Sex Ed: A Public School Necessity

A recent survey by the Henry J. Kaiser Foundation, a health research organization, revealed that an overwhelming majority of parents want more sex education curriculum in the public schools. Parents want their children to learn about abstinence and to consider marriage necessary for sexual intercourse, but they also want their children to know much more about the issues revolving around sex. The recent findings show that they also feel that proper use of condoms, birth control and AIDS belong in a more robust sexual education class.

The most remarkable statistics in the Kaiser report showed large shifts in the desires of parents in the last two decades. A similar survey done in 1981 by the Gallup Organization, on behalf of the Phi Delta Kappa association of professional educators, showed 84 percent believed high schools should teach about sexually transmitted diseases. This figure jumped to 98 percent in the Kaiser report.

In other areas the change has been even more dramatic: In 1981, 45 percent of those who favored teaching about sex in high schools wanted courses to include some discussion of homosexuality. That number has increased to 76 percent.

Public schools should respond to the desires of the majority of parents and revamp their sex education curriculum. This would be a great help to parents who are feeling overwhelmed and can't find the time to talk to their children about these issues or parents who are too uncomfortable with the topic.

Our children deserve to know the consequences of starting a sexual relationship. For the parents who already have close relationships with their children and can have conversations concerning these tender issues, more discussion can help everyone. There are some things that parents and children may never feel comfortable discussing with one another, and more extensive sex education in school would help bring these topics into the open.

Although the public schools should respond with a more intensive course on sex education, this does not replace the responsibility of parents to discuss these topics with their children. Sex education should start in the home and be supplemented in school. It's obviously an uncomfortable topic and one that parents may be eager to avoid, but it is vital that our children learn about it from multiple sources.