Sex Education Banned: How Will Our Children Learn?

A recent article viewed on www.gather.com got me thinking and my opinions flowing. The article stated that six states in India banned sex education because it is stated according to Hindu nationalists that it "has no place in Indian culture". The six states that have banned the sex education classes are also the states that have the highest number of AIDS cases.

Even in the United States there are many schools that have been debating to have sex education classes. In 2004 7% of Americans state that they believed sex education should not be taught in the schools. Some parents are mostly concerned with the content with whatever sex education is offered by their children's schools.

Fifteen percent of Americans believe that the schools should only teach about abstinence from sexual intercourse and should not provide information on how to obtain and use condoms or other contraception.

Sex education should be that, sex education. No matter how we raise our children to believe, they may listen to their elders, but they may not always follow our advice. That is why whenever sex is being taught in the schools, all bases should be covered. That means not lying to our children or hide what they should be aware of. Teach them about the positive aspects of sex; such as the joy that it can bring to those who are wanting to start a family and maybe have some type of robotic baby that those who think they want to be young parents, can experience the responsibility of it, maybe show them videos of what giving birth consists of, and at their age more than likely realize their thought pattern needs to change.

Sex education, which is sometimes called sexuality education or sex and relationships education, is the process of acquiring information and forming attitudes and beliefs about sex, sexual identity, relationships and intimacy. It is also about developing young people's skills so that they make informed choices about their behavior, and feel confident and competent about acting on these choices. Young people have a right to sex education, partly because it is a means by which they are helped to protect themselves against abuse, exploitation, unintended pregnancies, sexually transmitted diseases and HIV/AIDS.

Whether or not the children in your classroom wants to have sex or not, later on in their lives whether you want them to or not, it is going to happen. So you want to show and teach them how to use and what are the different types of contraception out there. Not only do you need to teach them about the different types of contraception, but where to go to obtain them.

With most positives, there are negatives. People providing sex education have attitudes and beliefs of their own about sex and sexuality and it is important not to let these influence negatively the sex education that they provide. Sexually transmitted diseases should be taught as well, what they look like, how they affect their lives, how they are received, and most importantly tell them which ones are most common that you never get rid of.

Abstinence, in my opinion is not something that can be taught at all. Children are too curious and are quick to experiment on more and more things that when someone drills in the word abstinence so many times, children may start to wonder what is so bad about it, and if it is so bad why is it all over the television, why do all these songs we listen to talk about sex, and of course the phrase of "my friends do it why can't I?" or even "but I walked in on (insert name) doing it".

Advocates of abstinence have had some success. Federal funds are now being made available for abstinence programs; in his State of the Union address President Bush called for an increase in the funding. And in spite of the fact that only 15 percent of Americans say they want abstinence-only sex education in the schools, 30 percent of the principals of public middle schools and high schools where sex education is taught report that their schools teach abstinence-only. Forty-seven percent of their schools taught abstinence-plus, while 20 percent taught that making responsible decisions about sex was more important than abstinence. Middle schools were more likely to teach abstinence-only than high schools. High schools were more likely than middle schools to teach abstinence-plus. High schools and middle schools were equally likely to teach that abstinence is not the most important thing.

A recent survey stated that one third of teachers said they had to be careful about what they taught because of the possibility of adverse community reactions. Who cares how the community reacts! At least our children are educated on the subject and know the consequences!

That same survey also stated that one quarter of teachers stated that information their students needed was not in the curriculum they followed. My comment to that is, change the curriculum and educate our children. If you know that the information that students need is not there, then make it there. You are their teacher!

Sex education is a very good thing to have in our schools because there are a lot of parents out there that avoid talking about the birds and the bees to their children. Especially if the parents are so overprotective that they think they can hover over their children and keep them safe forever, like my parents tried to do. Parents should be the main source for talking to their children about sex education, not the schools. The schools should be a secondary education for sex. Many children feel uncomfortable speaking to their parents, and a lot of times in this case sex education from the schools are a really good thing because many children will listen to a stranger and not to their parents.

A lot of people think that sex is a very delicate topic, when really it is no different then any other topic out there. It's not so much delicate as it can be embarrassing or uncomfortable for parents to talk about. But you have to think about the end result. When kids are not provided with information, whether due to inattention by their parents or religious or moral belief systems, they can end up in trouble because they failed to recognize and or did not know how to avoid it.

The above statement brings up another interesting angle that many families believe in, such as the moral aspect that sex comes after marriage. My parents never spoke to me about sex; their only comments were "you don't need to worry about that until after you get married". So because of that, and because of the fact that my school did not have sex education, I was out on my own and had to depend on my ex-fiancé to teach me about sex...at which point where he wasn't the brightest bulb in the bunch on that particular subject. I would have been happy to learn it from my parents or my health teacher.

I doesn't matter what your religious background is or your moral belief system, all kids need to know about sex education. Now, please don't think that I am being judgmental, I respect all religions as well as moral beliefs, however we can't change the fact that our children are individuals and are not going to be in our sights twenty four hours a day seven days a week for the rest of their lives. I think that parents need to ask themselves, "should I teach my child about sex or should I let some stranger do it?"

One last penny for your thought, never forget to tell your children that sex is a form of expressing deep true love and trust for someone. Be honest to them, many times, the very first person they make love to many not end up being their true love. But let them know that they will find that person, and when they do, it will be the most magical and romantic experience.

The only way that we can learn about life is experiencing it and because we are only human, we can make mistakes and choose the wrong person. But remember, if you teach your children about contraceptives, if the wrong choice is made, at least they will be safe from pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases.