The Role of Sex Education in Schools

By: Michaela Schnetter

In today’s society, children are becoming overrun with sexual orientated visuals and auditory segments. There is nudity on almost all media platforms, sex in movies, and intimations of sex in popular music, so it is no surprise that people think children are becoming more sexual at an earlier age. A way for them to become sexually healthy adults, has become a controversial topic. The idea is to institute sex education in schools and become familiar with what the children will be learning. The students who take sex education classes in school learn much more than just sex; they also learn about anatomy and reproduction which is vital information to have when entering their adult life. Although some form of sex education is part of the curriculum at many schools, it remains a controversial issue in several locations, especially with concern to the age at which children should start receiving the education, the amount of detail which is shared, and topics dealing with human sexuality and behavior.

What is sex education?

    Sex education is the extensive term used to describe education about human sexual anatomy, sexual reproduction, sexual intercourse, and other aspects of human sexual behavior. Planned Parenthood is the nation’s largest provider of sex education, reaching 1.5 million people a year and they also provide instructors to go into schools and teach these topics to students. Comprehensive sex education refers to K-12 programs that covers a range of topics related to:

• Human Development (including reproduction, puberty, sexual orientation, and gender identity)
• Relationships (including families, friendships, romantic relationships and dating)
• Personal Skills (including communication, negotiation, and decision-making)
• Sexual Behavior (including abstinence and sexuality throughout life)
• Sexual Health (including sexually transmitted diseases, contraception, and pregnancy)
• Society and Culture (including gender roles, diversity, and sexuality in the media.

According to Planned Parenthood, 93 percent of parents supported having sex education taught in middle school, and 96 percent of parents supported having sex education taught in high school. A lot of the sex education in schools offer knowledge about STDs, puberty, healthy relationships, contraception, and sexual orientation. There are other national, state and local polls on sex education have shown similarly high levels of support.

According to a Guttmacher report,  there are currently 24 states that mandate sex education and 34 states that mandate HIV education. Decisions on what is taught is determined by the school district in several cases. A gap of what students should receive for sex education versus what they actually receive is vast. According to the CDC School Health Profiles, ‘fewer than half of high schools and only a fifth of middle schools teach all 16 topics recommended by the CDC.” Today, fewer young people report receiving any formal sex education at all. A recent study conducted by the Guttmacher Institute found that there are less teens now than in the past that are being exposed to important information about sex education topics. In 2011–2013, 43% of adolescent females and 57% of adolescent males did not receive information about birth control before they had sex for the first time.

    A topic of debate in this situation is should parents teach their children the ranges of information about sex or should the schools? Despite the declines in formal education , there was no increase during the study period in the proportion of teens who discussed these sex education topics with their parents. “Relying on parents alone to provide teens with necessary information about sex is inadequate,” says author Laura Lindberg. “Schools should provide medically accurate and comprehensive sex education, so teens have the information and skills they need to enjoy the best health possible.”

A study conducted by Dr. Linberg found that “teens from rural areas experienced declines in many areas of sex education.” Dr. Lindberg discovered that this is troubling because compared with their urban peers, rural teens are more vulnerable to negative sexual health outcomes: They use contraceptives at first sex at lower rates than urban teens, and rural communities offer less access to sexual and reproductive health care services than urban communities. According to a previous Guttmacher research study, despite the declines of sex education available to teens, U.S. teen pregnancy rates are at historic lows and improved contraceptive has been a factor of this decline. Other data from the Centers for Disease Control have documented declines in schools teaching a range of sex education topics.   

There is a fear that some educators may have been taught false or damaging information that can take several years to unlearn and that information could be passed along to the children. This ultimately contributes to the debate of should sex education be in the school systems. Some say it is not age-appropriate and can push a socially liberal agenda, with discussions of homosexuality and gender identity. Some topics of debate to teaching sex education in schools also include the fear of attacking the individuals religion and religious beliefs that contraceptives may be a sin. More include parents not knowing what is being taught in the class, the effectiveness of sex ed and the individual differences among students of both genders. People fear that teaching sex ed at an early age encourages premarital sexual interactions. National organizations that have publicly criticized sexual education in the schools include Focus on the Family, Citizens for Excellence in Education, the American Family Association, the Christian Coalition, and several more.

Conversations about personal experiences with sex education in schools found a wide variety of responses. 21-year old Nick Nordstrom from Fort Dodge remembers, “I went to a Catholic school so most of my sex education involved teachers promoting abstinence. I remember some of our teachers encouraged us to take chastity vows. We didn’t have proper “sex ed” classes, but we would spend a couple of weeks learning about sex and sexuality.”  

28-year old Sam Richardson from Vincent said, “My sex ed class was awkward because in my class there was a pregnant girl. I think it was awkward for her too because when we talked about the consequences of sex, everyone kind of looked at her.”

On the other hand, 43-year-old Jolene Pergande from Dayton explains, “When I went through high school in the 90s, my school didn’t have sex ed. I learned most of my knowledge about it once I became an adult. I am a teacher for fifth grade and I believe it is important for me and other teachers to have the correct knowledge about sex ed for the students. It is important to teach this information to kids.”  

Finally, 18- year old Katie Parsons from Fort Dodge says “I am in sex ed in school right now and I am learning more than I thought I would be. It’s good that we learn this in school because it’s important knowledge to have.”

    Whether people want or do not want sex education in the school system, it is slowly making an impact in schools. There will always be an ongoing debate about it in schools, both public and private. Only time will tell the effect of sex ed curriculum and its mark on the school systems.

Photo Credits:

Guttmacher.org

iStock Photo

Cosmopolitan