Sex Education Essay
I have an 18 year old cousin. One day last year we were talking about sex and sex education.She said,” They really need to have sex education in school because kids need to know that it’salright to have sex, protect yourself from STDs, and not get pregnant if you use birth control pills.” A few months later my cousin was cousin was diagnosed with HIV Aids and also found herself pregnant. I believe that sex education should be taught in school to inform people like my cousin about sex. Kids need the right information to protect themselves. People who don’t have any knowledge.
about sex might go out and do something not knowing the consequences of their actions. Sex educationmight also encourage teens to remain or become abstinent.
Sex education should be taught in school because kids need the right information to protectthemselves. The U.S. has more than double the teenage pregnancy rate of any western industrilizedcountry with more than 1 million teens becoming pregnant each year. What’s more is that teenagers havethe highest rate of sexually transmitted diseases of any age group, with one in four young personscontracting an STD by the age of 21. Some might say sex education has failed but they need to realize that knowledge alone is not enough to change behaviors. Programs that inform what teens
should and shouldn’t do and the sexual body functions has failed. However, programs that focus on
helping teens strengthen their social skills have shown signs of success.
Teens who don’t have any knowledge of sex might go out and become sexually active notknowing the consequences and end up suffering the consequences. Other countries have been much moresuccessful than the U.S. regarding the issue of teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases due
to the following things: a policy favoring sex education; openess about sex; consistent messages throughout society; access to contraception; and sex education in the school system as early as elementary school.
When you start sex education early enough it can encourage teens to remain abstinent and teenswho are sexually active to use protection. Often sex education begins in high school after many youthshave already begun experimenting sexually. Studies show that sex education begun before youths aresexually active helps them to stay abstinent and use protection if or when they become sexually active.
In my opinion, schools need to take a good, long, hard look at their programs and begin to implement more innovative programs that have been proven affective. We can no longer ignore the need for both education on how to postpone sexual involvement, and how to protect yourself when you do become sexually active. In conclusion, I believe that children today deserve the best education they can get.