2003: young people talk about sex.

Schools Should Help Children Survive in the Real World

Telling a 16-year-old boy or girl to abstain from sex is about as effective as stopping a moving train with your body. And telling every parent of a 16-year-old boy or girl to talk to their children about sex is about as effective as stopping a torpedo with your finger. Sadly, there are just some things in this world that won't happen, but luckily, schools can fill the gap.

Schools exist to prepare people for the future--to someday set foot on Mars or finally write the great American novel. Despite the thoughts that first come to mind, the majority of this preparation doesn't come from history textbooks or scientific experimentations. The four core subjects are only the crust of a school's purpose while the true center is the all-consuming subject: Survival 101 ...

Okay, so maybe sex education alone won't inspire a student or set his or her sights on becoming the President of the United States, but without it his or her dreams could easily be dashed. On a smaller scale, a comprehensive sex education program will help a future mother's dreams come true and ward off any potential STDs that threaten her reproductive system. Lastly, schools have the power to turn thousands of gay youth from being just another teen suicide statistic into being happy people able to achieve their dreams of love.

The main responsibility of schools is to teach survival, and in doing so, secure the dreams of America's children. Sadly, there are just some things in this world that ruin lives, but luckily, schools have a great opportunity to step in and grant some salvation.

Aaron Thomas Eske (19 in 2003)

A Close-to-Perfect Health Class

... I disagree with the abstinence-only approach to teaching sex education. At the elementary level in school, we are taught how to act during a fire, how to use a fire extinguisher, and we participated in fire drills weekly. Surely, this knowledge in combating fire does not make most students aspire to commit arson. The same reasoning should apply to learning about sex. Learning about birth control, the reproductive anatomy, and other sex-related topics will not make most teens yearn for sex. Instead, it will give them the facts they need so they can make their own well-informed decisions.

Ninth-grade health class had two subjects: drugs and sex. The first quarter, about drugs, went by quite uneventfully, as every parent and teacher agreed on a method. "Just say no, drugs are bad," was main message. Then, second quarter came around, and things got a little touchy. The underlying message could not be about refusal because some parents thought that pre-marital sex was just fine. But many parents did not believe that sex should be taught at all. "Just tell them in biology or something that abstinence is the only way. I'm sure they'll get the message," many abstinence-only crusaders said.

Um ... no. I don't think that one sentence without any reasoning behind it spoken randomly in the middle of science class will convince many teens to refrain from sex until their wedding night. After our sex unit started, people in our class began to look forward to health. At the beginning, most of us looked forward to it because we thought it was hysterical to hear a serious discussion about sexual terms. By the end of the semester, though, most of us enjoyed the class because it gave us a new view on the biggest taboo of them all.

During the first discussion, I confess that I, like many of my peers, had a smirk on my face. After a while, though, it became clear that sex was nothing to smirk about, and aside from the occasional joke, everyone in the class was serious about learning as much as they could. We learned through more than one dimension. There were role-plays, open-ended discussions, videos, posters, and stories. Each activity aided us in seeing a spectrum of viewpoints and helped us obtain diverse knowledge.

Although nothing is ever perfect, this health class came pretty close to being the most fault-free sexuality education lesson I've ever taken. It was so unlike the "girls in one room with the school nurse, boys in the other with the gym teacher" approach so often taken.

As long as sex remains something that society thinks should be spoken about behind closed doors, sexuality education will be controversial. Until then, I am content with my ninth-grade health education.

Excerpted from SIECUS Report, Volume 31, Number 4, April/May 2003.

Rachel Kurzius (14 in 2003)