Benefits of Sex Ed in Schools?

By Lars L., SBI Health Education independent study intern

The American Medical Association recently published a graph which accounted for the leading causes of death in the U.S., showing the public that lifestyle factors are becoming the greatest killers in America. The leading “lifestyle factor” cause of death was tobacco-related (about 400,000 people a year) and deaths due to firearms was 6th on the list (35,000 deaths a year). Following that, sexually transmitted diseases account for 30,000 deaths a year.

While it seems small comparable to tobacco, it is in my belief that it accounts for more deaths than it should. Hypothetically speaking if we were able to get everyone in the world properly protect themselves while engaging in sexual activity, we would be able to dramatically decrease the death toll due to STD’s, or even abolish them completely. With that in mind, it’s extremely frustrating to me that as civilized and developed as the U.S. is “supposed” to be, that we continue to suffer from this problem. It’s evident that something must change in order to see a decline in the rates of STD’s.

While some children may have their parents to rely on for education in the areas of sexual health, most will only know what they have learned from school, so I thought it would be useful to take a look into sex education in the U.S. Throughout the country, teens are now receiving less information on birth control, while receiving more information on abstinence-only policies. When asked about the shifts in formal education, one in five teachers believed that restrictions on sex education were preventing them from meeting their needs. When it comes to human health, I believe that disclosing information that could used to protect a person from contracting a disease should be considered a crime.

Currently, there is no evidence that abstinence only education delays teen sexual activity. Recent research has shown that abstinence only strategies lower contraceptive use in sexually active teens, putting them at risk for unintended pregnancies and STI’s. However, there is evidence that sex education programs that provide information about both abstinence and contraceptive use can help delay the onset of sexual activity among teens, reduce the number of sexual partners, and increase contraceptive use when they become sexually active. This information was provided by former Surgeon General David Satcher in June 2001.

Less is more, only when more is no good. In the case of sexual education MORE is good!