Sex Education in schools
...should be taught as well. Statistics show that abstinence only teaching is not very successful. It does not provide young people with the full range of information that they are entitled to learn. Young people should be taught that if they were to engage in sexual intercourse that one of the consequences could be unwanted teen pregnancy which could affect the rest of their life. Many teens make bad decisions and the teen pregnancy rate is higher than ever. The United States has the largest pregnancy rate in the world (Allison 9). Proper sex education can lower pregnancy rates. Laura Berman, director of a women’s sexual health facility in Chicago, states that “. . . each year more than 800,000 adolescents in the USA become pregnant” (15). This means that there are enough pregnant teens to fill a large city. This statistic is way too high and something needs to be done to lower the teen pregnancy rate. An instructor can use this statistic to frighten their students. Young people will not take the subject of pregnancy so lightly if they are given alarming statistics and understand the seriousness of it. Teachers should inform their students of each type of contraceptive that is available. They should discuss the use of condoms, pills, patches, shots, foams, and the effectiveness of each. Students should know that each type of contraceptive is not guaranteed to work and that there are still slight chances that pregnancy could result. The discussion of contraceptives may also lead into where each contraceptive can be bought, or in some cases prescribed by a doctor. If the student does get in a situation when they need something, they know how to get it and this lowers the chances of unprotected sex. However, the distribution of any type of contraceptive should not be allowed. Handing out contraceptives gives the impression that sex is being promoted and contradicts with their teaching of abstinence. Instructors should have forms of contraception for visual aids only. Along with contraceptives, students must be warned against sexually transmitted diseases (STD’s). Sexually transmitted diseases are very dangerous. Young people that are not educated about STD’s are more prone to contract them. An article from Pediatrics, a scholarly journal, suggests that “each year, one case of a sexually transmitted disease is diagnosed for every four sexually active teens in the United States” (Berry 280). This statistic is recent and is estimated to grow in the future. Young people’s awareness of sexually transmitted diseases could be the only factor that will reduce the numbers of disease contractions. It should be made known that some of the diseases that can be contracted have no cure and can lead to fatality or lifetime impairment. The thought of losing a life to a bad decision will make a young person think twice about engaging in sexual activities. Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) is the most common sexually transmitted disease today. Many people die each year as a result of having contracted AIDS. Sexually transmitted diseases are contagious through sexual contact. Diseases are contracted from having sexual relations with a person that is a carrier of the disease. Some carriers of the disease may not even know they have contracted it and transfer it to others. Teenagers have the highest rate of STD contractions. In a time in which teens are dating a variety of people, contracting a disease becomes a more dangerous factor because of the sexual contact with numerous partners. If teenagers are more conscious of the severity of contracting a STD, then they may make better choices when it comes to sexual contact with others. Another vital area in the instruction of sex education is the importance of a well trained teacher. Teachers that teach normal subjects at a school must go to school to have the knowledge to teach their subject effectively. If a teacher wants to teach math, then the teacher required to have some type of schooling involving math. Hiring a sex education instructor should be conducted the same way. Sex education teachers often do not have the proper skills or knowledge to teach sex education courses. Few teachers have ever received training and even less have been declared certified sex education instructors (Rodriguez 2216). In order to have a successful program the teacher must believe in what they are teaching and be trained well enough to do so. Trained teachers can adapt their teachings to comply with the local parent, religious, and community teachings. Teachers should receive training on sexual topics and the philosophy of sexuality. Sex education teachers should follow up their training with in-services and conventions in which they continue their education and get new ideas of how to convey information to their students. The United States should require that sex education teachers have some type of training or guidelines to follow. Few states have requirements for sex education teachers to follow. A study in 1995 found that only twelve states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico required any type of license for teachers to obtain to teach sex education. Even fewer states require training for HIV awareness classes. (Rodriguez 2216). Other states in the U.S. need to develop some type of program which will give sex education instructors the proper amount of training to allow them to be adequately prepared to teach a class of young teenagers about sex and their sexuality. A well-trained teacher can impact the success of a sex education class. Parents also must play a role in teaching their children about sex education. Parents serve as teachers, as well as role models in most cases. Parents can begin their part of the education by starting to initiate conversations. Sometimes the child even initiates the conversations. The National PTA reports, “nearly two-thirds of pare...