregnancies are accidental. If the young women knew about the consequences of sex and preventative contraceptives, some teen pregnancies could be prevented. This article is peer reviewed, therefore it is credible. This article has many exact points that help prove the reason for comprehensive sex education.…

    • 660 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Another reason comprehensive sex education should be taught is that some adolescents don’t have parents that teach them about the birds and the bees. People need to be educated about sex because it is what humans naturally do. Parents can sometimes be uncomfortable with talking to their children about sex. For this reason people should be taught about sex in school so that all students can be educated about the subject. This will allow for a greater amount of people that are prepared and know how to protect themselves in a sexual situation. If this is done then there will be less STD and teen pregnancy…

    • 1119 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Throughout the years of education for school-aged children, sex education is a necessary but controversial topic, and one opinion looms over educators’ heads: should comprehensive sex education be taught over abstinence-only education? A little insight of what each of those means should be given before anyone can form a logical opinion. Since the beginning of education, sexual health in particular, abstinence-only methods of learning have been worn out majorly. This type of knowledge consists of only certain and tergiversating ideologies that may give off a tactic to scare teens into not engaging in sexual activity, or withhold important facts about safely engaging in sexual…

    • 650 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    information is not given to teens because what is supposed to be Sex Education is really…

    • 549 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Learning about sexual health, the emotional, mental, and social well being in relation to sex, can benefit you and the people around you. Studies show that there’s a higher rate of teens getting STDs. While many teens are sexually active. They should learn about birth control and protection in order to prevent pregnancy and diseases.…

    • 351 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Many sexually active teens are not fully educated on the dangers of unprotected sex. Instead, they are told that abstinence is the only option for teens. This method of sexual education leads to more teen pregnancy over comprehensive sexual education. When comparing the abstinence only versus comprehensive sex education, comprehensive sex education was associated with a 50% lower teen pregnancy risk (“National”). In Illinois alone, 22,660 teenage women between the ages of fifteen and nineteen were pregnant in the year 2011. In that same year, there were 390 pregnant teens under the age of fifteen. In the United States total, there were 562,320 teen pregnancies in 2011 (“U.S.”). According to a survey of 4,000 seventh- to 12th-grade teachers by the Guttmacher Institute, 23 percent of sex education in the public schools the United States teach abstinence only. Although abstinence is important, it is clear that the coverage of contraceptive topics is also crucial in helping our youth prevent unplanned pregnancy and STDs.…

    • 741 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Many experts in the healthcare field have stated numerous times that sexual education is extremely crucial in the school systems. Sexual education in schools needs to be addressed because it could deter HIV/AIDS; it will decrease teen pregnancy, and it can also help young people make wise decisions. Without the input of sexual curriculum the world would slowly deteriorate with one preventable incident at a time.…

    • 706 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Sexual Education has been encouraged to be a part of public school education since the late 1800’s. It is a program that is supposed to help young adolescents understand their body, promote abstinence, types of contraception, the risks of engaging in sexual activities, and how to prevent diseases or pregnancy. However, many parents fight this program because of their beliefs that teens should stay abstinent till marriage, and learning about sex will increase their urge to have sex. Depending on what the state requires to be taught and what a school district wants, a student will either receive one of the two styles of sexual education. The two styles are comprehensive and abstinence only. While they both stress the importance of abstinences,…

    • 1798 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Abstinence-only classes are not as effective as comprehensive sex education classes because most students only hear the fact that condoms are not 100% effective. Therefore, they use condoms less often, which in turn can lead to diseases and pregnancy. Comprehensive sex education throughout public school can show students how to prevent HIV, other STDs, and pregnancy. Sexual activity among teens cannot be eliminated, but a difference can be made by implementing sex education as a required curriculum in public schools as early as elementary school. The sex education classes can take the place of parents who do not know how to communicate with their children or are not around enough to keep them on the right path. With these preventative steps intact, students are more than likely to refrain from sex, and when they encounter sex, they will know how to protect…

    • 1800 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Adolescent sexual activity and little knowledge on how to protect themselves against STI/STD’s may be answered through more advanced sex education classes in school. Comprehensive knowledge to these subjects will be provided in the classroom including: birth controls, the use of condoms to prevent STI/STD’s, sexual behavior, meanwhile also encouraging abstinence and delayed sexual activity. Few parents disagree with school’s providing the information to their children; although, the parents who do contradict may not be willing to provide information about this subject and the knowledge the adolescents need to know. A child has the ability to have sexual interactions whether or not they are taught safe sex; so why not provide the information they need to know to keep themselves…

    • 1124 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays