Essay About Sex Education And Children ’S Lack

Should Students Be Given Sex Education in Schools?
Colleen13307343English Writing CourseAshley HornsbyMay 10th, 2015           Should Students be Given Sex Education in Schools?As an unavoidable topic in people’s lives, sex, however, is always considered as a taboo in many cultures. In China, neither parents nor teachers are willing to talk about it, which leads to students’ ignorance or even misunderstanding of it. To help students fully develop themselves, this sex-ignoring situation must be changed. Therefore, sex education, in my opinion, should be part of the compulsory education. Not only can such education provide students with enough knowledge to deal with sexual development, but also it can help reduce teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases, although some claims that it can mislead young people to have sexual activities earlier. As a compensation for children ’s lack of parental guidance, sex education given by teachers equips teenagers with enough knowledge to cope with their unavoidable sexual changes. Traditionally, teenagers in many cultures are not given any information on sex until just before they get married. Parents tend to ignore some sex-related questions raised by the children, but as children are gradually growing up, such questions will only become more frequent. If parents still choose to ignore it, their children may turn to other sources, such as the Internet, magazines and their friends to get such information, which may be deficient, doubtful, or even misleading. At this time, the sex education given by schools is beneficial for them to know more about both themselves and the opposite sex. With the knowledge learned form schools, children will be more confident and clear about their natural physical changes. And thus they will become less anxious, which is essential to their mental health. When parents are reluctant to teach their children about sex, it is better for schools to teach students about it in a more systematic and professional way.In addition to being a proper compensation for teenagers’ lack of parental guidance, sex education can also help to reduce teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases. According to Center for Disease Control and Prevention, in 2013, a total of 273,105 babies were born to women aged 15–19 years in America and 3 in 10 teen American girls will get pregnant at least once before age 20. Undoubtedly, Lack of contraception contributes a lot to this phenomena. Adolescents, who lack knowledge of conventional methods of preventing pregnancy, may feel too embarrassed or frightened to seek such information. Therefore, they may continuously engage in unsafe sex, which will finally lead to teen pregnancy. In this situation, sex education plays an important role in informing teenagers of the proper ways of contraception. What’s more, not only can sex education in schools offer a safe environment for comprehensive discussion of sexuality and contraception, but also it can raise students awareness of avoiding teen pregnancy and STD by introducing some relevant information or cases. With the knowledge from schools, teenagers can make responsible decisions about sex, know how to engage in safe sex, and pay more attention to protecting themselves from STD.