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Sexual education is a subject that is taken far too lightly in our school system and homes. Students and their peers should be educated about all the advantages as well as the disadvantages of sexual intercourse. Giving students a better understanding of sexual consent, teen pregnancy, STI’s and how they can affect their physical health, psychological health, and some cases spiritual health. If sexual education was taking more seriously there would be a decrease in issues such as teen pregnancy, sexual assault, and the widespread of Sexually Transmitted Infections.
A deeper understanding toward consent would be developed after being taught about sex simply because students would learn to respect the “sacred” action of sex itself as well as develop self-respect. Using various online sources and peer to peer information we can stress the need for better and more efficient sexual education programs in our school systems and to stress the need for parents to be more involved in their child’s sexual relationships at home as well.
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Sex is a word that means many different things to people across America and even the world. The word sex also initiates a series of questions. One of the major questions about sex that does arise is, should sex education be taught to children at a very young age? The answer to this conflicting question is yes. If schools’ taught sex to children starting at the age of seven, it could highly change the way that sex is having a negative impact on our world.
Kids need to know that having sex is wrong. If kids were more aware, it could reduce the number of teens getting pregnant in the modern age. It would create more teens and adults with better morals. If children knew more about the dangers of sex at a younger age, it could improve society in a positive way.
Sex targets a large group of young people and usually starts being put into action with teenagers. 20 percent of teenagers admit that they would still have sex, even if contraceptives were no longer made available to them. Some schools teach abstinence-only programs. An example of this is Bristol Palin, the daughter of the Alaskan governor and the 2008 Republican vice-presidential candidate. Bristol recently went through her own teenage pregnancy. Bristol was put through an abstinence-only program, and she stated that the programs were limited in their effectiveness at preventing teen pregnancy. Other than that, only one-third of adults surveyed support abstinence-only educations, while half oppose the abstinence-only approach. That is why the United States needs to address this problem at a younger age and use a more effective method. In the new 2010, Government curriculum children will now be being taught sex education at the age of seven. Teachers would show boys and girls how they are different from one another. Kids would be shown what reproduction is about. Although this could be a good thing, a strong and difficult opposing question arises; will this encourage children to have sex at an even younger age?
Everyone knows that sex is an increasing problem in the United States. The United States has the highest rates of teenage pregnancy and births in the western industrialized world. Every year, 750,000 girls will get pregnant. Obviously, these statistics are alarming and not good. Therefore, sex education should be taught younger, it is proven that you can instill beliefs in people when they are at a young age. In some schools, kids are not even shown what is wrong about sex. It is wrong because babies should not be having babies. Kids are not learning the information that they need to know to stay safe. Having a baby could be an STD for life if you are 16 years old or younger. Kids do not seem to understand how bad this outcome can be. Teens should not be having sex unprotected. The thing is that will not happen. Kids will do what they want to do, but they need to be taught more about sex. If kids are taught younger it can prevent them for wanting to have sex so soon. There are always the ones who do, and that is why kids need knowledge about sex. If that happens statistics could change. If kids were shown the negative aspects of sex, like pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases, maybe they would not start so early.
Another issue that arises about sex is how it is made so accessible to children’s eyes. The market for sex is huge, from advertisements to even T.V. shows centered around it. Could these images alone be encouraging sex? In 2003, 83% of the episodes of the top twenty shows among teen viewers contained some sexual content, including 20% with sexual intercourse. Not only are children being bombarded with T.V., but also with songs. On average, music videos contain 93 sexual situations per hour, including eleven “hardcore” scenes depicting behaviors such as intercourse and “oral sex”. Before parents raised an outcry, Abercrombie and Fitch marketed a line of thong underpants decorated with sexually provocative phrases such as, “The fun starts here!”, “Wink Wink”, and “Eye Candy” to ten-year-old children. Sex is made extremely accessible to kids, there is no way to stop this image for good but starting sex education early could prevent kids from trying to copy what they are seeing essentially everywhere they turn their head.
Obviously, there is indeed a problem. That is why action needs to be taken. Young people are exposed to a wide range of attitudes to sex. Sex education that works starts early, before reaching puberty and before they have established patterns of behavior. It also depends on who is teaching it. Ultimately, sex education should start at home. Some parents think that they should not expose their children to sexual ideas before they must. The fact of the matter is, sex is out there, and it is happening. Later America wants to delay educating children about sex, the sooner sex will start. The most effective place that sex education can start is at home. Parents who are involved in their children’s lives, and who confidently transmit their religious and moral values to their children, have the greatest success in preventing risky and immoral behavior. It is up to parents to ensure receive appropriate information about sexual relations and intercourse. It has been shown that teens who have parents who are diligent in instilling their values and expectations in their children are more likely to wait to have sexual intercourse and to have it less often and exercise some safety. At home, parents can engage in talk about sex. The biggest mistake parents can make is not talking about it. Some parents are even confused about what proper sex education is. Sex education is the process of acquiring information and forming attitudes and beliefs about sex, sexual identity relationships and intimacy. Parents mainly need to help their kids make healthy decisions on their own and be able to improve their people skills as they grow into teenagers and then adults. Parents need to help their children feel confident in those decisions and competent about acting on those choices. It is now widely accepted that young people need sex education. Eighty-two percent of adults support comprehensive sex education that teaches students about both abstinence and other methods of preventing pregnancy. Sex education provides a means which kids are shown how to protect themselves against abuse, exploitation, unintended pregnancies, sexually transmitted diseases and HIV/AIDS.
Although sex education should start at home, there are effective methods of sex education that can be taught at school. In order to impact young kids, schools sexual education programs should involve the following: a focus on reducing specific risky behaviors; a basis in theories which explain what influences peoples sexual choices and behavior; a clear and continual message about sex; and finally uses approaches to teaching and learning that involves and are appropriate to young people’s age, experience, and cultural background. What exactly do the teachers think about all of this? One in five teachers believes that restrictions on sex education are preventing them from meeting their student’s needs. If that is the case, why are their restrictions? Sex education can only benefit children, especially if taught at a younger age. The statistics show it, there is no lying. Kids need to know how to protect themselves and prevent bad things from happening to them later in life. Sex education needs to be taught sooner as well according to the teachers. Most of them believe that topics such as birth control methods and how to obtain them, the correct way to use a condom, and ethical information about sex should be taught to children. The teachers also believe that kids are being taught later than they should. Obviously, many do think that sex education is a good idea. There will always be fear that comes along with any new method of doing things, but no one will know until it is tried. With the way that teenage pregnancy rates are going through the roof, anything would be an improvement. Sex education is not a bad thing. The aim of sex education is not to influence sex, but to help prevent it. That is why sex education needs to be taught in the way described earlier in this paper. Sex education does not mean children are seeing vulgar things, it helps them to know not to watch things they should not be. It helps them to know the difference and be able to know what is right. That they may be exposed to images, but they know that they do not need to do the same thing to look mature. Sex education also stresses the need for kids to enhance the quality of their relationships. It is also about developing young people’s ability to make decisions over their entire lifetime. Sex education that works, by means of effectiveness, is sex education that contributes to this overall aim as well as other multiple aspects soon to follow. Even though some think sex education is a bad thing, these things that the government wants schools to teach students now are all positive.
In conclusion, sexual education is a subject that is taken far too lightly in our school system and homes. Students and their peers should be educated about all the advantages as well as the disadvantages of sexual intercourse. Giving students a better understanding of sexual consent, teen pregnancy, STI’s and how they can affect their physical health, psychological health, and some cases spiritual health. If sexual education was taking more seriously there would be a decrease in issues such as teen pregnancy, sexual assault, and the widespread of Sexually Transmitted Infections. A deeper understanding toward consent would be developed after being taught about sex simply because students would learn to respect the “sacred” action of sex itself as well as develop self-respect. Children will also benefit from learning about consent by developing respect for others and their sexual privacies. Another reason sexual education should be taught in schools because students will develop a greater knowledge about STI’s and how to prevent them from spreading them. Students will also learn as to how serious STI’s are and how they can potentially cause permanent bodily harm and in some cases death. STI’s can range from a plethora of illnesses and some are so elusive to modern-day medicine that. The rate of teenage pregnancy could potentially decrease drastically if students are taught the importance of safe sex and protection. Students would learn application methods and the importance of using protection. Students will understand the various types of protection and how even practices like abstinence can help avoid teen pregnancy. Incidentally, many people may disagree with the idea of sex being taught in school, especially parents, since there is the belief that it’ll encourage students to become sexually active. Not to mention that many people believe sex is too much of an “adult” topic, and it shouldn’t be introduced to teens or pre-teens. Many people believe that telling students/teens no and to stay abstinent is enough. Parents tend to avoid talking to their children or having the “sex talk” to prevent from being awkward or in some cases acceptance that their child is sexually active. All in all, statics show/prove that being taught about sex, especially in a child’s early years doesn’t necessarily encourage them to have sex, but it does encourage the ones who are sexually active to practice safe sex. Parents who decide to have the sex talk with their kids at an early age already notice a difference to the kids who didn’t get the talk, having it as a class would prove to be very beneficial to both parents and students.
The Truth About Sex: Where Do Young People Get Their Sex Education?. (2020, Oct 02). Retrieved from https://studymoose.com/the-truth-about-sex-where-do-young-people-get-their-sex-education-essay
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