While the barriers to offering sex education in public schools have decreased, many barriers relating to its effectiveness remain or are likely to appear in the near future. The purpose of this paper will be to discuss sex education with the education system, the continuing need for the program, the controversies surrounding it, and the trends of educators for the future.
The United States is undergoing a tragic phenomena: teenage pregnancy. As society became more sexually permissive, teenagers were caught in the middle. Too immature to handle sex yet vulnerable to its natural forces. Teenagers have been forced to deal with unwanted pregnancies in growing numbers. In fact, more than 1,000,000 teenagers become pregnant each year. That is one in four teenage girls (Sandvig, 1988, p. 6). In 1980, this figure was one in ten. With billions of dollars having been spent on sex education through schools and family planning clinics, the teen pregnancy rate still continues to rise (p. 6). Of those who conceive, 500,000 will carry the baby to term, while 400,000 will choose abortion and 100, 000 will miscarry (Wattleton, 1989, p. 49). All of these statistics are higher than a majority of industrialized countries.
Almost twelve million teenagers are sexually active. Most have engaged in sexual activity a year before they visit a family planning clinic, do not use contraceptives or do not use them consistently (Wattleton, 1989, p. 49). Many will face a permanently diminished future with their child, signalling blighted hopes, closed opportunities and the vicious cycle of poverty. Then there is the overwhelming health consequences.
The younger the mother, the more likely it is that she will suffer from complications of pregnancy and premature delivery. Compared to an older woman, she is twice as likely to die in childbirth and her child is twice ag likely to die before its first birthday (Wattleton, 1989, p. 49). And, ev...