Sex Education should be increased in public education in the United States. There are many reasons why sex education is essential, especially in today’s society, at the middle and high school level. One beneficial reason is that teaching adolescents about this topic will help decrease teen pregnancy. According to national statistics, more than one million American teenagers become pregnant each year, which is an outstanding number. A second reason is that this education can help decrease the spread of sexually transmitted diseases and HIV. According to the CDC, “19 million new STD infections occur every year” and “nearly 50 percent of these new cases happen to young people between the ages of 15 to 24”. The third reason is that teaching this to adolescents will not only teach them to take precautions when it comes to sexual intercourse and diseases, but it will teach them about how to take precautions in other aspects of their lives because parents are not doing the job that they say they are. Teaching abstinence simply is not working for teens and young adults in our country as proven in these statistics.
According to the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States, there are four different ways sexual education can be taught. The way that many schools use is abstinence only, which emphasizes abstinence in every aspect and does not include anything about contraception or disease prevention. This is an unrealistic way to teach students because even though they may not come across this as a teen, as a young adult they will certainly come across these issues. The second is abstinence-plus, which also emphasizes abstinence, but this method includes teaching about contraception and disease prevention. This is a much more realistic approach to teaching sexual education. A third way is fear-based, which is used to control the students’ sexual behavior by instilling fear, guilt, and shame. This is just as bad as teaching abstinence only because fear-based gives false information and biases about contraception and diseases. The forth method is comprehensive sexuality education, which starts as early as kindergarten. This method not only teaches about both prevention of diseases and contraception, but it also teaches about decision making, relationships, and development. This method can help the students implement skills rather than just learn the information like the others do.
Sexually transmitted diseases and HIV can be decreased if students are taught in the abstinence plus method or the comprehensive sexually education method. The American Social Health Association states that, “Less than half of teenagers in the United States have had discussions about sexual health and STDs during health visits and in schools”. This percentage is extremely low. This lack of conversation and teaching is only hurting the students and their future in society. A health teacher’s job is to teach the students about health and sexuality is a huge part of not only a person’s life, but it is so prevalent in a young adult’s life. According to the Illinois Department of Mental Health, “Only 35% of males and females ages 15 to 17 use a condom during every act of sexual intercourse”. This is a very low number considering it only takes one act of sexual intercourse to not only get a disease, but it can lead to a pregnancy as well. Another reason why students should know about transmitting sexual diseases during sex is because the more partners a teen is intimate with the more a disease can spread. According to the Illinois Department of Mental Health, “Almost 25 percent report having sex with four or more partners by the 12th grade”. In health they should learn what a monogamous relationship is and how important it is to remain with one partner at a time. Another piece of evidence of that proves this reason is that students don’t understand that oral sex is still sex and they are just as vulnerable in getting a disease that way.
Also according to the Illinois the two most prevalent diseases that teens are diagnosed with are gonorrhea and chlamydia. However these two diseases are asymptomatic, which means they do not show any symptoms and if the students aren’t taught about the signs they will never know that they even have the disease. This does not only affect the teens early in life, but it will affect them later. Especially for women, gonorrhea is dangerous because 40 percent of women who have gonorrhea can eventually have upper genital tract infections or pelvic inflammatory disease which can cause infertility later on in life. This is only one of the many diseases that can cause problems in teens’ lives as they get older.
The second reason is that teaching kids about sexual education can help decrease teen pregnancy. According to the Illinois Department of Health, “One in eight women ages 15 to 19 becomes pregnant each year. That is not a small percentage. Also, the national rate of pregnancy is 56.8 per 1,000 teens, which again shows how many teens are getting pregnant. Teen pregnancy not only affects the mother, but it affects the child as well. The mother is affected because her level of education, level of employment opportunities, and marital stability can all be reduced. It is hard enough for a teen to go to college right after high school as it is and if that ten has a baby it would be an even greater struggle for her. This is why many young mothers do not go to college and some of them even drop out of high school. Not only do these young women have education and employment disadvantages, but psychologically, they are hurting. They are no longer a child and have to change from a teenager worrying about who their top five favorite musicians are to worrying about how they are going to take care of another human being.
According to the CDC, “A pregnant woman with a STD can infect her baby before, during, and after the baby’s birth”. Herpes type 2 and bacterial vaginosis are the two most prevalent diseases that pregnant mothers give to their babies. Not only can these STD’s be spreads to the child, but HIV can be spread to the baby, which is a virus that is going to weaken the babies immune system and unfortunately that baby will have a short life simply because of a mother’s ignorance. This is why educators need to educate their students about these issues. The mothers are not only hurting themselves, but they are hurting their unborn child as well.
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