Research Paper on Sex Education
Nowadays, sex education has been a subject of many debates especially in the education field. Sex education has been provided around the world for many students including parents for their well-being in the society. By hearing the word sex education you can imagine many terrible things but this is not the case here. Several researchers have seen the need for sex education in our society and their targets are the youth, which is why they want to include that subject in the school curriculum. In this paper, I explore the roles of sex education in the world such as the reduction of teenage pregnancy, the way to approach the debate, and health and the family responsibilities.
Teenage pregnancy is a huge issue these days; it has been a significant topic in many places such as schools, families and society. First of all, our environment plays a large role in the education of young people. For example, it has been said that the child is the outcome of his education but his environment has a big influence on his education too. Clearly, this could have an effect on teenage pregnancy. The youth education should start first in his or her family, not in school; the parents should always give a good example to their child in order to give them a better future. Often we see many youth get pregnant in high school or at the university level therefore, this time is the best time to include sex education in their curriculum. The lack of communication or sex education is the cause of many teenage pregnancies because they have not had much instruction about the consequences that having sex can cause. Secondly, the consequences of teenage pregnancy fall on both the mother and the child. When a high school girl or college age woman gets pregnant it can completely change her youthful life because this time in her life now becomes the most difficult time of her life. Furthermore, she will face a lot of problems such as the way to explain to her parents, having to drop school at least for one year, her new life, her environment, and the role the father will play in his child’s life. Statistically, the numbers of women who drop out of college make this decision because of pregnancy and rarely do they return to college again. We seriously need sex education in high school and college to avoid these issues that are steadily increasing in many societies.
These days, the parents or instructors should cover information about any sexual issues and it should be displayed for everybody. By doing that the youth can take advantage of this information, many parents and instructors think the discussion of sex is taboo, but this is no longer true because we are in the developed world. If they do not teach youth and adolescents about sex how can they protect themselves from pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases? Many researchers think that sex education should be focused on ages under 16 and to the age of 19. This is the time when many adolescents and young adults think that they are mature enough for sex and they can make their own decision about having sex or not. Therefore, this is the time when information of and support for sexual health issues is particularly relevant. They want to know the use of each part of their bodies and the risks related with unprotected sex. According to Emmerson (2007), “if these young adults want to practice safer sex and enjoy healthier relationships, their array of knowledge must include: where they can get help and advice from, how to protect against unwanted pregnancy, how to use condoms, and where to get condoms from.” To introduce sex and relationships in further education this information should be made available in many places, especially in schools and on campus.
The way to make this topic of sex education interesting, particularly in college age students, is to bring the students together with one another. Nowadays, in many colleges there are numerous cultural students from all over the world, different heritages and backgrounds, LGBT students and peoples of different religions. In order for a sex education even to occur, all these differences need to be taken into account and everyone needs to feel comfortable with the discussion. Moreover, to tell LGBT (lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transsexuals) students or heterosexual allies that they must accept the moral consequences of a religious view that condemns their sexual identity and morality would likely be taken as an act of discrimination (McCarty. 2009). Many religions don’t agree with LGBT issues because of their laws.
For example, in the catholic religion it is taboo to talk about anything related to sex especially in public and therefore no one is allowed to have sex before marriage because it is condemned to do so. Therefore, it may be difficult to incorporate those student’s points of views in a sex education discussion. To approach this topic, all of the students should respect the point of view of each other and respect each other’s beliefs. When this is realized, the discussion on sex education can be interesting because voices will be heard and many participants can share their ideas without feeling intimidated by each other. In this case, all students can work collectively en route for the mutual purpose.
The examination of data in a part of the United States shows that the adolescent population is engaging in sexual intercourse at an alarmingly young age; most of the time 13-16 years of age. To understand why this is increasing, the researchers investigated why young males have a higher sexual rate than young girls in early age. The research showed that most children start to show interest in the opposite sex when they begin experiencing puberty changes. Several participants also felt that, typically, girls show an interest in having a boyfriend before boys show an interest in having a girlfriend; although, boys usually become more interested in having sexual relations before girls (Walker ET al.2008). Most of the parent’s point of view of why children are having sex at an early age is because of their environment.
Furthermore, the researchers took example of the public school children who are most of the time the minority such as African American or Hispanic children. Those children often live in miserable situations with terrible parents, bad influences, and a poor environment. Because of these conditions it is difficult for these children to get a good education and there are not many people that can offer them good advice.
The researchers have found that there are many countries that will need sex education programs such as developing countries like Brazil and those in Africa. In those regions the youth face many sexual issues such as pregnancy, sexual disease such as AIDS, rapes, unprotected sex, and more. All of these issues can be incorporated into the education, but in those regions the rate of education is really low especially for women and there are civilization barriers. For example, in Africa people tend to follow their traditions and cultures. In some countries they believe men can marry more than one wife. This could potentially be unsafe because if one of the wives has AIDS, the rest of the family could become infected. There are the problems of early marriage for girls around the age of 14 because at this time in the girl’s life she does not know much about how her body works and how to have a safe sexual relationship. Furthermore, the women’s rights are not respected. In African high schools or colleges it is forbidden that the teachers talk about sexual issues with their students. The lack of education plays a huge part in sexual issues that occur in society.
Sex education should be a main goal of the government because it is a significant topic in all societies all over the world. We have seen that politicians call attention to teenage pregnancy because it concerns both mother and child and these days it is a growing matter in our society. Sex education should not only focus on teenage pregnancy but also on other aspects of educating young people about sex. Adolescents and young adults need to be educated on the various forms of birth control that prevent pregnancy and sexually transmitted disease. Furthermore, this information needs to be presented to adolescents and young adults in school and by their parents or other role models. For mature young adults, a discussion about sexual issues has been proven to be very effective and educational. The discussion needs to be relevant, respectful, and welcoming to new ideas and topics. Moreover, in the United States it has been shown that youth are having sex at a younger and younger age. This pattern is occurring in the population that is not receiving sex education. Sex education is not only a concern in the United States, but also in many countries around the world. Examples from other countries prove that the lack of sex education plays a key role in sexual issues that exist in society.
Works cited
Emmerson, Lucy. “Sex and Relationship Education and Young People in Further Education: a Review of provision and practice.” Pastoral care in education 25. 3 (2007): 39-54.
McCarty, Richard. “Facilitating Dialogue on Religion and Sexuality Using a Descriptive Approach.” New Directions for Student Services 125 (2009): 39-58.
Singh, Susheela, Bankole, Akinrinola and Woog,Vanessa. “Evaluating the Need for Sex Education in Developing Countries: Sexual Behavior, Knowledge of Preventing Sexually,Transmitted Infections / HIV and Unplanned Pregnancy.” Sex Education 5 (2005): 307-331.
Vincent, Kerry. “Teenage Pregnancy and Sex and Relationship Education: Myths and (mis) conceptions.” Pastoral care in education 25.3(2007): 16-33.
Walker, Leslie, Rose, Allison, Squire, Claudia and Koo, Helen. “Parents View on Sexual Debut among Pre-teen Children in Washington, DC.” Sex Education 8 (2008): 169-185.
