Sex Education - A Necessary Tool For the Youth

Modern education is seen as a backbone to development and growth on all fronts of the human society. On this background, most countries of the world dedicate huge sums of money and lots of resources into ensuring that their education systems are strengthened to be able to harness all the God-given resources in man. No wonder every country that pays attention to proper education of its citizens has made and continues to make giant strides in development.

Sex education, also known as sexuality education or relationships education should therefore be viewed in the same direction as it is a means or process of acquiring information and forming attitudes and beliefs about sex, sex identity, relationships and intimacy. Based on this basic definition, I would say that, like all other forms of education, it is intended to help the individual to discover who he/she really is in terms of sexuality and be able to appreciate it with all pride.

Why Sex Education Determines

Why Sex Education Determines  What Type Of Person Your Child Will Grow Up To Be!

Being a Father to 2 boys, which are 13 and 10, I had always been a little bit nervous about telling my eldest boy about the facts of life. But once he got to high school and started asking questions, I knew I had probably left it too late. As he was growing up, the innocent questions tended to be skimmed around, as we always thought he was too young to know. But was he?

Sex Education and No Child Left Behind

Since The Sex Ed Chronicles is fiction based around sex education politics in the past, I was compelled to look at how No Child Left Behind affects sex education in the present.

The most obvious impact is that there is less time to teach sex education; emphasis on language arts and mathematics skills and tests has taken class time from all other subjects. I imagine there is less time for sex education taught in public schools in 2007, just as there is less time for recess. We need more of both in our schools.

When I researched sex education policy for The Sex Ed Chronicles, I read transcripts from state board of education hearings from 1980, the year that mandatory sex education, politically known as Family Life Education, passed in New Jersey, my home state. Those transcripts explained an overlap between sex education and health/physical education, home economics, biology and social studies. With less time available to teach these subjects, there is also a possibility that the units related to sex education get the short shrift. There is also a good chance that there is less oversight over sex education; politicians have a natural tendency to ignore policies that they cannot afford to enforce.

I cannot say that the legislative architects of No Child Left Behind saw a connection between their motives and cutting back on sex education. I have seen no evidence in the press and I was not around when the policies passed Congress. However, in states with abstinence-only or abstinence-until-marriage sex education policies, the public schools could technically out-source sex education to outside organizations, such as True Love Waits, or anti-choice groups--and comply with state education laws.

Outsourcing sex education in abstinence-only or abstinence-until-marriage states is not impossible for me to believe; community and faith-based groups receive more federal funds to promote abstinence-until-marriage than state governments by a ratio of approximately three to one. The school boards can hire outsiders to deliver their message and be compliant, without hiring certified sex educators, and they spend the money they would allocate for sex education towards something else.

This gives age-appropriate, medically accurate, sex education the short shrift. State governments, like New Jersey's, that have adopted a more comprehensive approach to sex education, a more balanced approach (abstinence and contraception, for example), have been given the short shrift by the Bush Administration.

In New Jersey, Governor Jon Corzine refused to accept federal money for abstinence-until-marriage programs last November. Community and faith-based groups in New Jersey can still apply for federal funds through a different budget line to teach their message. Garden State residents, legislators, sex educators, parents and students, however, must pay more to get the sex education they want; they must fund the programs, pay the educators, and confront the competing words of the messengers who have been aided by our president.

That is sticking it up the buttocks, or whatever medically accurate name you prefer to call a backside. Not to mention the confusion it causes for parents who want their children to learn sex education in school.

While I would bet that conservatives would love to see all sex education confined to the outside instructors or home schooling, that is unrealistic. It denies parents and children the information they really need to know.

The Problem With Sex Education

Sex education or sexuality education is the process of acquiring information and forming attitudes and beliefs about sex, sexual identity, relationships and intimacy. It is also a term used to describe education about human sexual anatomy, sexual reproduction, sexual intercourse, reproductive health, emotional relations and other aspects of human sexual behavior. It is generally accepted that young people have a right to be educated about sex. This is because while growing up, they may be exposed to a wide range of attitudes and beliefs in relation to sex and sexuality. Some of the information available to these young people may sometimes be contradictory and confusing. The media for one may promote the idea that being sexually active makes one mature and confident. And on the other hand, some health messages always hammer on the adverse effects of having sex such as contracting a sexually transmitted infection, unwanted pregnancies etc. These differing opinions may lead to confusion amongst the populace. Sex education should therefore entail finding out what young people know about sex, adding to their existing knowledge and correcting any misinformation they may have.

Sex Education: Its Importance and Need in the Society

Sex Education, as the term clearly indicates, refers to education which is based on human sexual behavior. Parents, schools or caretakers offer it in some parts of the world to educate the children, who are stepping into their adolescence. If formally received, sex education is either taught as a full course at high school or junior high school level or in biology, health, home economics classes. Teaching sex education is rather a controversial issue; debates have been going on for several decades discussing if it should be taught formally in schools or not. Sex education in schools should exist without any doubts and apprehensions as it offers many benefits.