Mark Kroeker
Growing up in a town with a dwindling population of 3,900, in rural Nebraska, our sexual education class was better than what most might expect. We were informed about most sexually transmitted diseases, how to properly put a condom on, and how important safe sex is. Along with this, we still got the pitch for abstinence, but there was no commitment or pledge being pushed onto us either. After doing research and finding other peoples’ stories, I know that I had one of the better classes. Today, sexual education is still a very controversial topic and applying it on a worldwide scale through having a unified program would be a big step in slowing the human population growth.
First, there is a long-standing debate on whether not schools should be allowed to teach sexual education or not. Some teachers and parents do not believe it is the teacher’s responsibility to educate the children on this subject (SIECUS). On the other hand, children need to learn about proper sexual education and a school is a place that they can ask questions without the awkwardness of them asking their parents (DeWitt). The idea of sexual education varies greatly as well. Out of all 50 states, 24 require sexual education, 21 of the previous 24 require HIV education as well, 33 states only mandate education on HIV/AIDS, and only 20 states require the education to be “medically, factually, or technically accurate (Blackman et al).” On top of these ridiculous requirements that vary from every state, 38 states require parent involvement, 4 states need permission slips before the child can be taught, and parents can opt their children out in 35 states (Blackman et al). Over half the states allow the children they are supposed to be educating to opt out of a very important course that impacts them throughout much of their adulthood. Therefore, a unified plan that allows all children to learn about proper sexual education would help tremendously with unwanted babies or babies that cannot be properly cared for. This unified plan will also help eradicate new cases of sexually transmitted diseases because the children will be properly informed about how serious these diseases are. Next, I am going to discuss how abstinence has the possibility to interfere with proper sexual education.
Abstinence is the 100% guarantee to prevent pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases. Christians, Muslims, and Hindus practice abstinence. These 3 religions account for 4.1 billion people out of the 7.6 billion people that inhabit this Earth (Grigonis). The idea of abstinence is so deeply rooted in these religions that it is difficult for schools to teach other types of sexual education. The study found that programs that promote abstinence until marriage do not affect the sexual behavior or amount of sexually transmitted diseases for teenagers in the United States. Teens that have partaken in these abstinence programs are less likely to use contraceptives when they become sexually active, are more likely to transmit sexually transmitted diseases, and less likely to seek medical treatment for the diseases they contracted. Several state evaluations in the United States also reported that abstinence-only-until-marriage programs have reported no significant changes. Abstinence already has an extremely strong foothold in the world. Women in third world countries even risk their life by having sexual relations before marriage because the laws in their country are so strict they would most likely be executed for their actions. Therefore, these countries need to implement a unified plan because the people do not know about the dangers of sex, only the fear of being killed unless they wait until marriage.
Overall, a unified plan for proper sexual education would help slow the growth of the human population, decrease the amount of new sexually transmitted diseases, and decrease the amount of unwanted or unplanned pregnancies. This plan should start at all the public-school systems in the United States and after some trial and error be expanded to the entire world so that we can save the one and only Earth that we depend upon to live. This simple plan has the potential to save us before we run out of the resources on this Earth. Preventing sexually transmitted diseases will also improve the quality of life among all humans. Overall, this plan will help to keep the human population in a range that the Earth can sustain and improve the overall health of everything that the Earth contains.
Works Cited
DeWitt, Peter. “Should Sex Education Be Taught in Schools?” Education Week – Finding Common Ground. Editorial Projects on Education, 04 June 2015. Web. 11 Apr.2017.
Kate Blackman, Samantha Scotti, Emily Heller. “State Policies on Sex Education in Schools.”State Policies on Sex Education in Schools. National Conference of State Legislatures, 21 Dec. 2016. Web. 11 Apr. 2017.
SIECUS. “Support SIECUS!” SIECUS – Fact Sheet. SIECUS, 2015. Web. 11 Apr. 2017.
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I like the visual, it gives a pretty clear idea of the point you’re trying to get across. You give great insight on the religious side of the argument and how it effects schools and learning today and how some schools only teach abstinence.
I think you have a good message here. I agree that they should have a unified education program that will teach all kids proper sexual education.
This is an interesting point of view. Knowing how school’s treat the idea of sex, this may call for a change in sex education.
The information provided is very interesting. I think it would be a long time before it becomes a reality because like you said, many schools allow children to opt out of a sexual education class. I don’t see that changing because it is a choice, and I can understand why some parents and students would be uncomfortable. Very nice article.
I didn’t know that teaching abstinence wasn’t effective at all, although it makes sense. Tell a teen they can’t do something and they immediately want to do it.
This is very interesting! I had no idea about any of this until now, our school didn’t really have sex ed only a little in the 7th grade so I like being informed like this!
Interesting….I guess teaching abstinence isn’t effective at all because when I was in 7th grade, we were taught about this once, and I personally forgot most of what we had learned.
Mark: great revisions to your visual! It’s very legible now and I like the way it’s so nicely balanced.
-Melanie