By: Ashlynn Crews

Beyond the birds & the bees

 “Education is the most powerful weapon we can use to change the world.” – Nelson Mandela

            Should sexual education be taught in public schools? The majority of the general public says certainly not, but why? Many people believe that a sexual education course would take away the purity and innocence of children. These people believe that a sexual education course would tell their children more about sex than they have ever been subject to hearing and quite frankly, they’re not loving it. Truthfully, is sexual education that much of a horrid thing or is it all what we’ve been taught to believe? Sexual education would help prevent the one thing that is most undesirable in today’s society: teenage pregnancy. Along the list with teenage pregnancy is HIV and STDs which can in return seriously harm our youth of today. It is essential that we start providing sexual education in our classrooms to prevent further unwanted child births and malfunctions of our society. The main reason all schools should have sex education is to teach factual information about growth and development, demonstrate the cons of having a teenage pregnancy, and reveal the risk of sexually transmitted diseases.

            The most important part of a sexual education course would provide important information about growth and sexual development which is very much needed. There are many different ways adolescence develop over their teen years including physical, cognitive, emotional, and sexual development (Growth and Development, Ages 13 to 17-What Parents Need to Know). Some parents do not fill the place of telling their children about sexual development and intercourse. The school must begin to fill the shoes of absent parents because some students may never get to hear about sexual development. We, as governmentally funded schools, should be partially responsible for providing our students with the education they deserve to stay safe and healthy throughout their high school endeavors. Recently in the news, Obama has been noted to have taken away all funding for abstinence-only sex education: this should not have been able to happen. Due to these teachings being taken away, it also takes away a big incentive for public teachers to teach on the topic of sex. The teachers no longer feel the need to teach about this if the government will not fund it. We should petition against this because sexual education is important in schools and without their will be even more of a projected adolescent pregnancy growth.

            Numerous teens who are participating in sexual intercourse without protection are not thinking about all of the risks that could derive from this act, such as pregnancy. Do students fail to know the consequences of sexual activities because they were never taught of them? In my own experience, I go to school with many students who are pregnant or have been pregnant while in school and we do not have a sexual education course in our school. This is just one of many examples on why public schools should have a sexual education class. In 2013, 273,105 babies were born to teens aged 15-19 and about 77% of those pregnancies were considered unplanned. Along with these statistics, 15% of teen pregnancies end in miscarriage and another 30% end in abortion (Teen Pregnancy Statistics - Teen Help). According to Youth.Gov, children born from teen parents have a higher risk of infant mortality, behavioral problems, and foster care placement. Along with negative effects on the children born, the teens having the children also have been shown to be more subject to life damaging impacts. One of the many statistics show that only 50% of teens who had children while in school got their high school diploma (Teen Pregnancy Statistics - Teen Help). Having a teen pregnancy is very risky, being the second highest reason for death among teenage girls. Many teens do not know the entire risk of unprotected sex and this is where a sexual education course in classes could really help.

Along with the risk of teenage pregnancies there is also a risk of sexually transmitted diseases. A sexually transmitted disease is an infection transmitted through sexual contact, caused by bacteria, viruses, or parasites (Sexually Transmitted Diseases). These diseases happen a lot more in today’s society than you would initially think.  According to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, those aged 15-24 contribute to more than half of the number of STD cases reported each year: there are approximately 20 million cases reported each year. Based on statistics and research, 4 in 10 teenage girls who are or have been sexually active have an existing STD which could result in death or reproduction failures (Sexually Transmitted Diseases). Many articles say that the main way to obtain from receiving a sexually transmitted disease is to refrain from having sexual activity. In reality, all teens are not going to refrain from sexual activity, but the next best way not to get a STD is to use protection. Most adolescence may not know about these various uses of protection because they are not being taught of them. There is only one way for these students to for sure know the risks of STDs and how to withdraw from those risks and that is to teach these kids about them in a school-based setting.

            Although our culture has strayed away from providing education about safe sex, we can come back from this. The world is built on revolution and we can alter our lessons a bit to provide better education for sexual precautions. If we completely leave sexual education out of our upcoming generation, it will degrade our future society. We must begin teaching sexual development, consequences of adolescent pregnancies, and the risks of sexually transmitted disease. We should have sexual education in public schools without a doubt. We need to provide this education to prevent from having an unknowledgeable future America. Sex is not abnormal, ruthless, or aberrant and it shouldn’t be treated as if it is. Sex has happened for centuries and it will continue to be an act which occurs. This is why we, as a society, should provide sexual education for our upcoming citizens of America because sex is natural and it is in the course of human events. It is our duty and responsibility as a society to make sexual education available in all schools across the nation and we must not stop until we achieve this goal. If we have to petition to achieve our goal, we will petition. If we have to fight for our right to achieve our goal, we will fight. We must unite as one and get this job done together.
Check out my online poster for this essay: 
http://ashlynncrews56cca8a5a403f.edu.glogster.com/sexual-education/