Sex education should be mandatory in formal educational curriculum

Title: Sex education should be mandatory in formal educational curriculum

In the bygone days, most adults considered sex as a taboo topic and refrained strongly from discussing about it, notably to their children. The typical conservative view on sex education is that it shall never be the role of schools to teach it. They believe that schools need to focus solely on academic teaching and leave the rest such as emotional, physiological matters to a child’s parents. Although it is undoubtedly true that certain parents without adequate open-mindedness will not allow any discussion regarding sex at home, conservatives generally believe that the choice to or not to discuss sex with children shall be left to the discretion of parents (Warren, 2007). Slowly but surely, the entire idea harkens back to the days of young girls being married off to older men without being told what a wedding night entails, thus leading to the ruin of any girl’s youth. Too little information given can be just as bad as delivering faulty information to kids, regarding overall sexuality (Regina, 2007). Nowadays, with all sorts of sex-related problems seeing the red light in adolescent, the pendulum seems to have swung the opposite way. News about teenagers performing one-night stands, young ladies becoming unmarried mothers, people in the state of adolescence being infected with sexual diseases such as AIDS etc., has unceasingly bombarded our society. Therefore, the new generation has increasingly demanded for sex education to be taught during adolescence. It is emphasized that the younger generation, sexually-open yet sexually-ignorant, have to be instilled the appropriate principles and values of sex into their mind which lacks maturity (Samuel, 2011). Different authorities have different sayings regarding sex education. For example, (Haffner, 1990. pp. 9) states that sex education is education which increases the knowledge of the functional, structural and behavioral aspects of human reproduction. However, according to (Vandemoortele and Delamonica, 2000. pp. 6), sex education as social vaccine to HIV/AIDS, the most serious Sexually Transmitted Infection (STI) in that it cannot currently be cured. Sex education may be taught using informal approaches such as conversation with parents, friends and relatives or through the media such as newspaper, radio and television. Certain countries may provide formal sex education in schools as a full course but in others countries it may also be taught within a subject such as biology. All in all, western countries have adopted a more open-minded approach in providing sex education such as the U.S., which sex education is taught in two main forms-comprehensive and abstinence-only; whereas eastern countries are more conservative about it, with some still in the progress of analyzing instead of implementing sex education. Take the example of Malaysia, which sexual issues are seldom discussed among Malaysian citizens for sexuality and reproductive topics are regarded as taboo and against the cultural and religious norms of Malaysian society (Jaafar and Chan, 2009). Controversy on whether sex education should be part of the educational curriculum prevails across the globe. In this research, the standpoint of our group is that sex education should be mandatory in formal educational curriculum due to several reasons such as parent-child communication barrier, increasing severity of sex-related problems, and high reliability of formal sex education.

Firstly, evidence have shown that parent-child communication barrier on sexual topics are still commonplace in most families nowadays. For example, a recent study for Adolescent Health Promotion conducted by the University of California Los Angeles has revealed that about forty-percent of girls reported that they hadn’t thought of the importance of birth control before and also, had not discussed with their parents about how to restrain themselves from pre-marital sex. Besides, nearly 70% of boys indicated that they had not discussed about how to use birth-control methods such as condoms with their parents before engaging in sexual activities (Park, 2009). This is especially alarming as there is a great likelihood that teenagers might experience severe consequences such as contracting sexually-transmitted diseases (STDs) before acknowledgement of their sexual activities. Besides, a U.S. nationwide survey commissioned by Planned Parenthood, Family Circle magazine also exhibited that approximately 50 percent of all teens are reluctant to engage in sex talks with their parents (Planned Parenthood, 2013). According to Leslie Kantor, vice president of education for Planned Parenthood Federation of America, most parents and teens have very different perceptions about how frequent they’ve talked about sex and the sexual issues being discussed. In most circumstances, parents will believe that they’re giving sophisticated advice, but their children are just hearing directives. Therefore, it can be seen that different perspectives of parents and children regarding sexual topics might be the most significant factor that causes the parent-child communication barrier. Also, an article from The New York Times with the title “Why teenagers don’t talk to parents about sex” has indicated that the more teenagers trusted their parents to respect their decisions, the higher the willingness of teenagers to share about their love lives (Paul, 2010). However, research has also shown that due to most parents’ hectic working life nowadays, the parent-child discussions on sexual issues have not been carried out on a regular basis. This results in teenagers being reluctant or even refrained totally from admitting their sexual activities in front of their parents. From the above, it is evident that although more and more parents have possessed adequate open-mindedness, parent-child communication regarding sexual issues is still ineffective.

Secondly, sex-related problems such as baby dumping, spread of STDs, and teenage pregnancy also contributed to the need for sex education to be included in formal educational curriculum. According to an article in The Star newspaper, Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin has claimed sex education as one of the measures to address the problem of baby dumping (Singh, 2010). Muhyiddin, who is also the Minister of Education, believes that sex education being taught in schools will be able to raise awareness regarding severity of sexual issues and also acknowledge students about their responsibilities in avoiding social problems. Apart from this, Indonesian Physicians Association (IDI) executive Boy Zaghul Zaini also claimed that sex education being included in school curriculum will be able to curb the spread of STDs (Anon, 2010). According to him, the traditional Eastern culture with the mindset of regarding sex as a taboo subject is no longer relevant today. Children must be injected with the right knowledge regarding sexuality to prevent them from misinterpreting irrelevant information from various media such as the internet, magazines, and so on. To address this, he believes that formal sex education will be the most suitable approach as it enables teenagers to filter and eliminate inappropriate information from harmful sources. Ultimately, the implementation of sex education will increase the likelihood of teenagers averting themselves from further social problems such as infection of STDs. Besides that, a national survey being conducted on teenage sexual behavior in the U.S. has suggested that comprehensive sex education has substantially reduced the rate of teenage pregnancy (The Center for the Advancement of Health, 2008). In detail, teenagers who received comprehensive sex education were sixty percent less to report being pregnant compared to those who didn’t. This is because comprehensive sex education has offered a ‘double security’ in preventing teenage pregnancy. Firstly, teens are taught about birth control with a holistic approach, and this has provided them with the appropriate measures to be taken when engaging in sexual activities such as the use of condoms, contraceptives etc. Secondly, the survey also indicated that comprehensive sex education has successfully reduced the likelihood of teenagers engaging in sexual intercourse despite their vigorous craving for sex. Since various statistics has shown that proper sex education is able to reduce sex-related problems, it should undoubtedly be included as part of formal educational curriculum.

Thirdly, formal sex education with its high level of reliability also suggested that it should be implemented in formal educational curriculum. In the book ‘Things That Matter’ written by Orlando Noel, sex education had provided students with the correct terms regarding reproductive system, sexually transmitted diseases and also contraception birth instead of ‘street slang’ (Orlando, May 16, 2012, pp. 52). This is especially important as students will be able to command the proper sexual terms which in turn, enables them to differentiate between reliable and unreliable sources of information. In addition, the use of correct sexual terms can also prevent teenagers from offending the others, notably those whose religion is highly sensitive in the usage of sexual terms. Besides, Singapore’s Education Minister Ng Eng Hen has claimed the need for formal sex education programs due to the increase of local teenagers contracting HIV (Kaiser, 2009). Based on the Health Promotion Board survey which targeted around 4,000 Singapore students of ages ranging from 14 to 19, about 8% has reported being sexually active. Out of this cohort, less than 25% have claimed using proper birth control methods to protect themselves against unintended pregnancies and STDs. According to Ng, sex education programs in formal institutions will be the most effective approach to address the mentioned sexual problems as it conveys the most objective and reliable information about sex. For instance, students were taught about the repercussions of unhealthy pregnancies and also appropriate measures to be taken for prevention against STDs. Other than that, one crucial element which guarantees the reliability of sexual information being delivered is the approved materials and syllabus being used by trained educators (Teachnology, 2012). With the most accurate information in hand, school teachers will be able to convey sexual knowledge systematically and timely. In addition to this, school-based sex education will also provide an in-depth stream of information which students will not be able to receive by other means such as home conversation with family members. This is because sex education as a whole is an immense topic with a great abundance of issues to be discussed. It is not possible to be sufficiently covered in inconsistent discussions. Since much evidence has proved the high reliability of formal sex education, it should be included in the school curriculum.

However, some conservatives have persisted in their thinking that it should be parents’ choice to inform their children about sex, not school educators. In fact, this is not the case as there is still considerable reluctance within parents when engaging in sexual discussions. Take the example of South Asian parents. Generally, most them still rejects the concept of sex-talk and repress their children from activities such as dating, exploring the territory of sex, etc. The negative implication of this conservative behavior is that teens will end up absorbing unhealthy information from irrelevant sources (Gaurav, 2011). This is simply because teenagers nowadays are no longer that sheltered anymore as compared to the previous generation, and parents must accept the fact that dating is already commonplace among youngsters. Nevertheless, most of them had failed to achieve such level of open-mindedness. Apart from this, a research conducted by Janell L. Carroll, author of ‘Sexuality Now: Embracing Diversity’ has revealed that most Asian Americans are also very conservative about sexuality (Carroll, Jan 29, 2009. pp. 251). The most common perception shared among this cohort is that they believe that sexuality is only appropriate within the context of marriage. In other words, most of them will only allow sex-related discussions after their children’s marriage. As a consequence, most young adults are forced to develop various untrue excuses to involve in activities such as dating. Ultimately, most teenagers have decided not to acknowledge their parents about their involvement in more risky sexual activities such as taking of sexual enhancement pills, all because their parents had rejected their personal thoughts at first hand. Besides this, a survey carried out at New York University has disclosed the fact that even in countries like the U.S. which are generally more open-minded, lots of local parents are still uncomfortable talking about ‘harder’ topics such as birth control and how to restrain from pre-marital sex (Clifford, 2011). Although some parents might’ve talked to their children about simpler topics such as dating, most of them are highly reluctant when discussing about more complex topics such as sexual intercourse. The likely consequence of this parental behavior is that teenagers will end up in problems such as elopement, teenage pregnancy, dropping out of school and so forth.

Also, some people believed that educators might lack training and doubted their teaching quality. However, evidence had indicated that the professionalization of educators in sex education nowadays has ensured a high quality of teaching. Take Western Australia as an example. The Sexual Health Resources project commissioned by local Department of Health has concluded that there’s a need for school involvement in sexual health education. In support of this, the state department of education has provided specialized development and training for teachers in sexuality education to ensure high level of professionalism being maintained among qualified educators (PhD, 2010). With this, all school teachers are guaranteed to be adequately competent and confident when disseminating sexual information. Besides this, trained sexuality educators are also equipped with a variety of effective teaching methods. For example, one important quality exemplified by all sex education teachers is the large information capacity possessed (Faught Enterprises, 2011). With this, educators will be able to disseminate factual information by providing a large amount of real-life examples to students which made their teaching more persuasive. Apart than that, another teaching technique commonly used by educators is to encourage group discussion sessions such as role-playing. Having participated in role-plays, students are believed to grasp a more in-depth understanding regarding the gravity of practical sex-related issues such as baby dumping, infection of HIV, and so forth due to a personal involvement. Last but not least, senior sexuality teacher Tom Sherrington has recently developed different methods of delivering sex education without embarrassment to enhance the effectiveness of teaching (Sherrington, 2012). For instance, he’d come out with the idea of establishing a question postbox which allows students to raise any sexual questions without embarrassment or fear. The rationale behind this is to provide an ideal platform for students to post their sex-related questions while maintaining anonymity. In a nutshell, he’d believed that the key to delivering sex education effectively is to emphasize upon the fact that sexual activities should be carried out on the basis of a stable and affectionate relationship, and that any sex-related knowledge should be disseminated factually and sensitively. With all these fundamental qualities, any trained educators will definitely be able to carry out their delivery smoothly and efficiently.

All in all, high quality sex education aids students in gaining a thorough understanding regarding the characteristics of their own body parts and also the gravity of infecting sexually transmitted diseases. Most importantly, it conveys the most appropriate approaches in assisting students when dealing with special philosophical needs, notably during the stage of adolescence. No doubt that students provided with relevant and reliable information regarding overall sexuality will be able to deal better with teenage curiosity, thus refraining themselves from the lure of unhealthy sexual activities. According to (Bettelheim, Jul 1981, pp. 18), “You cannot have sex education without saying that sex is natural and that most people find it pleasurable.” In fact, the desire for sex and even sexual immorality is the nature of human being and thus, cannot be eliminated completely. Therefore there is undoubtedly a need for students to be taught with good sex education. Having equipped with effective sex education, youths are believed to make healthier decisions in their sexual behavior. In a nutshell, the ultimate purpose of sex education is to facilitate adolescents in gaining appropriate knowledge, attitudes and skills which conforms to basic humanity and morality. With detailed deliberation regarding parental factor, reliability of sex education and gravity of sexual problems, our group strongly reinforces our stand that sex education should be mandatory in formal educational curriculum.