Sexual Education
Jessica Concha
English 1311
November 5, 2012
Jorge Gomez
Sexual Education
Sexual education courses are believed to be a solution to many issues concerning the topic. Unwanted pregnancies, teenage pregnancies, sexually transmitted diseases, birth control and abstinence have all been issues and points of discussion often related to the topic. The United States ranks very high in sexually transmitted diseases, unwanted pregnancies and teenage pregnancies; which is why America has interfered with this issue and it has been brought up for discussion in federal meetings. Abstinence-only programs and sexual education in schools has been a big help in reducing the number of teens that have never had sex before. According to the Centers for Disease Control, the number of teens who say they have never had sex before has risen by ten percent between 1991 and 2001; this has been largely in part by sexual education courses. This report will discuss the content in sexual education courses, how sexual education began, how it affects the nation and how to become an advocate for sexual education.
Sexual Education vs. Abstinence-Only Programs
Sexual education is somewhat like abstinence-only programs except that abstinence-only mainly focuses on teaching school aged children to remain “sex-free,” or abstinent, until after they are married while sexual education courses teach safe sex to prevent unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases. Abstinence-only programs focus primarily on teaching the students to just say no to sex; the program does not mention condoms or any form of birth control because their main priority is to stop sex before marriage as a whole. Sexual education courses teach school aged children and teens about safe sex and general information about it; it also includes lectures on abstinence but not as their main topic of interest. This program does focus a lot on sex and explains in detail how to have safe sex to avoid certain problems if safe sex is not practiced. These problems include sexually transmitted infections and pregnancy. They focus on teaching students the effective way to avoid unwanted problems; by using condoms, birth control or simply abstaining from sex.
A Study on Effectiveness of Sex Education
Sexual education courses and abstinence-only programs have proved to work efficiently among school aged children. Various articles and studies have shown the effectiveness of these programs through experiments. The experiments conducted were follow-ups of a course taken by students. In one experiment conducted by John Jemmott III, students were divided in groups and placed in different types of sexual education courses. Twenty-four months after completing the course, Jemmott contacted the students who took part in the research and asked about their sexual status since they took the course. Those who were placed in an abstinence-only course had the lowest turnout on sexual activity.
How Sexual Education Began
According to Denny and Young, “Federal involvement in abstinence education began under President Reagan with the Adolescent Family Life Act administered by the office of Adolescent Pregnancy Programs.” In 1996, the Welfare Reform Act was granted funds to the states for abstinence education which would emphasize on teaching students to abstain from sex unless, of course, you were married. Since a big amount of money was granted to the states, researchers have dedicated themselves to prove if it was actually worth it or if the government was just wasting money on something that proved to be ineffective. Many researchers have conducted experiments and have followed up on them and have concluded that these programs do have a benefit and actually prevent and lower the amount of school aged children having sexual intercourse.
Complex Sexual Education
The Bush Administration also did their part in trying to lower the number of children and teens from having sex. The Bush Administration planned to increase funding for abstinence only programs by a third, $135 million. However, advocates for youth and those in favor of complex sexual education wanted more; not more money, but they wanted to include more topics in abstinence only programs. Advocates and supporters wanted the courses to also focus and mention how to have safe sex in case students would actually engage in having sexual intercourse. They wanted the courses to focus on teaching abstinence, but also wanted to bring up the topic of condoms and contraceptives within the lectures. Since abstinence only programs focus on abstinence, Complex Sexual Education courses were created to point out those topics that were not covered in abstinence only courses.
The Content of Sexual Education Courses
The table above shows the topics covered in A-H, abstinence only program. In the human development section the table demonstrates that a high amount of teachers talked about body image, puberty and reproduction. Teachers mainly focused on relationships; they lectured about families, friendships, love, marriage, childrearing and romantic relationships. Personal skills, sexual behavior, sexual health, sociocultural factors and beliefs about sexuality education were also taught within these courses. Teachers were taught to cover many topics within the abstinence only program; shockingly, these also included sexually transmitted diseases, pregnancy, and contraceptives.
Becoming an Advocate
The best way to help prevent so many sexually infected teens and adults is by becoming an advocate for sexual education while children are still young. If a child learns about all the things that come along with becoming sexually active, they will have more knowledge and will be aware of the choices they have and will not be pushed into having sexual relationships until they feel ready to do so. Becoming an advocate for this issue will help see that these courses are still needed and should not be disregarded because it has already shown an improvement. There is still more to come and if sexual education courses are eliminated, pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases will rise once again. Keeping sexual education courses will continue to lower the number of sexual issues going on now and that will come in the future generations.
Conclusion
Sexual education courses have proven many times to be a successful method of reducing sexual issues. Not only did it lower unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases but also has reduced the number of teens having sexual relations overall. It is up to the citizens of the United States, and those who represent them, to keep these courses and maintain them or make them better so that the number of sexual issues can be lowered even more. By teaching children, preteens and teens about sex is the best way to avoid having all these sexual issues, and what is the best way to teach them? By providing a sexual education course in their school and even making it a requirement to pass on to high school or graduation. As an example, health is a required course for graduation from high school; sexual education should also be one so that present and future generations will have knowledge on the issue and will make wise choices.
Reference Page
Ali, L., Scelfo, J., Downey, S., & Juarez, V. (2002). Choosing Virginity. (Cover story). Newsweek, 140(24), 60. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.
Denny, G., & Young, M. (2006). An Evaluation of an Abstinence-Only Sex Education Curriculum: An 18- Month Follow-up. Journal of School Health, 76(8), 414-422.doi:10.1111/j.1746- 1561.2006.00135.x
No comments:
Post a Comment