Opinion Piece

Sex? Yes Please, Education That Is!

As you walk into a high school you may find quite shocking that one of the first questions you ask yourself is, “Why are there so many young pregnant girls in high school?” The United States ranks very high in sexually transmitted diseases, unwanted pregnancies and teenage pregnancies. What is even more astonishing is the fact that the number of those preteens and teens that are faced with this issue keeps rising.

United States shows concern for this issue; yet it does very little, almost nothing, to prevent unwanted pregnancies, teenage pregnancies and reduce the number of people with sexually transmitted diseases. It should be the duty of this nation to look for effective ways to reduce the rising number of this problem among preteens and teens. Various studies have shown that a highly effective way to reduce the numbers is by enforcing abstinence-only programs and sexual education courses in school.

According to the article “Adolescent Sexual Behavior: Examining Data from Texas and the US,” the number of children having sex has risen and will continue to rise. The authors state that “one in every ten sixth graders has had sex, twenty-two percent of seventh graders, twenty-nine percent of eighth graders, thirty-two percent of ninth graders, forty-one percent of tenth graders, fifty-three percent of eleventh graders, and sixty-two percent of twelfth graders have had sex.” “Together, over one third of the entire Texas public middle and high school population are sexually experienced.” It is shocking to know so many young children are already having sex, without knowing what they are actually doing. What is even more shocking is the fact that numbers will keep rising and rising if we do not do anything about this.

In my opinion the rising number is caused by the lack of knowledge among preteens and teens on the issue. I believe most teens do not know a lot about sexually transmitted diseases and about sex in general which may lead to unwanted and teenage pregnancies. The lack of knowledge about sex and the consequences it may bring along leads preteens and teens to have sexual relationships; they figure that nothing can go wrong when in fact everything can go down the drain for them if they practice unprotected sex.

United States should invest some money in sexual education courses. These courses should teach about sexual intercourse, sexually transmitted diseases, birth control, abstinence and pregnancies. They should provide students with a visual and actually make them realize the hardships a pregnancy brings along if they are not ready to be parents. As an example, in some courses some students are required to carry around a baby doll and act as if it was their child; this helps them understand all the things a baby requires from you and that it is not easy raising a child.

United States should also make sexual education courses a requirement to pass on to high school and to graduate from high school. By this, we are assured that students know about the issue and are aware that the best thing to do is to abstain from sex or use protection to reduce chances of pregnancies and getting infected with a sexually transmitted disease. By having sexual education courses we know that numbers of unwanted pregnancies, teenage pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases will greatly be reduced.

As of now, we know of a highly effective way to reduce the numbers of unwanted teenage pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases. We know that using this method will decrease these numbers by a lot, so why not use this method and if a better method comes along then try it out and see what turns out to be better for teens. For now we should stick to what we know and invest in it for our future.

            By Jessica Concha, Jessica Concha is an undergraduate student at University of Texas at El Paso studying Education.

References

Markham, Christine; Peskin, Melissa; Hernandez, Belinda F.; Johnson, Kimberly; Addy, Robert C.; Cuccaro, Paula; Shegog, Ross; and Tortolero, Susan (2011) "Adolescent Sexual Behavior: Examining Data from Texas and the US," Journal of Applied Research on Children: Informing Policy for Children at Risk: Vol. 2: Iss. 2, Article 3.

Available at: http://digitalcommons.library.tmc.edu/childrenatrisk/vol2/iss2/3

Picture link: http://www.mainstreamcoalition.org/Issues_Sex_Education.aspx