Why Isn't Sex Education Taught in Schools?

I am responding to my colleague's blog post, "Sex Education in Schools" about why sex education is not being taught in Texas schools. Rebekah states that many other states are not teaching children about sex, but Texas is not. It was said that there is a feelings that by teaching kids about sex ed, we are basically giving them permission to have sex. Government officials think that sex education should be taught in the household not at school. Rebekah brought up the great point that the state complains about teenage pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases but they do not do anything to try and prevent it.

She and I have a very similar view on this matter. I believe that sex education should be taught in schools. This article brought me back to the time when I was in middle school and we had to take a sex ed class. The videos and power point slides they show were so nasty that it kind of made you not want to have sex because of the vivid images they would show and learning about all the different diseases you can get. I think that kids most definitely need to be informed about all the consequences of sex.

Parents may think that teaching middle school students about sex is inappropriate because of their age but I actually think that is the best time to teach them. If you think about it, we are hearing more and more about middle school kids getting pregnant. Now this could be just because their parents aren't really caring about their kids enough to talk to them about sex. I think that a parent  who doesn't openly discuss the cautions and consequences of sex are not really parents, they need to care a little bit more about their kids.

Now I agree with Rebekah that if we teach students about sex, we are most certainly not giving them permission to have sex. On the other hand, kids are going to do what they want to do, regardless if they are taught. However, I do believe that if you teach them about sex, it will lower the amount of teen pregnancies in Texas. It might not completely stop the rate of pregnancies, but it will greatly decrease it.

On the money issue, I agree with Rebekah. It's like a chain effect; if you teach kids about sex, it will lower the pregnancy rate, which will save Texas money in the long run. The amount of money the state spends on abortion clinics, sexually transmitted disease treatments, etc would, in my opinion greatly go down. It will also save Texans money because we wouldn't be spending money on these things.

If the government wants something done about the teen pregnancy rate, they need to do something about it. They need to bring back sex education in schools so that your children will be able to learn all there is to learn about sex, what you can do to prevent it, and the consequences of having sex. Rebekah did a fantastic job addressing this issue and I wish that the government would feel the same way.