Sex Ed: Not taboo, it's common sense

I find it appalling that public schools across the nation are refusing to teach sex ed; however, I find it more appalling that parents are actually protesting the instituting of sex ed into the school curriculum. According the the Guttmacher Institute, each year nearly 750,000 teenage women between the ages of 15 and 19 become pregnant; a fact that is startling to me. With such a high rate of pregnancy, you'd think that we'd be doing everything possible to prevent such high numbers. However, we are doing the exact opposite. Many schools across the nation have began funding "abstinence only" programs that are geared towards spending tax dollars and students' time to tell teens to not have sex. As if that's going to work; and it hasn't. According to the findings in April of 2007 by Mathematica Policy Research on a nine year project that surveyed schools with federally funded abstinence only programs, the programs seem to have no beneficial affect on teens' sexual behavior and activities. In other words: we're spending buckets of money on programs that aren't doing anything.

Did people really think that it would be that easy? Just tell them not to do it and they'll smile and nod and obey? Not likely. It's not even that I believe in promoting sexual freedom or that I think teens lack the ability to listen to reason, because I don't. I simply believe that you can't just tell someone not to do something and expect them to listen. Sexual Education isn't about handing hormone-frenzied teens a box of condoms and telling them to have fun. Read the class title: sexual education. As in, let's educate the students about sex and all that it entails. Don't hand them a chastity ring and say "no". Don't hand them a box of condoms and say "go for it". EDUCATE them, tell them everything there is to know about sex and it's consequences. Education is the best defense against more teens becoming a statistic; it's the best defense against incorrect assumptions and it's the best defense against more teens making wrong decisions. So what I don't understand is why, for pete's sake, are we not using our money wisely and helping to educate the masses? Because of a few bible-bangers or conservative parents who fear that we'll "corrupt" their precious child who is probably already having sex to begin with? Ignoring a problem doesn't make it go away. Neither does telling people no.

Sex isn't taboo anymore; it's everywhere. Regardless of whether or not we educate students about it, it's going to happen anyways. Why not tell them the consequences and the preventative measures they can take and let them make their own decisions, educated decisions at that.

C'mon people, it's not such a difficult concept. School is about learning, and this is just one more subject that needs to be touched on.