Sex Education Reflection

Sex education is a very important and controversial issue that tends to be ignored in the United States. In the U.S. sex education can vary greatly state to state, as well as school to school. Every state is allowed to choose how to address sex in a school setting. Also, schools and teachers are given room to interpret the state policies and are given flexibility on how they personally approach the subject of sex. By providing a subjective and interpretative outline for sex education there is no consistency and those that suffer are the students.

I know when I was in high school we were not taught in an informative way. I attended a small Catholic school, which was expected to follow and teach the churches’ beliefs. We were taught abstinence until marriage. And, we had to watch a movie from the 1970s that pretty much said if you have sex you will get a disease and die. I feel some schools try to scare kids into abstinence, while I feel it is more effective to teach all the facts thus allowing for informative decisions not based on fear alone.

There is a division among states and their policies on sex education. Many states offer both sex education and information on HIV and STDs; while other states offer only sex education, or only information on STDs. Also several states give parents the option to withdraw or remove their children from the sex education program. I feel that as a nation there should be a solitarily conformed format for sex education. This would guarantee consistent information and teaching techniques for all students. Also, I think parents should not have the ability to waive sex education. As much as parents don’t want their children “exposed” to sex they will be regretting it when their kids end up pregnant or have a STD because they were not informed. Those who do not receive an in-depth sex education that covers all aspects in a scientific way are more likely to see consequences because they didn’t know.