Dissoi Logoi - Grade: A PDF

Preview

Summary

This is a Dissoi Logoi about whether schools should teach sexual education in schools or not. There is many quotes and resources that back up both sides of the argument. The paper is non-bias and reflects both sides....

Description

1

Kobasa English 1900-09 Dissoi Logoi Argument of Why to Teach Sexual Education Sex can be a sensitive topic among people because it is such a personal subject matter than can make people embarrassed or uncomfortable to hear or talk about. As a result of this embarrassment, it can be difficult to figure out the most useful way to teach sexual education to students at schools. Sexual education has been an ongoing controversial debate throughout time

because of the different options and programs that intend to teach sex. This feeling of discomfort when talking about sex should not stand in the way of teaching children about sex because it is vital to their futures. Molly Masland, a writer for NBC news, states, “Soaring rates of sexually transmitted diseases among teens are adding urgency to the debate over sex education” (Masland). Not only are sexually transmitted diseases issues associated with unsafe sex, but so is pregnancy, emotional stability, and relationship issues. These are the main reasons that motivate schools to pursuit in teaching children about sex. There are multiple sexual education programs and it is a challenge for many schools to decide on which one to use to teach their students. Different Sexual Education Programs The main debate with sexual education is figuring out what is the most effective way to teach students all the ins and outs of the topic. The two main programs that schools around the United States use is the comprehensive approach and the abstinence-only approach. Both of these methods have a different way of teaching sex and related topics. These topics can be controversial because it is hard to tell which one works the best as a result of their dissimilar teaching methods. It is important to compare both of the programs to figure out the best method to teaching today’s children in school.

Kobasa

2

Abstinence-Only Education Program A popular educational program that teaches students about sex and related topics is the abstinence-only programs. Advocates For Youth is an organization which focuses on the lives of today’s youth and their sexual and reproductive health. The organization has been established since 1980 and has been growing to try to help children make decisions about their health lifestyle. The organization explains that the goals of the abstinence-only program can be different than other sexual educational programs in the way that they present their information. It continues to explain that abstinence-only programs focus on teaching the students of using abstinence until heterosexual marriage and drill that it is the morally correct option. Abstinence is the practice of not engaging in sexual activity. Although abstinence is the overarching idea of this program, the curriculum also mentions contraception but they do so by focusing on failure rates. This means that they try to teach that the contraception is not always effective and the most successful mean of protecting ourselves from the dangers of sex is to pursuit in abstinence. Other topics that are taught frequently through abstinence-only courses is the focus on heterosexuality while not directing any thought to the needs of the LGBTQ students. They try to directly show the dangers of female to male sexual intercourse rather than expanding that thought to sexual natures of sexuality beyond heterosexuality. Also, throughout the program the teachers will often use gender roles of the past, which many believe to be outdated. They will try to convince women to become more modest and prude with their body and convey a connotation that men are “sexual aggressors”. They teach that if women remain modest then remaining abstinent will be less of a difficult task. By portraying men as sexual aggressors, it shows that the men want to act on their sexual tendencies and by doing so will not remain abstinent. They want to show the

Kobasa

3

student that by being familiar with these ideas, they can learn from it to try to gear themselves towards becoming more resistant to sex (“Sexual Education”). Along with actually teaching about sex, the program touches on other topics related to this like relationships, psychological and mental effects, and drugs and alcohol. On the topic of relationships, the program tends to favor the standard that sexual activity should be amplified after getting in a mutually monogamous marriage. They stress that this is the socially accepted norm and it should be taking into consideration as a lifestyle for the students. They also teach that sexual activity can lead to physiological effects for the students in the present time and the future. Some of the physiological effects they talk about is how some students may have an increase in depression and anxiety if they don’t remain abstinent in their sexual relationships. In order to show some examples of sexual activity, the program likes to briefly explain the influence of drugs and alcohol on sexual activity. They state that those substances will increase vulnerability which as a result can give a greater chance of engaging in sexual activity (“Does Abstinence-Only Education Work?- ACLU Pros & Cons- ProCon.org”). Although abstinenceonly programs do touch on a few other topics related to sex, the main objective to this program is to promote abstinence in youth because it is the most foolproof way of staying safe from the dangers of sex. Comprehensive Educational Program Another popular sexual education program is called comprehensive sex education and it covers a broad range of topics relating to sex. One thing to note about comprehensive sex education is that the program tries to take every student’s lifestyle into consideration. They don’t discriminate against their choices of whether they want to remain abstinent or not. They also cover topics related to the LGBTQ group. Planned Parenthood is a nonprofit organization that

Kobasa

4

focuses on offering sexual health care. They gives resources to a large variety of subjects including birth control, STD tests, abortion, pregnancy, and sex education. The organization explains the topics covered in comprehensive sex education includes human development, relationships, personal skills, sexual behavior, sexual health, and society and culture (“What is Sex Education?”). As seen, comprehensive sex education does not only focus on the technicalities of sex but also covers topics that are related to it. When talking about human development the program touches on current discussions relating to sexual and gender identity, the sexual reproductive systems, and puberty. When discussing relationships they do not only talk about romantic relationships and dating, which is closely related to sex, but also explains the importance of families and friendships. They talk about including skills like communication and decision making in the lives of the students which sometimes isn’t even related to sexual education. Because it is a sexual education program they focus a lot on showing the students the risks of engaging in sexual intercourse like sexually transmitted diseases and pregnancies. But with that idea, they show how to correctly use contraception and how to engage in sexual intercourse in the safest way possible. Lastly, they talk about society and culture by including diversity, how media plays a role in sexuality, and the gender roles that are relevant in today’s society (“What is Sex Education?”). Differences in the Two Education Programs Although the basic facts and figures of abstinence-only and comprehensive education is the same, it is important to note the differences in the teaching style of them. One significant difference is that abstinence-only education argues that “sex outside of marriage is morally wrong and the only effective method for youth to avoid STDs, AIDs, or an unwanted pregnancy is to abstain totally from sex until marriage” (Campos 5). The teaching of this program is more

Kobasa

5

concise in the idea that sex should not be an activity that is done until after marriage. This is completely different than the approach of the comprehensive education program which does not shame the idea that the students may pursuit in sexual intercourse, rather they try to show them the dangers and prevent it by teaching how to do it safely. It is vital to understand that the comprehensive program does not disregard abstinence, rather it shows other methods to avoiding the risks that come with sexual intercourse. Some examples of how they do this is by demonstrating how to use a condom, showing a variety of birth control methods, and explaining the dangers of not using these contraceptives while engaging in intercourse. But abstinence-only programs focus on putting fear in the students in hope that they will restrain from intercourse and related sexual activities. Effectiveness of Abstinence-Only Programs It is often difficult to figure out the exact effectiveness of an educational program because it would require too much information that is hard to calculate. That information includes personal opinions of the students, teachers, and the student’s parents and it is difficult to obtain all of those opinions. For the sake of understanding the effectiveness, statistics and calculations will prove how successful the program is. Kate Hendricks, the Vice President for Science at the Medical Institute for Sexual Health, claims that abstinence-only programs are very effective in reducing the risks of the dangers in sexual related activities. She explains, “Abstinence education programs are based on the basic public health principle of primary prevention. They mirror other widely accepted youth-oriented programs that advocate risk avoidance strategies for drugs, alcohol, and tobacco. Few, if any, public health professionals would argue against abstinence as the healthiest behavior for school-aged children. Therefore, it should come as no surprise that the only sex education programs to have actually documented decreased teen pregnancy were

Kobasa

6

abstinence-based programs”. This is explained in her publication “The Attack on Abstinence Education: Fact or Fallacy” which she wrote along with a few other doctors. She describes that the main reason of the declining teen pregnancy rates is a result of the abstinence-only programs because they try to set more of a negative connotation on sexual intercourse and as a result scaring the students into engaging in abstinence (Hendricks Et All 4). A study published by Adolescent and Family Health found that “increased abstinence accounted for 67 percent of the decline in pregnancy rate for teen girls ages 15 to 19. Similarly, 51 percent of the drop in the birth rate for single teen girls was attributed to abstinence” (Pardue). Clearly, these statistics show that as a result of engaging in abstinence-only education has significantly decreased the rates of teen pregnancy, which is one of the program’s largest goals. Overall, because the program’s statement of abstinence being the best way to prevent any risks associated with sexual education, it has shown rates of improvements within decreasing those risks in the youth. This is shown in the statistics of the decline in teen pregnancy. There is the idea that abstinence-only programs are not as effective as it may seem because it strictly focuses on abstinence and ignore related topics to the issues at hand. An example is that students will ignore the teaching of this program because they find it too extreme in the sense that it doesn’t give many other options other than abstinence. They will then engage in sexual intercourse and will not know how to safely because with this program they were only taught the dangers of sex and that the only 100 percent way of protecting themselves is to remain abstinent. It is evident that not every student will choose abstinence so this program has the debate that it is in reality, not as effective as it is put out to be. It is actually difficult to understand whether this program is effective because the numbers and statistics show improvements in teen pregnancy but there is also the debate that it isn’t as effective because it

Kobasa

7

strictly focuses on abstinence rather than giving students another option to take when deciding whether or not to be sexualy active. Effectiveness of Comprehensive Sexual Education Just like mentioned before, it is often difficult to understand whether an educational program is truly effective but with the use of statistics, reasonings, and the opinions of others, it can be easier to understand which program is best suited for teaching sexual education. Advocates for Youth talks about the effectiveness of the comprehensive education by saying, “these programs can help youth delay onset of sexual activity, reduce the frequency of sexual activity, reduce the number of sexual partners, and increase condom and contraceptive use. Importantly, the evidence shows youth who receive comprehensive sex education are NOT more likely to become sexually active, increase sexual activity, or experience negative health outcomes” (“Sexual Education”). The organization is explaining that because of the wide variety of topics included in the comprehensive program, it is proven to effectively reduce the risks of sexual intercourse. It not only does that, but also provides the students with more details to related topics rather than just focusing on sexual intercourse which results in the students becoming a better student and acquiring more intelligence on those topics. Douglas Kirby, a researcher for the National Campaign to End Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, explains some statistics that arise from the comprehensive program. It shows that “40 percent delayed sexual initiation, reduced the number of sexual partners, or increased condom or contraceptive use. 30 percent reduced the frequency of sex, including a return to abstinence. 60 percent reduced unprotected sex” (Kirby 206-217). These numbers shows that the comprehensive program has improved many aspects of the risks associated with sex, not only

Kobasa

8

teen pregnancy. It also focuses on the idea that young students will engage in sexual intercourse but because of this program they do it in a safer way. Like mentioned before, there is always an argument when it comes to the effectiveness of an educational program. Karen Perrin and Sharon Bernecki DeJoy, authors of “Abstinence-Only Education: How We Got Here and Where We’re Going”, argue that comprehensive education will actually encourage sexual activity. This statement provides a counter argument that comprehensive education is not as effective as some make it out to be. This is proven by the idea that because the comprehensive educational program isn’t strictly enforcing the risks of sexual education but also giving options to how to engage in it safely, it gives the connotation that the program actually encourages this activity. Conclusion Overall, sex is a sensitive topic to talk about, let alone teach to a classroom full of teenagers. The education system struggles with figuring out one main method of teaching sexual education so each school chooses a different program in order to best teach their students. Among all of the programs that exist, the most popular programs are abstinence-only and comprehensive education. These two have sparked up a large debate within the educational and health care system because they have different methods of teaching the students. Although both have different methods to the way they go about teaching about sex, it is still difficult to figure out which one is more effective because there are so many influences that can change the effectiveness. It isn’t possible to just look at some statistics and tell whether the method is effective because there is always outside perspectives that may influence the results. It is still important to understand about the different teaching methods because then the schools can

Kobasa

9

decide which program they would like to use in order to provide the outcomes they would like to achieve in teaching their students.

Kobasa

10 Work Cited

Campos, David. Sex, Youth, and Sex Education: a Reference Handbook. ABC-CLIO, 2002. “Does Abstinence-Only Education Work? - ACLU Pros & Cons - ProCon.org.” ProConorg Headlines, aclu.procon.org/view.answers.php?questionID=000683%29. Hendricks K, Thickstun P, Khurshid A, Malhotra S, Thiele H. The attack on abstinence education: Fact or fallacy? Technical paper MISH/SR/TP - 20060505. Austin, TX: Medical Institute for Sexual Health; 2006 May 5. Kirby D. “Sex and HIV Programs: Their Impact on Sexual Behaviors of Young People Throughout the World.” Journal of Adolescent Health 40 (2007) : 206-217. Masland, Molly. “Carnal Knowledge: The Sex Ed Debate.” NBCNews.com, NBCUniversal News Group, 1 July 2004, www.nbcnews.com/id/3071001/ns/health-childrens_health/t/carnal-knowledge-sex-eddebate/#.Wdu_W1Pyv-Z). Pardue, Melissa. “Waxman Report Is Riddled with Errors and Inaccuracies.” The Heritage Foundation,www.heritage.org/education/report/waxman-report-riddled-errors-andinaccuracies. “Sexual Education.” Advocatesforyouth.org, www.advocatesforyouth.org/publications/publications-a-z/2390-sexuality-education. “What Is Sex Education? .” Planned Parenthood, www.plannedparenthood.org/learn/for-educators/what-sex-education....