Sex Education Among the Youth - Essay Example

Making choices is an important part of our lives, and everything we do is dependent on the choices we make. Whether to engage in sexual activities or not is a choice that we make, and it is only right if we are educated about sex. Every day we have new cases of HIV, more youth are contracting STD's, and unplanned pregnancies are no longer shocking (Honest Sex Education,2016). Despite this, sex and HIV education are a requirement in only less than 25 states, more than 30 states laws allow parents to stop sex education for their children and other states allows parents to decide if their children should get sex education or not (State Policies,2016).

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Statistics show that in an hour, 425 young people contract sexually transmitted infections while a further 95 are exposed to unwanted pregnancies. During this time, two of our young and energetic youngsters are infected with HIV. Now this is not the kind of path that we would wish for any of us to follow. Whether we talk about it or not, teenagers are engaging in sexual activities, and it is important that they are educated about it before they engage in it. Staying silent does not mean that the youth will not learn about sex. In fact, they get more curious about that which is forbidden. If we only talk of abstinence without explaining why then we are only trying to tell a child not to eat candy which is so sweet without telling the child that too much candy will make you sick (Parenthood P.,2014).

It is that time we accepted that the youth are sexually active and it is important to educate them first on what sex is and who should be sexually active. Then it will be in order to preach abstinence and give its advantages. In this case, we are empowering the youth with knowledge and preparing them to be responsible adults by making choices (Mckeon,B.,2016). However uncomfortable it may be, it is also important to educate young people on contraceptives and engaging in sexual activities responsibly. In this way, the rate of teenage pregnancies will reduce.

References

Honest Sex Education: Charting the Course to a Sexually Healthy Nation. (2016). Retrieved November 17, 2016, from Honest Sex Education: Charting the Course to a Sexually Healthy Nation

Governors Educational education practitioners and Needs. (2004, October). Retrieved November 17, 2016, from http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20130401151715/https:/www.education.gov.uk/publications/eOrderingDownload/DfES 0581 200MIG2228.pdf

State Policies on Sex Education in Schools. (2016, February 16). Retrieved November 17, 2016, from http://www.ncsl.org/research/health/state-policies-on-sex-education-in-schools.aspx Parenthood, P. (2014). Implementing Sex Education. Retrieved November 17, 2016, from https://www.plannedparenthood.org/educators/implementing-sex-education

Mckeon, B. (n.d.). Effective Sex Education. Retrieved November 17, 2016, from http://www.advocatesforyouth.org/component/content/article/450-effective-sex-education