As young adults grow closer to entering the workforce and the real world, there are numerous skills and abilities that we are learning and increasing. However, there are also aspects of life that we are meant to be growing more knowledgeable on based on our interaction with others. Often times we are building upon knowledge learned previously through school, which varies by state, especially for sexual education.

Massachusetts has three levels for reproductive/sexuality education: Pre-K through fifth, sixth through eighth, and ninth through twelfth. It could be worth considering specifying Pre-K through fifth down to the years when sexual education starts, but overall the fact that sexual education appears to begin early on is positive. These three levels each have two categories under them, "Development" and "Wellness."

Each level currently has discrepancies with what they cover. For instance, Pre-K through fifth discusses the physical changes to the reproductive system during puberty yet sixth through eighth discusses both the emotional and physical changes during puberty. While physical changes can be scarier for children, the mental health of children is still important especially in consideration with bullying and how bullying plays into puberty as bodies change at various ages in both genders. While there is an average age that puberty begins, it can start earlier and later than that age, and introducing children to these changes and signs to be aware of ahead of time can be very important. I can understand the decision to cover physical changes twice, but emotional changes could also be detailed both times if this is the case.

In Pre-K through fifth there is only one Wellness category which strives to "recognize that diet, exercise, rest, and avoidance of risk behaviors such as smoking, drinking, and other substance use contribute to the health of a mother and fetus." Yet sexual activity, abstinence, prevention of pregnancy, and signs of pregnancy are all not featured until later on. So children are, according to this standard, taught about how to take care of one's self during pregnancy and taught about sexual functions, but not about being healthy sexual beings. I would imagine that it would be more important to each how to act during pregnancy later on, probably during the ninth through twelfth years as opposed to so early on, due to the increased percentage of sexual activity during the ninth through twelfth years. Versus I might push back the Wellness focus of "Identify sexual discrimination and harassment" to Pre-K through fifth instead, as childhood sexual abuse commonly can go unseen and unaware, and being taught about what actions and behaviors are inappropriate would be important for children to learn earlier on and remember as they are growing up and entering puberty.

There are 20 points in all throughout these three age ranges, with a few examples of how these points might be applied in a classroom setting. The entire curriculum is visible for those interested in reading further.

The current Massachusetts standards for Comprehensive Health were developed in 1999. While it can be difficult to pass new frameworks entirely, it seems strange that there has not been a revision of the framework between the release date and today.

There are two current bills in the Massachusetts Legislature that would adapt these current frameworks, however neither has passed and moved to implementation yet, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures on their website. They have information on all states with bills related to sexual education in schools, but our focus is on Massachusetts. The summary they provide is as follows:

HB 3754 replaces a previously proposed bill named H325 which had aimed "to promote education to prevent sexual harassment and violence against women" and seeks to revise Chapter 71 of the General Laws. HB 3754 has two main focuses, the first requires that information provided is medically accurate. As of March 1st, 2016, only thirteen states required that sex and HIV education be medically accurate. Massachusetts would now be taking the step to ensure that the information they provide their youth will be medically accurate based on "support[ed] by peer-reviewed research conducted in compliance with accepted scientific methods, and recognized as accurate and objective by leading medical, psychological, psychiatric, and public health organizations and agencies, and, where relevant, published in peer-reviewed journals."

The second focus is on the relationship between how the school would be communicating about sexual education to parent(s) or legal guardian(s), creating a new relationship in which they may "inspect the program instruction materials prior to the start of the course" and through "notification of the comprehensive sexual health education that the school will provide." Parent(s) and legal guardian(s) also hold a the right "to withdraw his or her child from all or part of the instruction," provided the "withdrawal is communicated to the school."

SB 2062 also seeks to revise Chapter 71 of the General Laws. Chapter 71 of the General Laws is the section of the Massachusetts law which governs public schools, and is comprised of ninety-six sections (not counting sub-sections). SB 2062 seeks to revise Section 32A (a major distinction as 32 details the observance of Memorial Day). Section 32A has been greatly extended through SB 2062, with only the initial paragraph resembling the original Section 32A.

Much of SB 2062 seems to be word for word from HB 3754, with both additionally featuring a definition of sexual education. The following is a comparison of the wording of this definition.

Both of these bills seek to change the same section in the General Laws, Chapter 71 Section 32A, however they are going to different committees. SB 2062 has been referred to House Committee on Ways and Means, while HB 3754 has been referred to Joint Committee on Health Care Financing. Although these bills seek to accomplish the same thing they are interacting with different sections of the Massachusetts government. These bills are very similar and were submitted around the same time in 2015. SB 2062 was submitted in November, while HB 3754 was submitted in September. SB 2062 appears to be a more refined versions of HB 3754, yet both are still proceeding.

SB 2062 states at its conclusion that it seeks to start to be applicable for the 2016-2017 school year, but at this rate, and with a second bill seeking the same objective, it seems unlikely that either of these bills will be able to go into effect, especially in a time frame to allow educators to adapt their current curriculum to fit these standards and give as much consideration as they should be in reforming their policies. There would be questions on the productiveness of both of the Committees who have these bills on their agendas as well, and of which Committee holds more power in order to be the final say on what the end version of Chapter 71 Section 32A will look.