What Age Should Sex Education Be Taught Essay Example
At What Age Should Sex Education Be Taught?
Shivani Veerasami
Queens College, CUNY
Sex Education and Adolescence
Page of Introduction
“You cannot have sex education without saying that sex is natural and that most people find it pleasurable.”
-Bruno Bettelheim
When is the appropriate age to start teaching sex education and who should it be taught by? Many people believe that it is the parents’ responsibility to educate their children on sex. While others think that it is the teachers’ responsibility to educate their children on sex. What do you think? I think it is both the parents’ and teachers’ responsibility to educate teens on sex. Teachers and parents need to work together to make sex education successful. If the teacher says one thing and the parents says another thing, then the children will come to their own conclusion and that never ends good.
For example, I learned a little bit about sex when I was in sixth grade in my life science class. I was only taught about the reproductive part; how to get pregnant. It was not until my freshman year of high school that I learned about STDs and protection in my life management skills class. However, when I was in sixth grade I shared what I had learned in science class with my mom and she looked like she was going to have a heart attack! Her immediate response was you cannot have sex until you are married! From that day on ‘till I was probably eighteen years old that is what my mom has been preaching to me. She also avoided talking about sex with me, up to this day she avoids that topic. In my life management skills class the first thing they taught was abstinence, then STDs and how to protect ourselves from contracting them, and finally about all the different types of birth control that is out there. We were also taught that sex is a natural and wonderful experience, and it is also a part of life. My teacher made it clear that everyone is different and we will know when the time is right and we should
Shivani Veerasami
Queens College, CUNY
Sex Education and Adolescence
Page of Introduction
“You cannot have sex education without saying that sex is natural and that most people find it pleasurable.”
-Bruno Bettelheim
When is the appropriate age to start teaching sex education and who should it be taught by? Many people believe that it is the parents’ responsibility to educate their children on sex. While others think that it is the teachers’ responsibility to educate their children on sex. What do you think? I think it is both the parents’ and teachers’ responsibility to educate teens on sex. Teachers and parents need to work together to make sex education successful. If the teacher says one thing and the parents says another thing, then the children will come to their own conclusion and that never ends good.
For example, I learned a little bit about sex when I was in sixth grade in my life science class. I was only taught about the reproductive part; how to get pregnant. It was not until my freshman year of high school that I learned about STDs and protection in my life management skills class. However, when I was in sixth grade I shared what I had learned in science class with my mom and she looked like she was going to have a heart attack! Her immediate response was you cannot have sex until you are married! From that day on ‘till I was probably eighteen years old that is what my mom has been preaching to me. She also avoided talking about sex with me, up to this day she avoids that topic. In my life management skills class the first thing they taught was abstinence, then STDs and how to protect ourselves from contracting them, and finally about all the different types of birth control that is out there. We were also taught that sex is a natural and wonderful experience, and it is also a part of life. My teacher made it clear that everyone is different and we will know when the time is right and we should