Need for Sex Education in Public Schools

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 diminis

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of teenage pregnancy and teen sexuality. In fact, the Administration advocated policies that seemed to guarantee the growth of those problems by restricting young people's access to sexual education, low-cost family planning and confidential services. They espoused anti-family planning and anti-abortion public policies that reflect a certain "moral agenda." Many argue that these policies preach chastity as the sole answer to the teenage pregnancy and health-related problems. Primary prevention, beginning with the family, would appear to be the common sense approach to the problem in America. It has been found that when parents talk with their children about sexuality, early, openly and consistently, there is a definite delay in the age of first intercourse and it increases the likelihood that teenagers will use contraceptives and other forms of protection when they do become sexually active. Yet, a 1985 Planned Parenthood/Louis Harris poll found that only one-third of American parents had discussed contraception with their children (Wattleton, 1989, p. 50). Since this approach still does not seem to be working to its potential, the need to encourage anew sex education in school, beginning in kindergarten and going throug

Category: Psychology - N