Essay Sample on Building Positive Sexuality Views: Age-Appropriate Education

Introduction

Adolescents and children will have a benefit when provided with appropriate and accurate information on their spiritual, psychological, and biological proportions of sexuality. Evidence-based interventions can help in teaching information on sexuality in schools, medical offices, homes, and as well as in communities (Rasmussen, 2012). Children, together with the adolescents, should get taught on how to grow a positive and safe sexuality view. Education that is age-appropriate and one that is educative can help the children and teenagers. Sexuality education can get taught through the three learning domains that include cognitive domain, behavioral domain, and affective domain. The current paper discusses sex education and how teachers can help in its improvement.

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Current Study

Currently, the most utilized method in the teaching of sex education to students is the traditional method (Rasmussen, 2012). The technique usually gets limited to a lot of lecturing by the teachers, and minimal interactions and talks about the topic of sex education. The method assumes that all students are active listeners and that each of them can understand the subject on their own. The process can get characterized as one of the causes of poor learning and teaching of sex education in schools.

Sexual education includes more than just training teens and children on biological aspects of reproduction and sex. Some of the other elements covered in sex education can consist of gender identity, sexual development, the body changes in adolescents, and intimacy (Marques & Ressa, 2013). Adolescents that suffer from disabilities and chronic conditions also fall into this category, and they get training on their sexuality. The development of healthy sexuality is an essential factor in growth for teenagers and children, as well. Some of the concerns, such as ethnic concerns, religious concerns, racial concerns, moral concerns, and cultural concerns, influence the concept of healthy sexuality.

All teenagers and children require receiving healthy sexual education because it helps in preventing some of the hazards that they may get exposed to. Risky or unhealthy sexual behaviors may lead to problems such as HIV, sexually transmitted diseases, and unwanted pregnancies. A study was conducted, whereby one thousand and two hundred high school seniors got surveyed in the USA (Banks & Banks, 2019). The majority of the seniors, both boys, and girls, had mixed feelings about sex. Additionally, more than three-quarters of them, who had previously engaged in sexual activities, say that they could change their first sexual experience. The change they stated was on how they had their first sexual experiences.

Formal sexual education in schools can help in the prevention of sexual diseases among teenagers, and promote competent decision-making among them on sexuality (Lamb, 2010). If adequate sexual education gets practiced in schools, positive results will get observed. Such positive aspects include a decrease in the frequency of the youth engaging in sexual activities, increased use of condoms, and also a decrease in the number of partners that they have sex with. Some studies have also shown academic performance improvement for the individuals who have enrolled in sexual education.

The training of teachers in the USA varies from place to place, especially in terms of sexual education training. The FoSE initiative, however, released a preparation standards guide that will guide the training of teachers, especially in the field of sexual education. According to the standards, teachers will receive adequate training on matters of sexuality whereby they will use the knowledge to teach young adolescents and children.

Sex education includes the teaching of all matters that relate to human sexuality. When teaching about sex education, teachers should teach the students, having in mind the fact that sexual activities are pleasurable (McCarty, 2013). Therefore, teachers should emphasize responsibility while conducting the act. The reason for this is that young people will have the urge to experience it whether the teacher supports it or not. Therefore, the educator should focus on teaching the kids how to avoid sexually transmitted diseases and unplanned pregnancies. The training Iis most efficient if conducted before the children become sexually active.

Teachers should also teach sex education in an appropriate manner (Gavin, Catalano, David, Gloppen & Markham, 2010). For instance, the topic of sex should not be taught together with the topic of drug education. The reason for this is that they are different entities. Most of the teachers have been observed to combine the two, which gives the students a wrong impression. The reason for this is that doing so makes the students have a negative perception of sex. They view sex education as wrong, just like drugs. The reason why the two should be separated is that in real life, a majority of the students will experience sex, centrally to drugs. Therefore, the two topics should not get mixed.

Acceptance

Teachers should accept their students during sex education classes. For instance, a teacher should not perceive a student as dumb because he/she does not know something that gets taken as common knowledge (McCarty, 2013). The reason for this is because when the student feels dumb, he/she cannot concentrate on the topic of sex education, and they may take it negatively. Similarly, a teacher should not act like he/she is surprised because a student knows much than he/she should know about sex in a given age bracket. The teacher is supposed to listen to the students and guide him/her. The reason for this is that different individuals can get exposed to sex at different times/ages.

Teachers should additionally take note of the different types of students they teach. For instance, in the classes, there may be the presence of gay students. The teachers should make sure that they do not feel isolated from the sex education (McCarty, 2013). In their case, for example, pregnancies may not occur, but they get venerable to sexually transmitted diseases. Therefore, teachers should not get biased when offering sex education classes.

Involve Peers

Students should be allowed to make decisions in terms of programs that teach about sex education (Measor, Miller & Tiffin, 2012). Some people believe that the idea should get taken on a further step. According to them, students should also be allowed to deliver and share topics on sexual education. Some of the regions, such as North Carolina and New Jersey, have adopted the strategy of per-led education on sexual matters. The education strategy has successfully spread to institutions that exceed sixty.

Tom Galan, who acts as the program advisor at Passaic High School, explained the importance of the program. According to him, the dynamic of learning changes when one is taught by an individual that they share a similarity (Banks & Banks, 2019). Galan further added that teens gain a sense of relief when they realize that other individuals are going through a similar situation as them. According to him, this is different when one talks about sex matters with an individual twice or thrice their ages. Therefore, teachers should allow for programs that encourage youths to have a talk with their peers about sex education, for they learn better.

Serious Games

The use of information technology in teaching has been proven as an effective method. Hence, the advancement of the use of information technology in teaching sex education by teachers can be useful (Banks & Banks, 2019). The application of "serious games" is one of the methods that teachers should use. The reason for this is that the current young generation is much into the digital world, which includes the games. Additionally, the use of serious games is useful, as students will see them as impressive, and it will also not be embarrassing like the actual discussion in class.

Currently, young people are into playing digital games. Therefore, most of them are familiar with the games, and they can play due to the fun they get (Banks & Banks, 2019). Thus, in the case of health matters, serious games can help in educating the young generation on sexual education. The games are, therefore, more convenient in training as compared to other modes such as the traditional methods of teaching sexual education.

Conclusion

Youths are more venerable to health problems that are a result of unprotected sex. The hazards include HIV, unplanned pregnancies, and even sexually transmitted diseases such as syphilis. Most of the issues that arise from sex get linked to insufficient knowledge concerning sex education. Teachers are the ones responsible for educating young people on practicing safe sex. In the past, the method that has gotten applied has proven unsuccessful. The traditional process of teaching sex education involves lecturing and lack of more engagement. The teachers should abolish using the traditional methods and use other current techniques, for they will help reduce problems associated with sex education.

References

Banks, J. A., & Banks, C. A. M. (2019). Multicultural education: Issues and perspectives. John Wiley & Sons.

Gavin, L. E., Catalano, R. F., David-Ferdon, C., Gloppen, K. M., & Markham, C. M. (2010). A review of positive youth development programs that promote adolescent sexual and reproductive health. Journal of Adolescent Health, 46(3), S75-S91.

Lamb, S. (2010). Feminist ideals for a healthy female adolescent sexuality: A critique. Sex Roles, 62(5-6), 294-306.

Marques, M., & Ressa, N. (2013). The Sexuality Education Initiative: a program involving teenagers, schools, parents, and sexual health services in Los Angeles, CA, USA. Reproductive health matters, 21(41), 124-135.

Measor, L., Miller, K., & Tiffin, C. (2012). Young people's views on sex education: education, attitudes, and behavior. Rutledge.

McCarty-Caplan, D. M. (2013). Schools, sex education, and support for sexual minorities: Exploring historical marginalization and future potential. American Journal of Sexuality Education, 8(4), 246-273.

Rasmussen, M. L. (2012). Pleasure/desire, sexularism, and sexuality education. Sex Education, 12(4), 469-481.