First Draft - Sex Education

Stepfanie McCaffrey
Persuasive Writing
TR 10:10 – 11:30
Semester Paper
First Draft

Sex education in public schools is one of the most controversial issues occurring in today’s society, (Sex Education). Many things contribute to this decisive issue such as government funding, who should talk to young adults, as well as what information should be given to young adults. Currently the government simply funds abstinence-only sex education, and has yet to spend a dime on comprehensive sex education. 75% of parents want their teens to be taught both forms of sex education in order to get a well rounded perspective on the issue. Teens and young adults are engaging more and more in meaningless hook-ups, which heightens the need for a solution to this problem. Young adults should be taught comprehensive sex education in order to provide them with adequate information. Current sex education programs should be manipulated to not only advise minors to abstain from pre-marital sex, but to inform them on how to protect themselves against things such as teen pregnancies and STD’s if they are in fact engaging in sexual acts.
The main debate occurring about sex education in public schools is whether abstinence-only should continue to be taught or if a more comprehensive angle should be taught to young adults. More informational topics would be discussed in comprehensive sex education such as sexually transmitted diseases, contraceptives, teen pregnancies and birth control to name just a few. Some say the problem in sex is sexual anxiety. They say you cannot teach about sexual anxiety because each person has different anxieties, (Sex Education). Regarding this idea of sexual anxiety, psychologist Sigmund Freud states that society believes that no greater threat to its civilization could arise than if the sexual instincts of a person were to be liberated and returned to their original aims of sexual acts. Sexual anxiety occurs when sexual content is evaded from censorship based on societal thoughts and norms. If your sexual desires are viewed as wrong or inappropriate by society, sexual anxiety occurs because that wish is not being fulfilled, (Introductory Lectures on Psycho-Analysis, Sigmund Freud, chapter 14).
On the other hand, others say that “sex education should be approached not as a solution to a problem, but as a natural response to an irrefutable need. It provides young people with the skills to make choices in a world that is far more socially complex that the one their parents had to deal with,” (Sex Education). This viewpoint states that sex education should not be implemented to fix a problem, but as a response to a natural human need. Sex education should not be viewed as a punishment, as sexual desires are natural occurrences.
Government funding plays a big role in which form of sex education is being taught to young adults and teenagers in public schools. Congress passed a law in 1996 to find abstinence-only sex education, (Teen Sex). With this law in place, “The federal government only funds abstinence education, even though at least 75 percent of parents say they want teens to be taught about both abstinence and contraception. But today fewer American schools are teaching comprehensive sex education…,” (Teen Sex). According to an October 2007 survey by Associated Press, over 51% of adults said they felt emphasizing sex education and birth control was the best way to reduce the number of teen pregnancies rather than emphasizing morality and abstinence, (iPoll, Sex Education, October 2007). In a survey by Religion & Ethics Newsweekly in July 2005, nearly 80% of parents agreed that sex education should focus on informing young adults and teens on how to make responsible decisions about sex and provide information on condoms and contraceptives, (iPoll, Sex Education, July 2005). Another survey from July of 2005 by Pew Forum on Religion asked respondents if they thought schools were doing an excellent, good, fair or poor job teaching students about sex education. Only 6% of respondents agreed that schools were doing an excellent job, (iPoll, Sex Education, July 2005). Based off of the statistical data from these few surveys, it seems almost black and white that sex education should be taught as a more comprehensive and informational way. With only 6% of people believing that sex education in schools is excellent, it is apparent that a change needs to occur immediately. Perhaps if the government listened to what its people wanted, the number of teen pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases occurring annually would decrease greatly.
Oral sex and casual sexual hookups between teens is becoming a popular trend in society. “Oral sex is now more common among teens than it was a generation ago, and there’s great confusion about whether it should be considered a safe-sex practice or whether it’s an assault,” (Teen Sex). When students were asked about their thoughts on oral sex, their answers give clear signs that comprehensive sex education needs to be implemented hastily. One student said, “Sex is a big part of our culture. Every girl in this school has given head…they do it anyway to get boys’ attention.” Another student said, “…oral sex is definitely not sex, and hooking up is definitely not a big deal,” (Teen Sex). It seems as if more and more sex is occurring without any meaning behind it. Perhaps if students were more informed about sex, they would not engage in casual hookups and meaningless sex acts. “The sexualization of the American culture, impact of the popular media on teen perceptions of what is appropriate sexual behavior and social break down of family and neighborhood support systems present a tremendous challenge to any approach attempting to restructure social control. In the face of such highly charged controversy, public school systems may be avoiding sex education completely,” (Talk About Sex: The Battles over Sex Education in the United States). This statement sums up the fact that there are many aspects that effect what sexual activities teens participate in and those influences continue to grow. With this occurring, schools may just abandon the idea of sex education as a whole.

In conclusion, it seems very apparent that the current abstinence-only sex education being taught in public schools needs to be manipulated in order to teach young adults a more realistic approach to their sex lives. With more and more young adults engaging in meaningless and careless sexual acts, they are obviously not being taught the correct information. It is as if they are going against what they were being taught to rebel or because they are curious as they were not given real life information. A comprehensive sex education approach should be put into place as young adults and teens would receive information on how to protect themselves and be safe if they decided to engage in pre-marital sex. Perhaps then the teen pregnancy rate would decrease and the amount of STD’s transmitted each year would decrease as a result of our youth being properly informed on how to protect themselves and to try and prevent these things for happening.