Topic > The Importance of Teaching Sex Education in Schools

There is a show on the MTV network called 16 and Pregnant. The show follows teenage mothers between the ages of 14 and 18 who face one of the risks of having sex that is pregnancy. The show has been running for a few years now, and Time magazine reported in May 2013 that the reason for the decline in teen pregnancies in the United States is exposure to shows like 16 and Knocked Up. Researchers at the University of North Carolina separated 162 teenagers into a group that watched three episodes of 16-year-olds and pregnant women and a group that didn't. They also surveyed 1,008 teenagers to find out if they watched the show. Teens in the survey study and viewing study reported that watching the show made pregnancy more real to them and gave them a better understanding of the challenges of pregnancy and how to avoid it. Sex education should be taught in schools, because teenagers need to know the risks of their sexual actions and what to do to prevent them. Not only does sex education help reduce the number of teenage pregnancies, but it also reduces the risks of sexually transmitted diseases. There has always been the idea of ​​teaching abstinence only as education, but when a teenager finds themselves in a situation where he or she decides they want to go through with sex, they need to be given tools like knowing how to use the condom and how to use birth control to at least have safe sex, and this is what teaching sex education in schools does. One of the main reason for sex education is teenage pregnancy. The teen birth rate in the United States was 50 to 55 births per 1,000 women in the 1970s and 1980s, rising to nearly 60 births per 1,000 women in the early 1990s, but has declined since then. The question we begin to ask ourselves is what happened next...... middle of paper ...... in schools so that teenagers had all the information they needed to make the right decisions and to take control of their choices. own sexual life. Sex education should be taught in schools, because teenagers need to know the risks of their sexual actions and what to do to prevent them. Teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases are two of the biggest risks among teens, and they need to receive proper education and tools to make informed decisions about their sexual health. Abstinence-only education is certainly an option for them, but they will not receive information on how to use contraceptives to prevent these risks. With sex education programs in schools, teenagers are now learning how to take control of their bodies and their sexual health. With more and more such programs being taught in schools today, hopefully decline, teenage pregnancies and STDs will begin to decline.