Essay Sample on Sexual Education in School
School is where most humans learn the basics of life. The classroom is where children are taught the ABC’s and how to spell. It is where they learn to add, subtract, and multiply. The playground is where most children learn to interact socially. School is a place of growth. It is a place of blissful innocence. For students in some countries, school is a place where they make new discoveries about their body and sexual beings. However, there are other places in the world where children are barred from this necessary education. Sexual education is a birth right and should be taught to all students worldwide, but unfortunately it isn’t.
In the United States, the stance on sexual education varies state to state. There are no federal laws regarding sexual education and the policies regarding such are completely up to the states alone (Parenthood, 2022); most states, however, agree that the sexual education should be introduced between grades 6-12. The CDC recommends key sexual education components including but not limited to: addressing the needs of all children, including that of the LGBTQ+ community, providing reliable information about sexual health and STI’s, and teaching students how to take responsibility of their sexual selves as well as their partners (CDC, 2020). Unfortunately, less than half of American high schools and a fifth of middle school succeed in teaching most of these key components in their sexual education programs (Parenthood, 2022).
Children of the LGBTQ+ community in America are constantly being denied proper education regarding their sexuality. America has most recently witnessed the discrimination against LGBTQ+ students with the latest “Don’t Say Gay” bill which bans any classroom discussion concerning the queer community (Philips, 2022). This is only the latest hoop students of this community must jump through in order to learn. Even prior to this bill’s passage, there were and still are several states that are discriminatory towards the LGBTQ+ community within their sexual education policies. These states include Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, and Oklahoma (SIECUS, 2022).
It is no surprise that most of those states listed above are states that fail to teach proper education about sexual health such as STIs/HIV. In fact, only 38 states mandate teachings about STIs/HIV. Of these states, 12 do not require that the education on this matter to be medically accurate (SIECUS, 2022). Teachers are free to inject whatever biases they have regarding sexual health into their student’s minds, leading to misunderstandings and misinterpretations of important information about their bodies, and possibly creating an irresponsible sexual adult.
Being an irresponsible sexual adult can become a problem when it comes to areas of sexual activities, such as asking for consent. Understanding the concept of consent is necessary for a person to conduct healthy, safe social relationships, platonic or romantic. Not every state in America teaches students about creating and maintaining healthy relationships. Of the ones that do, not all teach about the concept of consent. There are thirty states in America that provide healthy relationship education and of that thirty, only seven teach about consent (SIECUS, 2022). Consent teaches sexual beings how to have responsibility over their bodies as well as their partners’ bodies; it gives sexual beings the opportunity to have power over their bodies in sexual relationships. School is where most children learn how to be social creatures. This is a place where they learn the rules of the social realm. Consent is a socially accepted rule that gives people autonomy over their bodies. It is a concept that teaches sexual beings how to have responsibility over their bodies as well as their partners’ bodies; it gives sexual beings the opportunity to have power over their bodies in sexual relationships. It is interesting to observe that in a place where children are taught to behave according to society’s rules, the education system fails to teach one of the most important social rules of all.
Fortunately for some American children, there are states that provide a much more inclusive sexual education program in their schools. These states - California, Maryland, Hawaii, Vermont, Oregon and New Mexico - not only mandate sexual education but require that concepts such as HIV/STIs education, as well as healthy relationship education, including consent (Wilimitus, 2021). Of these, California, Maryland, Hawaii, and Oregon, include LGBTQ+ education in their sexual education programs (SEICUS, 2022). These states prove that progress is possible.
In fact, countries such as the Netherlands have demonstrated for years that proper sexual education in schools is possible. The people of the Netherlands have implemented a program called “comprehensive sexuality education” - a program that “enables young people to protect and advocate for their health, well-being and dignity by providing them with a necessary toolkit of knowledge, attitudes and skills” - and, by law, is taught to students as early as four years old (UNFPA, 2013). Netherland schools are able to adapt the program as they see fit but it must address two core principles: sexual adversity and sexual diversiveness (de Melker, 2015) . This encourages children to understand themselves as well as others in both platonic and sexual relationships. The ultimate goal in teaching sexual education at such an early age to help children engage in “open, honest conversations about love and relationships” (de Melker, 2015).
Not only does learning about sexual education at a young age help children grow socially, it can prevent so many unfortunate, unnessecary occurences in the American society. Many Americans feel that they were drastically unprepared the first time they had sex, leading to sexual experiences that aren’t as fun (Parenthood, 2022). In the Netherlands on the other hand, people ages 12-25 reported having a “safe, fun first time” (de Melker, 2015). The lack of proper sexual education leads to irresponsible sexual adults. According to the World Bank, the Netherlands’ teen pregnancy rate is one of the lowest in the world (de Melker, 2015). Teaching about responsible sexual behavior, including using contraceptives, can possibly lower the United State’s extremely high teen pregnancy rate. Proper teaching could also lower the rates of HIV/STIs in America; the rates in the Netherlands have significantly decreased since implementation of the program (de Melker, 2015). These are some but not limited to the possible changes that could occur with proper sexual education.
Everyone deserves to be taught love and understand their bodies properly. Everyone deserves to be taught to love and understand sex properly. Everyone deserves to be understood and understand others properly. Learning about the sexuality of human nature is necessary for human development and proper education on the subject should begin at a very early age.
