argumentative essay-Should Children be Taught Sex Education in Schools?

Should Children be Taught Sex Education in Schools?

Sex education is a term people read and hear nowadays. It has become a part of human normal lives. It is no longer considered a taboo in the society. In fact it is now a very popular topic for debates everywhere. What is sex education actually? Does it inform people about sexual relationships? First of all, sex defines as ‘the physical act in which the sexual organs of two people touch and which can result in a woman having a baby’ (Oxford Dictionary, 2003, p. 709). Also, sex education defines as an education about human sexual anatomy, sexual reproduction, sexual intercourse, and other aspects of human sexual behavior (Science Daily, n.d.) In other words, sex education is aimed to help people understand their sexual developments. Formal sex education did not start until the twentieth century. Informal sex education can be obtained from parents, friends, media and other different sources. Furthermore, during the twentieth century, most people in America and Europe learnt about sex by unconscious observation of animals in the act (Encyclopedia of Children and Childhood in History and Society, n.d.) For a woman, sexual education was considered not necessary until the eve of her wedding where she will be taught by her mother through a mother-daughter conversation. This is because girls were expected to remain virgin until the night of their wedding. A man learned about sex the day before their wedding as well but in a more practical way. Moreover, formal sex education in United States and England started in the 1830's when pamphlets and books were published by health reformers and ministers to keep boys who left home informed (Encyclopedia of Children and Childhood in History and Society, n.d.) Not forgetting the local country, Malaysian government and Education Ministry also planned to introduce the sex education subjects to Malaysian schools (Tamboo, 2011). Despite, there are still controversies surrounding sex education.

Some parents and educators were against sex education in school. Although there were some contradictions regarding sex education, there were parties that supported sex education for school children as there are strong evidence that sex education in primary school brings about positive results. This essay will look in depth the importance of sex education for the younger generation.

One of the reasons why opponents were against sex education was because they believe that teaching of sex was considered inappropriate for children especially for primary school students. In a survey done, out of the 1700 parents of United Kingdom who were questioned, almost half of them did not agree with the teaching of sex in school; almost 48% of the parents quoted that sex education was inappropriate (BBC News, 2011). They said that it is appropriate to teach about sex if the children reach at the age of 13 years old.

Besides, proponents of sex education in schools on the other hand argue that sex education will help students to understand the impact of sex. The absence of sex education is dangerous as youths today are sexually active. Most Malaysians become sexually active by the age of 10 to 12 (Teoh, 2012). This shows how important it is to provide students a knowledge regarding sex on proper periods of time in order to prevent them from learning about sex elsewhere and being inflexible to acknowledge the actual information. Sex education will be able to create awareness among our students.
A survey done by National Population and Family Development Board (NPFDB) found that about half of young Malaysians do not know how babies are born (Ling C.M, 2009). Ling also revealed that this claim is supported by a psychologist who believes that an individual does not know the consequences and responsibilities of sexual behaviors unless they received a proper sex education, for example, a boy could know what to do if he gets a girl pregnant (2009). Moreover, there are many myths about sex that still followed by many people (Arpita, 2011). Some of the common myths are that a girl will not get pregnant if it is her first time having sex, a girl will not be pregnant if she have sex during her period, and drinking and drugs make sex more fun (Stay Teen, n.d.) It is believed that these myths about sex can be cast out by providing the brief explanations to youths through sexual education. In addition to that, sex education will also widen students' knowledge about sexual development. They will be able to understand how their body develops sexually. They will also learn about the changes they are going through and the related feelings towards opposite sex. Thus, it is crucial that primary school children receive age–appropriate information which may help to develop their practical skills for keeping them healthy (Planned Parenthood, n.d.).

On the other hand, some opponents also believe that if it is not taught properly, sex education in school can become a matter of fun and student may not take any interest in it. Sex education may be seen as the least important subject and students may not attend classes. Even if it is made compulsory, students will spend the period by laughing or making noises. Even though schools teach on abstinence only education, some students misinterpret the information provided by the educators, and they involve in unsafe sex (Sujata, 2012). Furthermore, if an educator fails to deliver the lesson in interesting ways, students might get bored easily.

However, it is argued that if students are not taught about sex in school, they will eventually learn it from different sources (Better Health Channel, n.d.) The Internet is full of pornography websites. Just imagine how much damages can be done to youths by these websites in an era where Internet is the God and youths are its loyal followers. Facebook and twitter makes explicit materials freely available in the Internet. If that is not enough, people live in a world where it is common for both parents to be working and children are left alone at home with the Internet as their faithful companion. This situation makes the problem worse as there are no adults to monitor children's activities when they are surfing internet sources. Other than that, an application of protecting children from harmful internet websites also believes that online sexual predators stalk chat rooms and social media profiles attempting to engage young children in inappropriate dialogue or worse sexual acts (Net Parent, n.d.) This has not included other sources such as friends. Youths are very vulnerable to peer pressure. They are willing to do anything to join with the gang. In order to avoid this situation, one of the student in University Technology MARA, Nur Atikah Mazlan (2009) claims that unlike using the explicit materials, sex education should be given for educational purpose and in a protected environment, so that students will be guided academically and well monitored. Thus it is important to keep them informed regarding appropriate behaviors so that they will be able to distinguish between the good and the bad.

Furthermore, sex education can help children and youths if the education is provided by a well trained professionals and experts in the field rather than someone who knows nothing about it. Assistant Minister of Sarawak, Fatimah Abdullah specified that proper training is necessary to enable an educator to make the topic less sensitive so that the discussion during lesson can take place in such an interesting way (Ling, 2009). As teaching of sex is such a difficult and complicated task, well-trained educators will acquire few characteristics in order to provide successful sexual education. They are capable to present information in an enthusiastic manner and have an appropriate knowledge on sexual related subjects as well as possess the ability to question and discuss with students about sensitive topics in an objective way (Daria and Campbell, 2004). Sexual education will also be a successful method to avoid social communication problems among children.

In contrast, sex education is opposed by some parties due to the concern that educating students on sex will provoke them an interest in sex and lead to sexual experimentation which is unhealthy for young children (Loveys and Roberts, 2011). Loveys and Roberts also claims that a report in the UK last year showed that some resources used for teaching primary aged children in Catholic schools printed out with explicit images and graphics. For example, the book named ‘How Did I Begin?’ expose a cartoon image of couple in bed in an intimate embrace and it was against by the Christian Institute as the impact of this can encourage children into sexual behaviors (2011).

Some other researches, however, shows a complete contradicting result to that. Talking to young people about sex will not encourage them to experiment sexually. Instead, it will educate students on the dangers of having unprotected sex and measures to keep themselves safe (Avert, n.d.) Sex education in schools will teach students the various birth control methods. It is important to teach students on the use and the cost of birth control as well as the suitable health condition to use a birth control method (Epigee Women’s Health, n.d.) The aim here is not to encourage students to be involved in sexual activities but to prevent unwanted pregnancy among adolescents and school going children. Statistics from The World Health Organization and other international organizations (2012) reported that pregnancy and other childbirth related problems are the number one killer of young women. Most young girls who become pregnant stated that they did not know that there are ways to prevent pregnancy in the first place. It is their innocence and ignorance that put them in such a big problem. Thus, it is important to keep boys and girls educated about their sexuality so that they will not get themselves into trouble situations at a young age that will not only ruin their future but also put their own lives in danger.

Indeed, unwanted pregnancy is not the only problem that rises from unsafe sex. Unprotected sex puts them at risk of being contaminated with Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STD) such as HIV/AIDS. There are 500,000 new sexually transmitted infections occurring among young people daily worldwide (United Nation Population Fund Malaysia, n.d.) In Malaysia, 84,630 cases were reported between 1986 until December 2008. Out of the 84,630 people, 14,576 suffer from AIDS and 11,234 people died because of this fatal disease (Pink Triangle Foundation, n.d.) This statistics alone is enough to show how important is sex education in schools to save future generation from the grasp of these deadly consequences of unprotected sex. As a matter of fact, sex education is not meant to encourage students to practice sex but to teach them how to keep themselves being protected.

Another reason for many people support the introduction of sex education in schools is because it helps the learners understand the benefits of abstinence (Sujata, 2012). Abstinence is the act of staying virgins until marriage. Young people are constantly bombarded with explicit information from the main stream media. Schools should teach them that contrary to what is projected by the media, there are more benefits in abstinence. One of the things that they will learn to sex education is that they will not have to worry about pregnancy and STD when they do not practice sex in the first place. In short, sex education is beneficial to students as it is capable of keeping them safe and alive.

Conversely, most parents in California disagree with the implementation of sex education in primary or secondary schools because they believe that it is the responsibilities of parents to teach and educate their children about the birds and the bees themselves rather than their teachers in school. They believe that it is their responsibility and not the school's responsibility to provide sex education (Santa Clara County Psychological Association, n.d.).

However, it is not always possible for parents to teach their children the way school education can. Most parents feel awkward and shy when discussing the topic with their children (Mazlan, 2009). Most cultural and religious upbringing makes discussing sex a taboo in families as well as in the society. This is one of the main reason parents feel uncomfortable talking to their children about their sexuality. Focus on the Family, Malaysian non-profit organization which aims in helping families stated that even children will find it weird and out of normal when their parents start asking them questions related to sex and they feel even worse when their parents advise them on their sexual activities (2012). This makes a teacher the most suitable candidate to impart the knowledge related to sexuality to students. Psychologists also found that children believe in their educators rather than others even somebody closest to them (Nakyanja, 2012). Another study in Africa also showed that teachers play an important role in providing sex education when parents feel embarrassed to discuss to their children regarding this particular issue (Nakyanja, 2012).

Other than that, educational programs will be able to provide more sexual information compared to parents. These programs will be conducted by professionals. These people are experts in giving honest and accurate information for students’ questions regarding the risks associated with sexual behaviors as they are well trained and capable of answering the questions thrown in their way (Avert, n.d.). In addition, the charity of AIDS Education and Research Trust (n.d.) in UK also believes that sex education incorporates moral and religious view on sex. So, it is trustworthy as students will be provided holistic education from all aspects. Through this, students will also learn to understand what various religions preach regarding sexuality and what are the sexual acts considered bad in a society according to religion and morality.

Apart from that, even though there are so many contradictions for sex education, there are also many factors and reasons that make sex education necessary in schools. Simon Blake, director of Brook organization, the sexual advice service for youngsters in the UK revealed that sex education in primary schools does not mean giving lecture about sex, instead, it help students to understand about body parts, relationships and puberty as well as the proper ways to handle the critical situations once they develop feelings for opposite gender (Saner, 2011). For example, some growing children will start to discuss with friends about a girl’s or boy’s genital parts while some others will play kissing games and marriage role-play with opposite genders (Kaeser, n.d.) These kind of typical sexual behaviors can be prevented by educate children on basic sexual knowledge.

Moreover, sex education in school will be taught by qualified educators. This means the person will have received the necessary training and has all the certificates required to be a sex educator. This ensures that students are not taught the wrong things. Sex education by these professionals will be able to complement other informal education that students received from other parties such as parents, religious institutions or their friends (Rodriguez, n.d.) In addition, someone who has a strong background in sex education will also be able to impart genuine knowledge on biology of reproductive systems. The studies of reproductive system is necessary for children age of five to seven as it enables them to learn the basic sexual knowledge such as the name of body parts, the changes during puberty as well as the fetal developments (Martin, 2010). These educations could create awareness among young generations to protect their dignity and virginity as well as encourage them to stay abstinence until they become older enough to engage in sex.

Other than that, the website administered by the Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada, an organization specialized in Obstetrics and Gynaecology (n.d.) stated that sex education could also keep children educated on how to stay away from sexual transmitted infections by using a condom as well as preventing unwanted pregnancy with the usage of contraceptive methods. Thus, sex education is a very good and effective way to help children avoid both physical and mentally problems that comes with uneducated sexual activities.

From the arguments above, it has been proven with the relevant evidence that sex education is actually crucial to the nation. It helps to mold youths to become better people. Sex education provides students with the knowledge required, helps students understand themselves better, keeps them informed regarding the dangers that awaits them with every irresponsible decision they make and what are the measures that they can employ in order to keep themselves safe. The responsible authorities could not be able to deter children interest in the topic, instead can help them overcome their curiosity by providing all the necessary information required to keep them out of sexual risks. To sum up, the Ministry of Education in the higher rates of sexually active countries should consider making sex education at least an elective subject in every primary school's regular curriculum system. In conclusion, all responsible authorities should realize the importance of sex education being taught in primary schools as it could transform young children into responsible and learned adults in future. (2849 words)