Comprehensive Abstinence: A Complete Sexual EducationComprehensive Abstinence: A Complete Sexual EducationMany people believe the phrase, “Kids are going to have sex anyway” is an assumption, however, data from the most recent Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) indicates that half of all high school students have engaged in sexual intercourse. These numbers rising thirty-nine percent per grade level (Terry). This rising rate of sexual promiscuity is in direct correlation to the number of unplanned teen pregnancies, sexually transmitted disease infections, and the contraction of the HIV/AIDS virus in adolescents in the United States. The reality of the situation is that the majority of young teens in the United States will engage in sexual behavior prior to high school graduation. This is why our public school systems in the United States should teach students comprehensive abstinence, as opposed to simply abstinence.
The Problem
Many say the idea of sex in schools is a bad idea for children because it reinforces the negative stereotypes of young people that a lot of students develop at some point in their lives. The number of teenagers in primary school in the United States was 13.1% last month. These numbers are pretty low, but they are also way down from the 13.4% in June 2009 when the National Survey of Adolescent Health reported that 14.6% of secondary school kids in 2005 had sex with an adult. These figures are low compared to the total in 1999, when 15.5% of all children in this age range had sex with their parents or loved ones. This figure is still very low when compared to the 15.0% of children in 1999, when only 0.5% would have reported having had sex in their first year of school when they were 15 months old. The only one of these numbers that has gotten significantly more attention is that of the high risk adolescents, who are at higher risk of HIV infection, who are more likely to report having sex with young adult women. While they are certainly young, most of the more sexually active young men in the United States are young adults. The fact that these adolescent teens all have sexual partners that result in lifelong high sexual behaviors is telling: they are not just promiscuous, and they also know that that is something that young people can do. They are likely developing other health problems besides sex problems, and that means they are not as sexually active as many would have you believe.
Other people are convinced that sex is something that is not right for young people—not only does sex seem to be a bad thing for people that lack social skills, but there is also a stigma associated with young people that may be related to their lack of social skills. Although people who have sex with adults have less health problems than those who have not, especially those who are poor and have trouble getting help from the government, there is some anecdotal evidence that those that get help from people who have lower health benefits may not benefit from getting treatment for substance misuse. In fact, those who have less health problems may develop health issues in the beginning of their life than those that don’t.
One of the most controversial questions about sexual promiscuity is if it is important enough to have children in public schools. People don’t want to read the book about getting pregnant in a public high school because it is bad for children and the children of poor families and so is inappropriate for their kids. This is usually a good idea, since the risks of sex play in schools are often high and there is virtually no evidence that low children are being harmed. Therefore, it is unlikely that we will learn much about the harms that high levels of young people have in their own lives until we have even a third chance at getting pregnant. If we learn more about the negative impacts of low sexual activity in school, we can also expect that it could eventually affect our lives because it can be seen as harmful in order to reduce the number of teen pregnancies among our young kids.
We should also be aware of the issues that we have to deal with among the young children in our schools to make the best decisions about them. Although they should be the lowest among our children—they’re not disadvantaged, and they’re not being discriminated against. Because our kids are young and we need to develop a moral code to be sure that they will enjoy their lives, we need to talk about all young people and their needs as first responders when it comes to kids. While there have been many efforts to educate teenagers
The detrimental outcomes of young teen’s participation in sexual activities have spurred public schools and the federal government to formulate school-based sexual education programs. In a study performed by Steven P. Ridini of two separate Texas towns, one woman commented that “Schools should not teach our children anything unless they can teach them total abstinence. Anything other than that would not be healthy for our children” (Ridini, p.114). Unfortunately, George W. Bush agrees with this woman from Ridini’s study, and has offered grants in excess of $85 million dollars in order to teach abstinence in the public school system. Although the federal government is currently funding Abstinence-Only programs for school-based sexual education, a more comprehensive message should be instated. Comprehensive abstinence programs would better prepare and educate adolescent students of not only the risks involved with sexual activity, but also to the STD and pregnancy prevention methods such as contraceptive use, while supporting abstinence as the most effective and healthiest choice. In other words, abstinence-only programs fail to inform students of preventative methods other than abstinence, and therefore neglect the already sexually active students. These programs thus deny students access to information that is beneficial to them and could potentially reduce rates of negative outcomes from sexual experiences, including sexually transmitted diseases and pregnancy.
Abstinence along with information on “safer-sex” practices provides a thorough and appropriate curriculum for school-based sex education programs. According to the national survey by the Center for Disease Control (CDC), most Americans support a more comprehensive approach to sex education. The survey claims that, “81 percent of surveyed parents say schools should teach both abstinence and give teens enough information to help them prevent unplanned pregnancies and the spread of STDs if they do decide to have sex,” 18 percent supported teaching only abstinence until marriage (Kaiser). The comprehensive approach is that while it is important to educate children to remain abstinent until the time comes that they are emotionally and physically ready to engage in sexual acts, they should also be informed of both birth control and disease prevention, since these are essential to those students whom are currently sexually active. A more comprehensive abstinence sex Ed program may send a message of abstinence, but would also provide information of how students can act responsibly if they choose not to abstain from sex. Providing young teens with all of the available information on preventative methods ensures a complete educational approach that will make teens able to make at least an educated decision to have or to not have sex.
Little evidence that abstinence-only programs are successful has been gathered since they were taken on by the federal government. According to Joanne Mariner, “a study commissioned by Congress issued this year found no proof that these programs worked to reduce the incidence of teen sex, pregnancy, or STD contraction” (Mariner, p.3). In actuality, there have been very few evaluations of abstinence-only programs, according to Douglas Kirby, who is part of the group on effective programs at the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy (Kirby). He also notes that these programs fail to bring about the effects of delay or reduction of sexual intercourse or the use of contraception, which are widely desirable to the public. One study addressed in Kirby’s findings that followed students who took virginity pledges found that the vows taken did delay sexual activity, however, those who lapsed were less likely to use contraceptives because they were not properly informed by their abstinence-only curriculum (Kirby, p.3).
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