What Are The Importance Of Sex Education In Schools

The way of going about sex education in schools has been widely debated. Some believe that sex should be taught in a more conservative way to keep students safe, while others believe that students should be equipped with enough knowledge to make their own choices. Although there have been many debates, abstinence based sex education has been more widely funded by the federal government as the focus of only sex education in schools. Those that believe in keeping abstinence only sex education in schools believe that it is the best way of teaching students about sex; although, this does not teach students that they need to protect themselves when they decide to have sex.
Teaching teenagers abstinence based sex education lowers the number of …show more content…
Abstinence based education mainly focuses on males and female relationships and how to keep them from having sex before marriage and getting pregnant; this excludes homosexual relationships and intercourse. In the article “Gay Rights Advocates Push to Broaden Sex Education", Jan explains why schools need sex education that relates to LGBT+ students because they are more likely to engage in risky behaviors which lead to pregnancy or STDs because they face a pressure to be heterosexual (Jan). Schools need to teach a comprehensive education so that LGBT+ youth do not feel as if there is something wrong with the way they feel and try to discard those feelings. Having a comprehensive sex education would then not only benefit those who are heterosexual, but also those who are still finding …show more content…
Many compare sex education with drivers ed, by teaching sex education to teens, schools are then encouraging them to engage in sexual activities just like they drivers ed encourages teens to drive. According to the article "Sex-Ed Must Stress Value of Abstinence", abstinence should be promoted to be the best choice for teens, "Verbiage that promotes abstinence as the most responsible choice not just the surest and encourages even youth who have had sex before to avoid engaging new partners" ("Sex-Ed Must Stress Value of Abstinence"). Focusing on abstinence education encourages teens to make a more responsible decision when faced with the choice of having intercourse or not. By waiting, teens are then less likely to catch an STD and have an unintended pregnancy. Proper sex education does not encourage kids to have sex, just like abstinence based education does not. Teaching a comprehensive sex education course lets kids know the truth about intercourse to let them to make their own dcisaonwhen that times arrives. Suslovic points out an important point in the article "Let 's Talk About Sex", "Let 's be honest. Sex happens. It happens to college students. It also happens before college" (Suslovic). Since people are going to have sex, they should have the proper knowledge to better themselves by. Proper sex