Being at a public university for over two years now, and after taking a psychology course on human sexuality last spring, I can (without hesitation) say that I’ve learned so much that I wish I would have known back in high school.
To all the Catholics out there—hear me out. I don’t know about your Catholic school experience, but for me, they sort of passed over the whole “sex” thing and skipped straight to showing us birth videos.
Wait. I’m sorry… what?
As a naïve girl in her early teens, talking about the “miracle of life” was definitely uncomfortable, but I never thought once about sex ed. As a Catholic, it’s just expected that everyone will abstain until marriage.
But, let’s be realistic here… We all know that not everyone does, so what is the point in withholding important information from vulnerable teenagers who surely won’t ALL remain chaste until their wedding night?
I know that the typical Catholic school’s answer to this question would be that sex education (if provided) should only be the promotion of abstinence by the school, and parents are able to give more detailed sex education to their children privately in the home.
However, there’s a major problem with this. As Catholics, we know that many, perhaps even most, parents won’t talk about the birds and bees with their kids. So many of us are familiar with how it feels to grow up surrounded by a constant, shameful attitude towards premarital sex. What does this lack of education result in? Young people being at higher risk for teen pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases and infections, and an ignorance about consent and sexual assault.
Yes, fornication is not accepted by this religion, but I believe it is still important for Catholic teens to be provided with the necessary information they need to stay safe and smart as they begin to discover their sexuality. To me, learning about giving birth without a comprehensive sex education is like being expected to skip from geometry to AP calc or getting your driver’s license without taking driver’s ed beforehand… you’re missing some important details in-between.
Moreover, who’s to say that all students who attend Catholic schools are even Catholic? Plenty of students who attended my high school had religious backgrounds outside of Catholicism. And who's to say that all Catholic students won't change their religious identity later in life?
Looking back on my Catholic high school experience, I realize now how much of an injustice that lack of education was to me and my peers as young adults during such a developmental stage of our lives. I don’t see the point in withholding sex education in Catholic schools when everyone knows that, whether you like it or not, premarital sex happens regardless. If I was a Catholic parent, I would rather know that my child was equipped with the knowledge needed to stay safe and smart whenever they have a sexual encounter, whether that be during high school or on their wedding night.
It’s time for Catholic schools to provide comprehensive sex education to students and leave the moral compass to them. After all, good decisions can only be made with knowledge.
