Sex Education, its Ethics, and its Results

Even though Americans are obsessed with it, addressing the subject of sex in any way, especially with our children, seems to spell the end of moral and civil society as we know it. Pornography, music, television shows, even burger commercials appear to have some sex appeal. Despite these elements being present in everyday life. Movies are the most obvious manifestation of this belief system, with Americans perfectly content to let their kids watch gunfire, violent deaths, and explosions, but any hint of romance beyond a single kiss or brief instances of nudity is met with extreme criticism at best, a boycott, and discussions about the morals and what kinds of material parents won’t let their kids watch. The majority of the time, conversations about sex and topics related to it take place at home, in the classroom, or never at all. For several generations, society has been content with this situation, seemingly unaware of the serious consequences that lack of a proper sex education has on young people. The sex education that kids now get in the United States is shocking, and the effects of a poor education affect not just the individual but also the community in which they live. It’s time to confront the shortcomings of American sex education and recognize the need for a thorough curriculum since such exposure empowers children to take charge of their bodies, their health, and their right to an education.

sexual instruction

For young people throughout the nation, the public school system in America serves as a stepping stone. It would seem logical that our educational systems have a well-balanced inventory of academic subjects, including a capable sex/health curriculum, since a child spends more than ten years of their life developing academic, philosophical, and social skills with the aim of preparing them to be future productive adults living in the current century. It is one of the most educated nations in the world, ranking #6 on the World Population Review, with 45.6% of the total population possessing at least a high school diploma. The American education system is among the greatest in the world, and historically, this has been a point of great national pride. If this is the case, why, then, do historians, educators, and medical experts all assert that the quality of public education is declining rather than improving?

This is the first important issue that has to be addressed since it’s necessary to understand where one is beginning from in order to examine the status of education and where to go from there. It is becoming more clear that American public schools serve as the foundation for a generation that is still emerging. An establishment that takes pride in its commitment to the art of teaching and learning, a location that will guarantee the development and production of its nation and the people who live there. However, it is a well-known reality and a clear message that public education has evolved into a flawed system with negative long-term effects. No matter which of the 50 states a kid lives in, there is no assurance that they will get a great education since curriculum requirements vary from district to district.

Although there are numerous areas that may be examined in depth and that are in need of improvement, sex education and health classes in general are sometimes neglected or simply disregarded. The history of sexual education has a contentious past, making it a broad topic. Early to mid-1800s saw the emergence of sex education as a topic of public interest in the United States. One of the earliest groups to see the need for that kind of education and instruction was the YMCA (Young Men’s Christian Association), followed by the American Purity Alliance. The action for developing curriculum became much more quick acting in the 1910s as troops continued returning from the war with readily contractible STI like chlamydia and gonorrhea. By the early 1920s, “sex ed” was officially a subject topic that was capable of being taught in schools.

Arguments Based on Morality and How They Impact Curriculum

There is a growing realization that many instructors instructing health and sex courses feel uncomfortable with the curriculum, which suggests that the basic method by which sex education is taught has some fundamental issue. In the last few decades, sex education in the classroom has evolved. Along with the conventional anatomy and an overview of sex and sexually transmitted diseases, more and more school systems are also discussing the act of consent and various kinds of birth control. The differences between the items the curriculum is missing, however, have not been equalized by these revisions. Since there isn’t a designated teacher for the subject matter in sex education and health courses in general, many instructors find it challenging to deliver the lectures. Gaye Chapman, a public school teacher at Cleveland High School in Oregon, has been vocal about the problem and thinks that public schools need to handle LGBT subject areas in a much more thorough manner. Returning to the idea of teacher comfort, Chapman claims that it is crucial since a teacher who is uncomfortable is unproductive. “If you’re not comfortable, the kids are going to notice straight away, and if you’re not comfortable, they’re not going to have fun or feel comfortable.” The environment surrounding sex has an impact on the students’ capacity to learn. Since the subject matter frequently involves discussing bodies, many students may find the nature of the class uncomfortable. However, for the information to properly reach students, there cannot be any level of disinterest or judgment. When an educational facilitator doesn’t take the subject seriously, the likelihood that a student will be able to relate to a class decreases.

Why there haven’t been significant changes in sex education is an issue that hasn’t yet been addressed. Why hasn’t anything been done about the 750,000 pregnancies that occur among women under 20 each year in the United States? Why haven’t schools addressed the problem if abstinence-only teaching is failing? Parents, in all honesty. Parents have the most influence on the sex education and health curricula. The parents and PTA boards in each town make the decisions about what is taught in each school district since there is no nationally authorized sexual education or health curriculum for public schools in the United States. Many parents worry that their kids may be exposed to information they find objectionable or that if their kids learn about sexual issues, they’ll start acting sexually before they’re ready.

Only Abstinence Education

However, the primary goals of sexual education throughout North American history have been to support programs encouraging abstinence until marriage and to help students comprehend fundamental biology. The federal government has invested over $2 billion in “sex education” initiatives that solely encourage abstinence until marriage since 1982. The “sole objective (of) educating the social, psychological, and physical benefits to be gained by refraining from sexual activity” is the tight rule that these programs must follow. After a short hiatus in 2010, abstinence-only-until-marriage sex education has been reinstated. From 2015 to 2017, funding for these programs increased by a factor of three. In reality, “abstinence-only-until-marriage” programs get over $175 million in funding each year from the American government.

Now, proponents of abstinence-only education have changed the name of their initiatives to sexual risk avoidance (SRA) programs in order to distance themselves from the negative connotations associated with the term “abstinence only education” and to ensure a new source of federal funding that will support them. There are a number of issues with the practice of abstinence solely until marriage. First off, very few abstinence-only programs until marriage have been shown to have any influence on young people’s behavior. SRA, often known as abstinence-only education, is ineffective. The fact is that sex education programs that include both abstinence and birth control have a superior track record of assisting young people in delaying sex, in spite of protestations from educators who advocate abstinence until marriage. Programs like SRAs are supposed to suppress information on contraceptive and condom usage, except from data on failure rates, according to Wolters Kluwer, a worldwide distributor of professional and medical information. Scientifically incorrect information has been discovered in abstinence-only curriculum, which distorts statistics on issues like condom effectiveness and also reinforces gender stereotypes in the classroom materials.

The long-term effects of inadequate sex education include adolescent pregnancy and kids who test positive for STDs. Your adult life may most definitely be impacted by your sexual education or lack thereof. Julie Jesk, a professor and sex educator, observes this firsthand from the clients that enter her office. “I see a lot of folks,” Jeske added, “who then wind up feeling ashamed or, worse, feeling shame.” “One of the greatest barriers to a healthy sex life is shame. Shame makes individuals paralyzed. Jeske continues, “When I deal with adults, the largest thing I see in my office is bringing in comfort surrounding sex. Some individuals are more at ease engaging in sex than engaging in conversation about sex. It may be quite unpleasant for individuals to discuss sex. I believe it begins with the person teaching sex; if they are more at ease, they are setting an example for others on how to be at ease discussing sex.

How Detailed Sexual and Health Education May Affect Your Life

Now, the wording for what sex education should look like varies since each state has its own set of regulations for what sexual education looks like. Comprehensive sex education, according to the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States, “includes age-appropriate, medically accurate information on a broad set of topics related to sexuality, including human development, relationships, decision-making, abstinence, contraception, and disease prevention.” According to research from the Public Library of Science, kids who get comprehensive sex education feel better educated, make safer decisions, and have healthier outcomes, which reduces the number of unintended pregnancies and increases protection from STDs and illnesses. This is a crucial fact given that, overall, close to 80% of sexually active youths between the ages of 15 and 17 had no formal schooling prior to their first sexual encounter. This implies that teachings on anatomy, healthy relationships, consent, body image, stds from both a preventive and treatment aspect, and making sure to discuss sex from a variety of angles would be included to the curricula of school systems.

Public education will have failed its students if sex education is not reformated.

Since Connecticut is not one of the 15 states that mandate that sex education be medically accurate, a lot of adolescent health literacy is left up for interpretation. This opens the door for a lot of prejudice on the part of school management or a single instructor, some of which may be harmful to students’ learning and, more importantly, to their health. When teaching sex education curriculum, it is usual for schools to display movies or invite guest lecturers, and depending on the school district, the content being taught to the student population might vary greatly. For instance, Human Relations Media, a production business for adolescent health movies, provides a wide selection of sexual health shorts that may be shown in schools. The company provides schools with two different approaches to the same topic. Version A is marketed as “non judgmental,” while Version B is marketed as “abstinence centered” and uses rhetoric that implies students who engage in sexual activity prior to marriage are failing “you, your school, and your community” as well as their future partner. As was previously indicated, school districts will also host outside speakers. similar to women, presenters In her presentation, “The High Cost of Free Love,” Pam Stenzel compares females who have had several sexual partners to girls who have eaten gum in their mouth. Who would ever desire a chewed-up piece of gum, continues Stenzel? In addition to forcing a belief system on young people, this despicable remark creates a hazardous climate for discussing sexual assault and consent, two topics that abstinence-only sex education does not address. In Salt Lake City, Utah, Elizabeth Smart was 14 years old when she was kidnapped, raped, and kept hostage. In an interview with ABC News, she revealed how she came to the realization that “I’m that chewed piece of gum” following the incident. This cannot be the teaching that children in America get; no victim of sexual assault should be made to feel damaged or unwanted, and these are not the kinds of lessons that should be taught in the classroom. A comprehensive sex educator in the state of Connecticut named Elliot Altomare thinks schools need to make significant changes to the existing curriculum. According to Altomare, children should not underestimate the value of sex education since “knowing our bodies is a big part of comprehending the world, and you can’t do that if you’re continuously embarrassed out of asking questions.”

The present nature of the curriculum enables for many children to be excluded, embarrassed, or misled, therefore comprehensive sexual education has to be brought to the forefront of America’s educational concerns. Sexual education must be considered in the same light as our educational criteria, which would be horrified if instructors were required to tell lies in a history, science, or arithmetic lesson. People will die without the proper and comprehensive education, as the United States has already seen firsthand. Whether it was the 600,000 deaths from the AIDS epidemic in the 1990s, our rates of sexual abuse, illegal abortions, the spread of STIs, or teen pregnancy, the truth is that people will die. This is ultimately a matter of belief, power relations, and education. The young of today shouldn’t have access to accurate information, according to religious organizations, independent grass-roots movements, and legislators. These groups will spend millions of dollars every year to maintain the existing quo. Youth are often denigrated, misrepresented, and abused. It’s time for a change; young people need to assert their right to independence, respect, and truthful information. Education has always been the answer in situations like these, therefore let it also be the answer for this movement.