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It may be the most important talk you or the school will ever have with your children. The talk about sex which is recommended at about age eight. (Quillen 19) Some say this is too young but a preemptive strike can give your children a healthy, positive, respectful view of human intimacy. This will help with all the garbage that will come from the media and peer groups. Such as all the commercials that try to sell sex, the movies and music videos. But no matter what, all parents need help with this subject. This is where sex education comes in handy.
Sex education usually occurs during the middle school grades. In a way, it’s a magical time and certainly an opportunistic time for parents. Middle- aged kids are usually extremely curious and interested. Further, they are conceptual enough to understand most of what is explained to them. They are not yet emotionally or hormonally preoccupied with sex, so they are able to look at it objectively. Sex education in public schools has been a controversial issue in the United States for over a decade. With all the sexually transmitted diseases and teen pregnancy crisis growing, sex education is needed.
Some of the American public believes that sex education should not be taught at school. Sex education should go on at home with parents. When it’s taught at school they’re not putting emphasis on abstinence and encouraging children to have sex. Our American culture is very sexually orientated. (George 2) Sex can be seen all over the media. Sex oozes from every aspect of our culture and there’s no kid that can avoid it. After being faced with sex on an everyday basis, the independent teens of today will make their own decisions on whether or not to have sex.
The important thing is to make sure that they know all aspects of it. Sex education gives young people an understanding of positive sexuality. It also provides health information and skills on decision making(George). Successful sex education programs have several great points. The great points include exercises to encourage their moral values, learn to talk with one another, and taught how to negotiate while in sexual situations. (Ramos 2) Subjects include sexual development, reproduction, relationships, affection, intimacy, body image, and gender roles.
These are important issues that young people deal with everyday. It is important to share with students that you don’t have to feel pressured into sex. Sex education specifically teaches students strategies to deal with these issues. The majority of our nation favors sex education in public schools. There are some surveys that show eighty-nine percent of citizens support it. The other eleven percent believes that sex education prompts young people to have sex. This reasoning is based on nothing. There is no evidence that proves sex education causes any negative behavior (Ramos 7).
Since 1981, the year that HIV was an epidemic, adolescents have accounted for only 20 percent of new infections(Quillen 6). HIV stands for human immunodeficiency virus. It’s a blood virus that is transmitted when a person comes into contact with infected body fluid. This includes unprotected sex. Condoms made of latex are one way to protect against contracting the virus if the person chooses to have sex. This is some of the information that sex education provides young people with. This information is vital. Only a small amount of teens infected with HIV actually know they have it.
If teens take risks of having unprotected sex with their partner because they know they are sure “their partner” doesn’t have the virus, they are putting themselves at risk. This could cause the HIV crisis to grow. Sex education teaches young people that having unprotected is risky sex and has possible consequences. These are things that as parents don’t really get addressed until it’s too late. The people who don’t believe in sex education in school say that it does not enhance life. How can that be so when it could help save lives!
There are a lot of young people confused about what really causes HIV. Most commonly, young people think that HIV is a homosexual disease or an IV drug user’s disease (Quillen 18). Sex education could also inform students that everyone can be infected. Teen pregnancy is a problem in the U. S. A brief news bulletin from NBC showed that there are about 1. 2 million teens that get pregnant every year (Jayson 1). This could be caused by the lack of the teen’s knowledge. Most of these teens were having unprotected sex the first time they participated in intercourse.
Sex education can help reduce teen pregnancy by encouraging sexual responsibility. The risk of STDs and teen pregnancy is an irreversible problem. The key is preventing it. This is a very important time for your children. The world is changing; it’s more dangerous now than ever. The stakes are higher now; they have more to lose and more to gain. There is more to worry about, more to protect from, and more need for solid, lasting family commitments. This can and will be instilled in your children through sex education.
Parents are responsible for sharing and informing teens of sex education. A lot of parents are not comfortable doing so. That’s why they offer the sex education class. This class does not zero us out from participating, because we are left with monitoring our teens. You as parents can convey values and attitudes that may discourage sex. Parents can emphasize the importance of school and discourage dating because it interferes with academic success. Along with parental discussion and sex education the point will get across to our teens. Is it your time to have a talk with your child?