In the novel I wrote last summer there is a scene where two characters lose their virginities to one another that involves the use of a condom. In a struggle of understanding how to use it properly, one character says, "I went to Catholic school. The only sex education we got was 'don't.'" People read this and tend to laugh. I don't think they realize that this is a statement that also reflects the sex ed I received in my Catholic high school, an education that, frankly put, was useless.
Health class involved a small unit on sexual activity where we were told about the possibilities of diseases composed of acronyms which we had to break down and define but would never be able to point out if we were to experience the symptoms. I remember a friend of mine suggested "using a condom" when asked about responsible sexual health practices and was threatened with detention. Abstinence was key, and then we moved on to another body system. The irony? Probably half the class had already opted out of the abstinence method, not unlike a lot of American teenagers.
According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, all states are somehow involved in teaching sexual education to school children, with new legislation being enacted every year to change the way it's required to be done. Twenty-four states and the District of Columbia require public schools teach sex education (21 of which mandate sex education and HIV education), 38 states and the District of Columbia require school districts to allow parental involvement in sexual education programs, and four states even require parental approval before things begin. So if most of the country seems to agree that students, some as young as the first grade, need to learn sex ed, how do we handle how classes seem to be so different -- state by state, private and religious affiliated versus public, etc.?
Well, here seems to be the problem: The United States lacks a national, centralized curriculum for sex ed in schools, meaning that some schools can opt for abstinence-only education (like what I received in my high school, because it was private and not receiving state funding) rather than a comprehensive plan which includes other options. Over the past few years, it's also been reported that fewer males and females are receiving education on birth control methods, and while the teen pregnancy rate is dropping, the United States remains the nation with the highest rate among industrialized countries. As the country continues to decrease the formality in sexual education, more generations of students leave high school in the same ignorant place I did, left to incognito Google videos about the right way to apply condoms since we were never given bananas to practice on so that the next search doesn't involve "what does chlamydia look like?" or "how can you tell you're pregnant?" The consequences of this also appear to be overlooked by educators.
I would argue sexual education is the most important health education we'll receive in our youth as it combines both our physical and our emotional well-being in a way other bodily functions do not. If we're learning the proper way to make decisions, why is it not broken down to those also relating to sexual choices? And what about the correct and incorrect things to expect from a sexual relationship? May I be so bold as to suggest that we start teaching our youth more than the simple mechanics of sex and actually encourage them to look at it as the positive, enjoyable act that it can be when gone about safely and properly rather than something to fear or remain clueless about until wedding bands are locked around our fingers? A girl can dream, but there are definitely a few steps to take before we get there.
Simply put, however, it's not really practical to continue to inform students about a medical, scientific field in an ignorant manner when children are becoming sexually active usually before they're learning the key information about the behavior. While it doesn't seem all that harmful to teach kids that abstinence is key until you meet your life partner, it becomes so as soon as you realize that less and less of the world is thinking that way, too, and even if you haven't been sexually active and do plan to abstain until marriage, what if your significant other has been? You're still going to need to know some important things about diseases, and you might want to question how this could affect your emotional relationship as a whole.
Sex ed is more than condoms on bananas, and also more than just saying no in the way we're taught to do to drugs. The sooner our education administrators learn this, the better for everyone.
