Children Should Be Taught Sex

¶ … children should be taught sex education at early ages to prevent STD's and early pregnancy. In addition, it argues that children and teenagers need more in their sex education than how to prevent problems. They need to be educated with a firm moral and ethical sensibility. Although education has a significant moral and ethical component, which has been with us for over a century (Campbell) (Ryan), these forms of education are best left to the child's parents and outside institutions, including the church to which they belong. The school bears little role in a child's sex education, other than explaining the physiology at an appropriate age. The primary arguments to be addressed in this paper include the following components: the role of the parents, the role of the church, and the role of the educational institution.

There is certainly a problem with STD's and early pregnancy, but the causes for both are different. STD's may be caused by unsafe behavior or promiscuousness. The more promiscuous the teen, the higher the chance of STD being acquired (Hopkins). Part of the reason that there is such a high transmission rate of STD (twice as high as in Europe) amongst teens is that there is a gulf between 'planned' and 'spontaneous' sexual activity. It is unlikely that the teen, schooled in the prevention of STD's and pregnancy with condoms, is likely to use them in the heat of the moment; this goes a long way to explaining the high rate of unexpected teen pregnancies.

Contrary to the assertions of some conservative groups, sex education does not promote promiscuity. Contrary to the assertions of some liberal groups, it does not reduce it. Nor does it result in a meaningful reduction in either STD transmission or teen pregnancy (Dreweke). Abstinence education also does not show an effect in public education (Beil). Since none of these programs offered through public schools is effective in reducing STD or teen pregnancy, the debate about increasing their use in public schools is moot -- nothing works.

This author would argue that public schools are not effective teachers for sex education because they lack the charter to combine sex education with moral and ethical values. In addition, the very groups that teachers and schools would most like to reach -- those who are more likely to have babies out of wedlock during the high school years -- are the least likely to stay in school, or to trust their teachers if they do.

There is a role for sex education in middle and high school, and most Americans agree with that role. That is, the physiological changes of puberty, the hormonal urges and the mixed feelings associated with budding sexuality can be addressed in an appropriate in-school setting. Most Americans favor this kind of sex education in their schools (NPR). Since such an education is value- and ethics-free, it is an informational service which can help students as a part of their overall education about their sexuality. But this form of 'sex education' should not be confused with 'education about one's sexuality.' The latter is a more complex mix of values, ethics, family interactions and cultural background which can, for the most part, best be handled by parents, churches and family.

When asked who they trust most for sexual advice, most teens say that it comes from their parents. Teens also rely on their siblings and their church for sexual education. Sex education is, of course, more than physiology. It has to do with knowledge, attitudes and behavior. One of the few studies which examined all the various sources of sex education, and without an overt political agenda, found that there was a correlation between less education from school and a greater amount of family education, which caused increases in sexual behavior (Somers); thus the advice parents give may not be about having less sex, but how to better incorporate sex in the rest of their lives and relationships.

A study on the role of parents in sex education in Canada found that parents were more credible, and were the primary source for sex education for their children (Schultz). The reasoning of the survey of teens, conducted by Ipsos, a polling organization, found that one of the most surprising results of the study was how parents underestimate their importance and the role teens expect them to play when it comes to their sexuality and sexual health (Schultz)

In this same survey, 63% of teens polled claimed that parents are an important source of sex education, while 43% said that parents were the most useful and valuable source of information. Only 23% of teens claimed that school sex education was useful.

Sexuality is more than mechanics or disease prevention. An education focused on those issues alone ignores the role sex plays in the maturing teen, and how it needs to be integrated into their lives. In the United States, 82% believe in God, an increasing percentage as compared to two years ago. 56% of all Americans attend church regularly. Protestants attend even more regularly -- 68% (Harris Poll).

This latter attendance rate is important, as many African-Americans are regular church-goers. 70% of all children are born out of wedlock in the African-American community. While many births out of wedlock are to African-American women in their 20's and 30's, the rate of unwed teen births is three times as high as that among white teens: 33.2 per 1,000 per year for African-American teens versus 13.4 per 1,000 for white teens (First Things First). These figures are not inevitable, and have not always been with us. In the 1960's, only 23% of African-American babies were born out of wedlock. Nearly half the babies born to Hispanic mothers are born out of wedlock, a percentage which has been increasing (MacDonald).

The institutions that mean the most to Hispanics and African-Americans are the churches. With a dropout rate of 50% amongst Hispanics and African-Americans, schools neither have the confidence nor the attendance to take the role of "in loco parentis" sex education for these high-risk groups. Amongst African-Americans, the church is a unifying influence -- both trusted and universal (Harris). The churches frequented by African-Americans are not only a way of escape, but are central to the community, in some cases taking the place of absent family members in the moral and ethical education of their parishioners.

Churches play an equally important role in the moral and ethical education of Hispanics. As with African-Americans, the Catholic Church plays a key role in both moral and political education for their parishioners (de la Garza). They take an even more-active role in educating Hispanic children, as over 3 million are educated in the Catholic system. Unlike public schools, where religion and ethics are not taught, Catholic schools have as a mission inculcating their students with not just religious, but also ethical and moral underpinnings. Thus they are in a stronger position to assist students with their questions about their sexual lives.