For my January writing prompt we were given thirty minutes to write an essay about something that we thought would make the world a better place. We were to include how other people might argue against it, what our responses to them would be, and what our arguments were. I am choosing to leave this unedited so that I can keep up with my progress from month to month leading up to standardized testing. The only adjustment that I have made is replacing specific locations with asteriks.
I believe that the world would be a better place if we had a better system for sexual education in public schools. Teen pregnancy rates are ridiculous, as are rates of sexually transmitted infections among young people. In the current state that I live in, ***********, the law states that we are provided an abstinence only education, not educated about infections and being safe, and is based on shaming the LBGTQ+ community-being told straight up lies that people could be incarcerated for “homosexual activity”. The issue is that this such education is fairly common. Students across the nation are not being taught how to practice healthy and safe intercourse. If we would provide actual and factual information, from an objective standpoint, we would be in a much better place as a society. People are not learning how to protect themselves and they are not being exposed to how the body actually works in a sexual sense. My personal school district doesn’t even provide any form of sexual education. We need to be teaching kids about sex, how it actually goes, how to protect yourself from pregnancy and disease, and we need to teach them at a younger age.
People object to sexual education, sex ed if you will, for many reasons. A common argument is that it will only encourage students to have sex before they are fully prepared or emotionally ready to do so, that by talking about it you are telling them to go engage in these things. Another argument is that it is a violation of religious freedom, a violation of people who practice religions that believe in abstinence and remaining celibate. The first argument is not founded on fact at all. Multiple studies show that students who are taught about contraception and have undergone sexual education are much less likely to become pregnant. The state with the lowest teen birth rate in the country provides a factual objective sexual education class. The argument about religious freedom is completely unfounded as well. Just because they know about sex, how not to become pregnant, how to use a condom, and what their bodies are capable of does not mean that they are being forced to engage in such activity. It only means that if they choose to do so that they will be protected and educated. These students already have sexual thoughts, they should know that these thought are okay and natural. Going through sex ed will not suddenly poison your child so that they all of a sudden are noticing other people-or perhaps not always- and feeling attraction. Most people who go through sex ed have felt them before, and they will feel them after. The students who didn’t before, won’t after. They are simply asexual.
I think we should teach younger students about sex. You can’t just rely on the parents to take care of it, many parents either never go through with a discussion and students who do get that discussion will often feel awkward. I never had my parents give me “the talk”. I educated myself, which is not an easy task. Many kids at my age are viewing pornography and other inappropriate images and engaging in activity such as masturbation without knowing anything about sex. Pornography can be damaging to those at a younger age viewing it and can have brutal long term effects. I have never viewed such things, and other young people shouldn’t be using explicit websites to learn about their bodies. They also should be able to have a resource where they can learn about their bodies and the facts, not just be force fed misconceptions and taught to shame their bodies and their budding sexuality.
This is why I believe that we should have a proper sex education program in public schools. It would lower teen birth rates, risk of getting an infection, and would ensure that students know the facts about themselves. It is crucial that we get the discussion going so that people will not grow up confused and will have respect for themselves and their sexual partners. Now, I’ve made my case.
I believe that the world would be a better place if we had a better system for sexual education in public schools. Teen pregnancy rates are ridiculous, as are rates of sexually transmitted infections among young people. In the current state that I live in, ***********, the law states that we are provided an abstinence only education, not educated about infections and being safe, and is based on shaming the LBGTQ+ community-being told straight up lies that people could be incarcerated for “homosexual activity”. The issue is that this such education is fairly common. Students across the nation are not being taught how to practice healthy and safe intercourse. If we would provide actual and factual information, from an objective standpoint, we would be in a much better place as a society. People are not learning how to protect themselves and they are not being exposed to how the body actually works in a sexual sense. My personal school district doesn’t even provide any form of sexual education. We need to be teaching kids about sex, how it actually goes, how to protect yourself from pregnancy and disease, and we need to teach them at a younger age.
People object to sexual education, sex ed if you will, for many reasons. A common argument is that it will only encourage students to have sex before they are fully prepared or emotionally ready to do so, that by talking about it you are telling them to go engage in these things. Another argument is that it is a violation of religious freedom, a violation of people who practice religions that believe in abstinence and remaining celibate. The first argument is not founded on fact at all. Multiple studies show that students who are taught about contraception and have undergone sexual education are much less likely to become pregnant. The state with the lowest teen birth rate in the country provides a factual objective sexual education class. The argument about religious freedom is completely unfounded as well. Just because they know about sex, how not to become pregnant, how to use a condom, and what their bodies are capable of does not mean that they are being forced to engage in such activity. It only means that if they choose to do so that they will be protected and educated. These students already have sexual thoughts, they should know that these thought are okay and natural. Going through sex ed will not suddenly poison your child so that they all of a sudden are noticing other people-or perhaps not always- and feeling attraction. Most people who go through sex ed have felt them before, and they will feel them after. The students who didn’t before, won’t after. They are simply asexual.
I think we should teach younger students about sex. You can’t just rely on the parents to take care of it, many parents either never go through with a discussion and students who do get that discussion will often feel awkward. I never had my parents give me “the talk”. I educated myself, which is not an easy task. Many kids at my age are viewing pornography and other inappropriate images and engaging in activity such as masturbation without knowing anything about sex. Pornography can be damaging to those at a younger age viewing it and can have brutal long term effects. I have never viewed such things, and other young people shouldn’t be using explicit websites to learn about their bodies. They also should be able to have a resource where they can learn about their bodies and the facts, not just be force fed misconceptions and taught to shame their bodies and their budding sexuality.
This is why I believe that we should have a proper sex education program in public schools. It would lower teen birth rates, risk of getting an infection, and would ensure that students know the facts about themselves. It is crucial that we get the discussion going so that people will not grow up confused and will have respect for themselves and their sexual partners. Now, I’ve made my case.