...Without a doubt sex education has been a controversial topic in the United States. Our elected officials used to continuously debate comprehensive versus abstinence-only sex education for students K-12. Until very recent sex education was lumped in with abortion, and was a supporting argument for most Republican and Democratic to display their values before elections. However, during President Obama’s first term, he and his administration eliminated all federally funded abstinence-only sex education. (Tucker, 2011, as cited in Crooks & Baur, 2013, p. 371) The President had made this informed decision on data collected, but according to Herbnick, the administration was mostly motivated by the 1.5 billion federal taxpayer dollars spent on abstinence-only...
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...bring to your attention the problems of sexually transmitted infections and diseases, and to persuade you that of the two solutions presented, comprehensive sexual education is more effective than abstinence only sexual...
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...The Ineffectiveness of Abstinence-Only Education and The Importance of the Implementation of Comprehensive Sexual Education Programs in U.S. Public Schools Each of us deserves medically accurate and thorough information in order to make informed decisions about our health. Teenagers who are exposed solely to abstinence-only sexual education programs are not experiencing this right to information. Abstinence-only sexual education programs preach abstaining from sex until marriage, often omitting conversations about other significant topics of sexual health. Although practicing abstinence is the only sure way to avoid STIs and unwanted pregnancy, it is not realistic to expect all adolescents to remain abstinent until marriage as, according to...
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...investigate sexual education because it is a policy area that hits close to home. Sexual Education is an issue with many facets, but it falls under the larger umbrella of reproductive freedom. Many people would consider themselves either pro-life or pro-choice, but there is also a middle section that is less defined. This section is present because of cases like rape, health difficulties, or future health of the baby. With education, it is less black and white in the eyes of the general populace. Further, sides are frequently taken due to religious beliefs. Education is typically a more local issue, but it has a large impact on the rate of pregnant teens, which ultimately funnels into the debate over abortion. More specifically, the federal government has to take action on both abortion and sexual education because of their inter-connectedness. With that said, the focus of my policy is primarily the need for comprehensive sexual education. I work for the American Civil Liberties Union, and within this I am a part of TACL. The point of this group is to focus on civil liberties for students. With the passage of the abstinence only bill in Tennessee, I feel as though my liberties have been taken. I believe that you cannot stop students from doing what is natural by not teaching them about it or teaching them about protection. Studies show that in states with abstinence only education laws, the pregnancy rate is much higher. I want to focus my research on education about safety...
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...Jason Rusli Esl 26 26 July 2012 Essay 1 Final Draft Sex Education for a Better Future Pregnancy among school-age youth may reduce completed levels of education, employment opportunities and marital stability, and increase welfare dependency (Illinois Department of Public Health). This staggering sentence has pointed out the important needs of sex education in schools to ameliorate the nation’s economics. Two approaches to sex education currently prevail: abstinence-only approach – inculcating teenagers with the notion that premarital intercourse is astray – and comprehensive approach, which focuses on the dissemination of information on safe sex practices, while simultaneously promoting abstinence as the ultimate solution in diminishing the issues of unwanted pregnancy and the spread of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). In spite of seemingly endless debates as to which approach is more effective, it would be reckless to simply laud one approach and criticize another, for the two approaches are not mutually exclusive. Moreover, neither approach is effective on its own. Only by incorporating the merits of both approaches, coupled with family support / parental involvement, can the issue at hand be effectively handled. In an essay titled “Sex Education in Schools,” the author, Amber Dahlke, staunchly believes that sex education should be taught in comprehensive style. However, I remain ambivalent towards the comprehensive approach. Although I recognize the value in imparting...
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...Why Sexual Education Should Be Taught In Public Schools In today’s society where children are exposed to sex through various media outlets, the need for sexual education in public schools is necessary. Instead of abstinence-only education, which teaches refraining from sexual activity until marriage, today’s youth needs to be informed about the various aspects of sexuality including pregnancy, contraception, STDs, and abstinence. According to a survey conducted by National Public Radio, The Kaiser Family Foundation, and Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, ninety percent of American parents believe that comprehensive sexual education should be taught in public schools to students in grades 7 through 12. This type of education encourages abstinence, but also teaches proper condom use and other contraceptive methods to protect youth from unwanted pregnancies and STD (“Sex Education in America”). In order to reduce the risk of teenage pregnancy and the spread of sexually transmitted diseases, Douglas Bernard Kirby, Ph.D. from the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy states in his 2007 publication of Emerging Answers: To be effective, such programs must be straightforward and specific; for example, they might discuss realistic situations that could lead to unprotected sex and methods for avoiding those situations, for remaining abstinent, and for using condoms and other contraceptives. (Kirby 16) Even though studies have shown mixed results...
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...teaching teenagers about sex is a continuing controversy. Statistics from the Guttmacher Institute show that nearly half of U.S. teenagers between the ages of 15-19 have had sex. There has always been a debate on the curriculum of sex education. Some people believe that abstinence only education is the only kind of education that should be taught in U.S. public schools, while others believe in the need to teach comprehensive sex education. Statistics show that teenagers do have sex, are contracting STDs, and are getting pregnant. Although many U.S. states disagree with teaching abstinence only sex education, the government has funded over a billion dollars to schools over the past ten years that have taught an abstinence only curriculum. The Grand Rapids Press affirmed, in 2008 the Bush administration gave $ 200 million to schools in the U.S. for abstinence only curriculums. In the United States, we are divided on our opinion of sex education. Sharyl Attkisson from CBS News reported in 14 states both abstinence and contraception are taught, in 19 states only teaching abstinence is required and in 17 states the state does not specify on which sex education curriculum to teach. “The National Abstinence Education Association argues that comprehensive sex education in schools doesn’t reduce the number of teens having sex”, reported in the Grand Rapids Press. But contrary to the National Abstinence Education Association a study by The Mathematica Policy Research study found that students...
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...of teen pregnancy and sexual transmitted diseases in Mississippi, public schools should offer abstinence plus classes for the fifth through ninth graders and comprehensive sex education for the tenth through twelfth graders. “A mutually faithful monogamous relationship in the context of marriage is the expected standard of human sexual activity.” Different people will disagree about the veracity of this statement, but we know that it does not reflect the experiences of the majority of young people. Therefore, classes should be offered to educate the younger people about sex and its consequences. Abstinence plus programs teaches teens abstinence but includes information about condoms and contraception methods. Simultaneously, comprehensive sex education teaches abstinence as the best method for avoiding pregnancy and sexual transmitted diseases but also teaches condoms and contraception to reduce the risk of unintended pregnancy and of infection with STDs. Offering comprehensive sex and abstinence plus classes in the schools are age appropriate. Mississippi children are becoming pregnant at the age of ten now. At that particular age, most kids are in the fifth grade. This is why abstinence plus should be offered to fifth graders through ninth graders. This class will teach them to abstain from sex but just in case they do not, it would teach them to use condom and contraception. This is an effective way to cut down teen...
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...Should Sex Education Be Taught in Schools Laterra Dykes, Nastasia Davis, David Webb, Joy Dobbins BCOM/275 May 29, 2014 Dewayne Acree Sexually active teens are a matter of severe concern in the United States and many other countries. In the past several years many school-based programs have been created for the sole purpose of delaying the beginning of sexual activity. There seems to be a growing compromise that schools can play an important role in providing youth with a knowledge base which may allow them to make knowledgeable decisions and help them shape a healthy lifestyle (St Leger, 1999). The school is the only institution in regular contact with a sizable percentage of the teenage population (Zabin and Hirsch, 1988), with virtually all youth attending it before they initiate sexual risk-taking behavior (Kirby and Coyle, 1997). The idea of sex education is a very controversial subject. Sex education will teach teens about the importance of safe sex. There are two different styles of learning about sex education, which are abstinence and sex education or comprehensive. Comprehensive education discuss abstinence as a choice. Even though, comprehensive sex education teaching abstinence as a choice it still inform the teens about contraception and how to avoid obtaining sexually transmitted diseases. Abstinence education teaches teens about abstinence from sex until marriage. Abstinence education does not discuss but rejects the use of contraception. The difference between...
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...still maintains one of the highest rates in the world. I believe that while we in the United States try to lower this rate, we are not doing enough to educate and better inform the youth. We need to invest in comprehensive sex education and change the messages were sending teens through the media. I’m from an area where teen pregnancy is a norm. It frightens me knowing that my two younger sisters may become part of a tragic statistic. People blow off teen pregnancy like it is not a big deal, but we need to fix the “solutions” that our government has set out. We have several programs currently available to youth in the United States one of which is sex education. However the media play the most negative role in offsetting the work we as a society perform to help our teens be healthy and not fall into a trap. While sexuality is completely natural and healthy, teens are still not fully aware of some of the consequences that come with teen sex. The first thing I see that needs to be changed is our sex education system. The United States has two major forms of sex education: abstinence only and comprehensive sex education. The first, abstinence only, has been the program of choice for our government to fund. However, research has shown little promise since its emergence. “Studies overwhelmingly have found little or no evidence that abstinence-only courses change teen sexual behavior in ways that would avert...
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...Abstinence- Only Vs. Comprehensive Sex Education Nickenha Ashley SOC 233 Professor Singer October 31, 2013 The debate about “abstinence” vs. “comprehensive” sex education has been occurring for at least three decades. The common ground that drives these competing approaches is concern about the negative consequences of adolescent sexual activity to the health and well-being of individuals and society. The debate about these programs were re-energized recently based on the research of about four different abstinence program, where teens in that study reported that they did not abstain from sexual activity more than non-participants. Based on these results it has come to the conclusion that the abstinence approach to preventing teen sexual risk behaviors does not work. My position on this topic is that I feel that all schools should implement the comprehensive sex education class rather than the abstinence only. The abstinence only approach to sex education does not protect young people from HIV/AIDS, sexually transmitted infections, and unplanned pregnancy. This approach will likely have serious unintended consequences by denying young people access to the information they need to protect themselves. Sex education will prepare them only for when they want to make that decision but will clarify that having no sex is the only way to truly prevent any accidents. The idea that sexual activity is the ticket to popularity is burned into teens brains by media, through television...
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...Research Paper November 13, 2011 Pros and Cons of Sex Education in Schools Sex education in public school has been a controversial issue in the United States for quite a while now. I feel like it really needs to be into schools with so many teen pregnancies, HIV and STD’s cases sex education is needed. Most of the American public believes that sex education should be taught at home by the children’s parents. They feel this way because the sex education programs in schools do not emphasize on abstinence instead they encourage the children to have sex instead. American culture is very sexually oriented. When you turn on your TV or listen to music sex is all you can hear. The pros of sex education in school are countless. Sex education in school gives the kids opportunities to express themselves with their sexuality. It also prevents them from becoming parents at an early age. Each year, U.S. teens experience as many as 850,000 pregnancies, and youth under age 25 experience about 9.1 million sexually transmitted infections (STIs). By age 18, 70 percent of U.S. females and 62 percent of U.S. males have initiated vaginal sex. When expressing comprehensive sex education is effective at assisting young people to make healthy decisions about sex and to obtain healthy sexual behaviors. No abstinence-only-until-marriage program has been shown to help teens delay the initiation of sex or to protect themselves when they do initiate sex. The U.S. government has spent over one billion...
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...The Sex Talk: What Parents are Saying to their Children about Sex by Jessica Hausauer The attitudes an individual holds toward a particular topic are meaningful in that those attitudes are used to construct one’s social reality. Attitudes about sex are often centered around one’s political and personal belief systems, and when it comes to teaching young people about sex, parents ideally hold the prominent position of influence in adolescent’s lives. Debate rages over whether sex education should be an all encompassing component of U.S. public education and if discussed, which topics are appropriate for the classroom. While most parents support Comprehensive Sex Education, there are many who believe sexual matters are to be discussed at the sole discretion of the parent. With the focus of debate centering on whether or not sex education is best left to the parents, it is important to examine what exactly parents are teaching their children. Upon a review of the literature I found that the research regarding parents and children’s conversations about sex was lacking. Many of the studies were outdated or used questionable research methods. The purpose of this research project is to examine the experience of parent to child communication about sex. Literature Review The idea that knowledge has a direct impact on behavior faces a serious challenge when presented in the context of sex education. Much debate has centered on the efficacy of sex education programs in the...
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...Sex Education in Public Schools "Sex oozes from every pore of the culture and there's not a kid in the world who can avoid it" Charles Krauthammer stated. (Bender) Why should a teen have to avoid the topic of sex? Many teens are taught to believe that sex is wrong until after they are married, but not taught the truth about sex. Sex is a natural biological urge that no piece of paper makes a difference about. What should be different, is how teens are taught about sex. In 1996, the United States government passed a law giving funding to states that offered abstinence-only sex education programs in public schools. Since this time, over half of a billion dollars has been given to states to promote abstinence-only programs. (Brody) After a study of four of the schools with abstinence only programs showed, that teens who had participated in the class were no more likely to hold off on having sex, engaging in oral sex, lower the amount of sexual partners or avoiding sex completely than, a teen that did not attend the class at all. (Trenholm) Comprehensive sexual education programs have helped the rate of sexual transmitted diseases, (STD Surveillance) number of unwanted pregnancies and or abortions decline. Sex education also has been shown to reduce the possibility of sexual violence. (Gorden) Comprehensive sexual education programs promote knowledge about prevention, knowing the symptoms of STDs and where to get tested. In 2009, two years after the...
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