Teaching the "Birds and Bees" in School

A famous topic among young, high school students is sex. It is a human instinct. It can be an act of love, a one night’s stand, or many other definitions. But the practice of it isn’t too safe, is it? More teen pregnancies are booming around high schools everywhere and cost the United States around $7 billion annually.

To help avoid the increasing teen pregnancy rates, I believe the education systems should start to increase the education levels on sex to the students if they really want to get a message out there. The time and money “well spent” on sex education is being thrown away daily. Knowing about the different parts of human sex organs and being taught not to put “this” in “there” is ridiculous. If educators want to get a point out there, they can’t take baby steps and mute themselves from saying mature phrases or words. Teaching this subject means that they need to treat the student body as young adults that can handle this information. Teen pregnancy rates and STD’s are proven to go down if sex education is properly taught in schools.

I didn’t learn about pre-ejaculation until my senior year, and for those who use the “pull-out” method may come to a shock when they find out they are pregnant from pre-ejaculation. If teens are relying on rumors and have misconceptions on sex, of course the pregnancy rates are going to rise. Limiting what is taught in sex education merely because of the indecency of the subject is another reason why schools don’t teach beyond the books. Knowing that some parents wouldn’t want their kids knowing about personal experiences and more than just the basics leads to the lack of useful information. Being offended by phrases and words taught about sex leads to the controversies over sex education.

Teaching abstinence-only programs is what most schools want to stress over the comprehensive sex programs. But that doesn’t cover for the others who don’t choose that lifestyle. Some high schools teach sex education the freshman year only. What do students really know about sex when they are freshman, and why do they really care besides giggling and being bashful about the subject? I didn’t even know what STD’s looked like because as a freshman, it was too “icky” for me to handle. Speakers come to school to promote abstinence and reveal the emotional side to sex. This information can be really effective but doesn’t seem to do any good when half the school is already sexually active.

So why spend money on sex education when no one seems to truly care about it, or better yet, obey it. Parents are the ones to agree on the situation of eliminating sex education in school. Because most children are brought up in the church and are taught to wait till marriage, parents feel the need to only teach their kids their own opinions and facts on sex at home. Some schools restrict the education on sex because it does lie on a more religious and political moral basis. But teaching abstinence as a contraceptive teaches only those who choose to stay that way, while others that choose to be sexually active, have a lack of knowledge and resources to what sex really is besides just not doing it.

Not everyone is going to practice abstinence and go by the Bible, and not every kid is going to listen to their parents when they are going to school full of peer pressure and lies. Instead of just focusing on what is “right” and what should be “taught”, there needs to be more personal learning methods to those who choose the different route. Teens usually don’t feel comfortable asking questions in a class setting, or yet to their parents. When this occurs, the only way to find out the answer is by experimenting or asking their friends, which usually ends up being false information! So yes, schools do need to provide sex education. Not only because it reaches those who don’t get the “bird and the bees” talk at home, but to all that need and want the accurate information. In order to have a more successful outcome of teens choosing abstinence or a safer route to sex, sex education has to be enforced on a more mature and serious basis.