Having skills merely to say no does not help young people make tough decisions, but instead simply drains decision-making from them and places them in the hands of more powerful others – the state, the media, advertisements, a partner, abuser, or predator. The echoes of lost skill reverberate for a lifetime in the student…
-Fine and McClelland
Sexual Education and Desire: Still Missing after All These Years
This was a powerful quote that brought home one of the most crucial elements missing from health education. The emphasis on rejection, of both drugs and sex, not only fail in the single aspect they expound on but fail in preparing students once they engage in those “taboos”. It is one thing in the case of drugs where the focus on rejection almost makes sense in that it is not societally expected to engage in a large swath of drugs available. However, that is simply not true for sex. Sex is part of human life, be it for pleasure or procreation this fact cannot be ignored.
And yet, government and schools have been doing just that. By limiting sex education to just abstinence, students are not learning about sex and sexuality through healthy environments. Students will have to confront their sexuality (or lack thereof) at some point and it is woefully irresponsible for schools to ignore such a critical component of human health.
Schools need to live up to the standard of being safe spaces for the physical, emotional, academic and professional development of our youth. No one wins from the censorship of information. Students will inevitably have to cross that bridge. And school should be there to help guide them along.
I loved this comment, because I have felt very strongly about this for many years. It is not only old-fashioned, but dangerous to teach abstinence only sex-ed in schools. I have read in several studies over the years that statistically, districts that only teach this type of sex-ed have more teenaged pregnancy and even higher incidence of STIs. This is extremely unsurprising to me. The fact is, whether adults are comfortable with it or not, teenagers are going to have sex. This is unavoidable, and normal. The high school years are a time of major sexual discovery and identity formation. It is science, rooted in biological change and natural desire. I am so sick of sex being morally stigmatized. If teens are honestly and openly taught the risks of having sex, but also how to address these risks, so many consequences (that abstinence only educators are unwittingly contributing to) will be avoided. This is so worth a little discomfort on our part as educators!