Sex Education in Schools and in Families

Sex Education in Schools and in Families

The topic of sex is, "one of the least examined issues of current American politics," (Paglia, 1995). Walking down the street, the topic of sex is not something that comes up very often yet it is a thing that occurs often. Why is this the case? Despite declines in rates of teen pregnancy in the U.S., about 820,000 teens become pregnant each year" (Family First). The U.S. spends about $7 million on teenage pregnancy every year. It is clear that proper education of sex is lacking both in homes and in schools, but whose job is it to teach children about sex? In this paper, these question will be explored by taking a look at the history of sex education in schools, sex education in the family, and how these two are linked in effecting the knowledge of children about the topic of sex.

The history of sex education began in the 1980s when the debate of having sex education in schools really began to take off. Two of the major forces that drove this movement were the growing rates of STDs and prostitution. Therefore, "by 1989, 23 states had passed mandates for sexuality education, an additional 23 states strongly encouraged sex education, 33 mandated AIDS education and 17 additional states recommended it," (FOSE). Opponents had previously taken the stance that the topic sex should not be discussed in schools, but now they fought for the idea that the only message that should be taught in schools was the idea that sexual behavior outside of marriage was unacceptable. Today, this is still a message that rings clear, the message of abstinence (Santelli et al., 2006). Sex education programs like Seriously Talking About Responsible Sex (S.T.A.R.S.) do not provide enough information about so many other issues surrounding sex. To this date, some schools do not even have a sex education program. There may be only the bare minimum requirement of a health class which may only cover the topic of sex for one to two weeks of a term. School...