The high school years are generally the years people talk about when they reminisce. Many things happen in high school that are a milestone in a teenager's life. Their first college basketball game, their class ring, and maybe even their first love. Along with their first love comes the topic, pressure and even attraction to sexual behavior. It's an inevitable feeling that all teenagers will experience at some point in time. With the media now forcing sex into almost everything, teen sex is becoming a bigger problem. How it is handled however is a completely different topic. Parents do not educate their teenagers about sexual behavior and the consequences are not to be preferred. On the other hand, schools do not want to take responsibility but are forced to take matters into their own hands by teaching abstinence just so as not to be blamed for the risks of premarital sex such as AIDS, pregnancy or sexually transmitted diseases. Understanding teaches children about safe sex and the safety and proper precautions to take if you want to have sex, while “abstinence-only programs are inaccurate, ineffective, and may even cause harm” (Advocates for Youth). Those who believe that abstinence only is the way to go must consider the consequences of not informing adolescents about sex education. The long-debated issue of teaching abstinence or contraceptive awareness is an unavoidable topic that has and will continue to persist in school board meeting rooms for years and years to come. Parents don't talk to their children about sex because some consider it embarrassing or out of place, leaving it up to schools to teach what little education they have. “This approach to sex education is known among educators as the “abstinence-only approach,” where the total abstention from mid-paper sex education as part of the massive 1996 welfare overhaul, the Abstinence has become the mandatory national sex education policy in America for more than a decade” (Wess p4). Parents should, even as part of school sex education, talk to their children not only about not having sex but about safe sex. There will come a time when temptation strikes and knowing proper safety measures could, in extreme cases, save a life. Works Cited "Abstinence V Sex Ed." WebMD. Np, Aug. 14, 2010. Web. Dec. 2, 2013. http://www.webmd.com/parenting/features/abstinence-vs-sex-ed?page=2"Advocates for Youth." Abstinence vs. Comprehensive Edu.. Np, September 9, 2009. Web. December 2, 2013. Hess, Amie. “The Politics of Virginity: Abstinence in Sex Education.” MuseJHUEdu. Np, March 2011. Web. December 1, 2013 Maynard, Missi. “Religious Beliefs About Abstinence.” Demand average. Np, 5 July 2012. Web. 4 December. 2013