Awareness of sex education in public schools

Victor Vargas
University of Texas at el Paso














Abstract
With many teens being sexually active in the United States these days many of them do
not know what they are getting themselves in to. Which is why sex education, if taught
right and in depth, can help teens in making better decision about their sex life. However,
these sex education courses are not doing their job of helping our youth. As a result of
this many teens do not have the knowledge of making the right decision when it comes to
their sex life. A big majority of these teens where never talked to or taught about sex in
their schools. Which is why more people should be aware and help Americas youth
towards getting the correct knowledge on sex.













Sex education, including Abstinence programs, have been part of public schools
for a while now. However many people do not give much care about them and others
might care way too much for these programs. However these programs can be very
controversial because of their teachings. Some programs just advocate for abstinence and
nothing else, while others reach of the topic of safe sex but dont give the right
information, and some can go much more far in depth but seem to give misleading
information. So what are the results from these classes? Are they really worth the time
and money? And can they be led into helping our youth with sex related problems, since
there is so many in America today. With America being amongst the highest in teenage
pregnancies, action needs to be taken. For example each year, almost 750,000 U.S.
women aged 1519 become pregnant Teen childbearing is associated with reduced
educational attainment. Teen mothers are substantially less likely than women who delay
childbearing to complete high school or obtain a GED by age 22Women aged 1519
had 200,420 abortions in 2006 and Young people aged 1324 made up about 17% of
all those who received a diagnosis of HIV/AIDS in 2008 (Guttmacher institute, 2011).
As for questions that surround this topic include
1. what information is being taught in these high school sex education courses, to
their students.
2. how is the information being presented by these high school teachers of the sex
education courses and how accurate is the information being presented.
3. what are the success and failure rates of these programs in preventing teen
pregnancies, stds, etc.
Many advocates of sex education have different opinions, usually being towards
abstinence only or comprehensive sex educations. Whatever your opinion might be there
should be lots of advocating towards sex education.
So what is really being taught in these courses and how accurate is it? Abstinence
programs advocate for sex until marriage, however many of the teachers in these courses
are hypocrites for advocating something they did not follow through themselves, since
many of them have been found not to make it a virgin to marriage. The information
though is also said to be misleading and inaccurate. For example an article published in
the Washington post states HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, can be spread via sweat and
tearsCondoms fail to prevent HIV transmission as often as 31 percent of the time in
heterosexual intercourse.(Connolly) statements like these are part of the abstinence only
curricula some schools tend to follow. With Eleven of the thirteen curricula most
commonly used by SPRANS programs contain major errors and distortions of public
health information. (Waxman), what is our youth really learning, information that is not
going to help in making smart decisions or just plain out trick kids into not having sex.
None of the curricula provides information on how to select a birth control method and
use it effectively. (Waxman). So what is being taught about preventing pregnancies,
other not to have sex?
As far as what other comprehensive sex education programs teach seems to be a
wide variety of information. They seem to touch almost every subject related to sex.
However they might also send the wrong message to our youth. Engage in sexual
relationships that are consensual, non- exploitative, honest, pleasurable, and protected.
(National pg.51). information presented in this way might not be much help to a teen who
is just starting to be sexually active. This statement can give him the wrong thoughts like,
its ok if I have all the sex I want as long as im protected. but what is being protected?
Not much more is said in depth about being protected. Many pleasurable sexual
behaviors do not put an individual at risk for an unintended pregnancy or STDs/HIV
(National pg53). With this being stated, it can be enough information for an immature
teen to feel protected, thereby misleading a young person into engaging in sex with
many partners and feeling protected. So if this bit of information can mislead a teen,
are covering many topics but not spending enough time on each really a good idea for
guiding our youth towards the right direction?
So with abstinence vows being broken, 750,000 teen pregnancies, 200,420
abortions and teenagers with STDs, what are the success rates? And who receives credit.
Maybe both types of sex education or maybe neither, But one thing is clear sex related
complication amongst teenagers is not under control.
The image below shows that within the teenager, ages 15-19, that do get pregnant
only about half end up giving birth. It also shows that 28% of the pregnant teenagers end
up inducing abortions. This demonstrates that they regret being pregnant and does not
include the teens that regretted being pregnant but did not choose abortion. This can go
back to teens not knowing enough about their sex life and make good decisions they will
not regret.
l.
publication date 2002
The table below shows two simple questions done to twenty teenagers ages 16-19, in
which none of them have children, and are employees at a local McDonalds.
Who did you learn about sex from?
Parents/family members School No one
5 2 13

Do you think you know enough about sex?
Yes Maybe No
3 15 2

This small survey shows the lack of knowledge teens tend to have about sex. The first
question gives an idea that about 65% of teens are left to find knowledge about sex for
themselves, and only about 25% of the parents are informing their child on the topic of
sex. The second questions might give an idea that teen might be confused about what
they know, since only 5 out of 20 were able to give a straight yes or no answer. The rest
of the teens gave answers like kinda, I think, or maybe. So if only two out of twenty
teens said they learned about sex from school, what can the success rates be? And are
they really learning enough?
Having so many teen pregnancies in the United States the bush administration has
spend millions of dollars towards putting sex education in school. As well as many
school districts arguing about what kind of sex education to teach, however results are
not being shown clearly. Which is why parents of teenagers should have more knowledge
towards this topic and decide what type of sex education would be best for their child.
With this type of advocating from family with teens, better decision can be made.















Conolly, Ceci (December 2, 2004) some abstinence programs mislead teens,
report says. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articels/A26623-
2004Decl.html
Guttmacher institute (January 2011) facts on American teens sexual and
reproductive health http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/FB-ATSRH.html
Lobron, Alison (February 1, 2009) lets talk about sex
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/magazine/articles/2009/02/01/lets_talk_about_sex/
Masland, Molly (2011) carnal knowledge: the sex ed
debate. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3071001/ns/health-kids_and_parenting/
National Guidelines task force (2004) Guidelies for comprehensive sexuality
education, 3
rd
edition
Sex education survey (2011), retrieved march, 2, 2011.
Waxman, Rep. Henry A. (December 2004) the content of federally funded
abstinence-only education programs
http:www.democtrats.reform.House.gov