Pros and cons of sex education in schools Essay Example

just another subject that should be in the school curriculum. Furthermore, supporters of sex education in schools claim that though parents have a strong stake in the education and the future of their children, educational decisions ought not to be made with the parents’ freedom in mind, but rather with an eye to cultivating future freedoms for children (Mayo 41).

These freedoms, according to them, are particularly crucial when children may not share all aspects of their parents’ identity and thus may not be able to access information about parts of their own lives or future lives. Increased sex education may actually delay the onset of sexual activity, according to this group. Those who promote comprehensive sex education say we know kids are going to have sex anyway, so we may as well teach them how to use condoms and other birth control methods.

Supporters of sex education also maintain that such education helps young women make responsible reproductive health decisions that they will later validate rather than regret. Another firm statement by sexual freedom advocates is that young people need sex education because the ignorance of their bodies was debilitating and that deference to conventions about what was good for young people to know deepened their passivity and political fearfulness. In the United States a campaign of sex education formed a bridge between pro-birth control ideas and an organized movement for birth control. The campaign advocated that teen should be encouraged to think about sex as a positive part of life, to treat others with respect, regardless of the choices they make about sexual activity, to use birth control, and to use condoms to avoid contracting

STDs.

Many social problems associated with sex – in particular STDs and unwanted pregnancies – are due to ignorance about safe sex in the view of sex education proponents. In this age when AIDS poses such a medical threat and only individual responsibility with condoms can prevent it, they claim that a full discussion is essential. In line with this argument, sex education must form a significant part of the curriculum. Further according to this group of people, there is also a need to understand sex and its role in society; whether in a stable relationship or outside it: to ensure it is treated responsibly and with respect. Too much distress is caused by sexual encounters where the two partners have different expectations. The media glamorize meaningless sex and yet are appalled by the rise in casual sex and date rape which surely they play a part in causing. Again, classroom discussion can engender a more responsible attitude among students.

Cons

The subject of sex education brings out emotions in people about equal to discussions on abortion, politics or religion. Opponents claim that sex education should be taught in the home; the religious segment complains sex education offends the teachings of their church; the majority of opponents resent the explicit graphics and descriptions. In addition, Carabine (106) notes that some parents resent the inclusion of homosexual material and the modern liberal brainwashing or proselytization of children to believe that homosexuality is condoned by society and is accepted as an alternate lifestyle.

Further, some parents and citizens are openly critical of condoms being passed out in schools while at the same time schools say they are trying to discourage teenage

sex. Others complain that schools offered programs are little more than how-to-do-it demonstrations. Sex education in schools according to them can be counterproductive because teens find it fashionable to ignore what teachers advocate. Although awareness of the need for safe sex is important, teachers are not the right people to raise it.

At best, some sex education programs give girls and boys a mixed message of “Don't
have sex, but if you do, use a condom" (Irvine 9). There are even sex education programs which robustly campaign for self-restraint but ironically including the discussion of birth control and disease prevention. However, the abstinence point is diluted when schools also show young people how to use birth control methods. A number of studies have examined the impact of sex education in schools upon values and attitudes. Those studies indicate that when specific values were not given prominent emphasis in the course, there was little evidence that the courses had any measurable impact upon the students’ values.

Clearly the current strategy for sex education is not working if so many pupils are still careless. Safe sex, (i.e.) the use of condoms, is seen as unfashionable, and its espousal by teachers will only confirm that view. According to groups promoting anti-sex education in schools, it is better to promote it through style magazines, television programs and other sources that will emphasize how acceptable it is. Further, they say that school is not an arena in which teenagers take such things seriously. They claim that any discussion of sex education in a classroom is likely to lead to ridicule, especially in co-educational classes. Respect for sex, according to them, can only be

encouraged on a one-to-one basis, probably in the family by older siblings or parents. To try to teach it in school can therefore only be detrimental. People contra sex education in schools dictates that classroom education should promote abstinence, as sex education only encourages sexual promiscuity. They state that advocating both safe sex and restraint is self-contradictory. They firmly believe that young people are at danger of cruel psychological and physical impairment from having sex at a very young age and should be persuaded to refrain from doing it until it is proper to do so.

Conclusion

The law on sex education in schools has not changed since the 1993 Education Act, yet the climate has transformed, with attention paid less to whether sex education should happen in schools, and more to the quality and targeting of provision (Reiss and Halstead 74). Well meaning people who vehemently object to any version of sex education should be made aware that there are millions of children who do not receive this knowledge in the home. The causes are many, including shyness on the part of some parents, others being too busy, many lacking the knowledge or ability to intelligently discuss the issues. In addition, there are millions of homes, with only one parent, in which the subject is never raised. It is a stand of this paper that sex education should be taught in schools but not the way it is being taught today.

What need to be addressed is how the subject is approached and which children are receiving what information. Sex education courses can and will be beneficial if they are properly structured and set up to emphasize

the problems and consequences involved in premature sexual activity. When conditions and practices of a good education are present, both girls and boys succeed. The community should be involved in the development of such programs and parents alerted to their content. When done properly, sex education should reflect the needs of the community. Sex education programs need to be locally determined and consistent with parental and community values.

Therefore, those who teach sex education must not only be familiar with the subject mater, but also be sensitive to the attitudes of their students, the parents of students, community groups and school administrators. They must examine their own personal attitudes toward sensitive and controversial topics and be prepared for how students, parents and administrators might react to these issues. They must be thoroughly familiar with state and district policies regarding the teaching of sex education.

Effective sex education is much more than teaching about pregnancy and STDs. It requires going beyond just providing accurate information. In order to help young people, sex education must assist them in their decision-making process. It must also offer life skills training (e.g., communication skills, negotiation skills, refusal skills, relationship skills) that help young people avert adverse consequences from sexual activity and fosters healthy development.

Particular emphasis must be given to helping youth build relationship skills, because relationships are the context in which sexual activity occurs. All in all, it is a firm assertion of this document that sex education should and must be taught in schools provided that the above recommendations are rigidly followed in order to ensure that the best possible results come out of the program.