Sex Education in Public Schools Essay Example

Sex Education in Public Schools Where do our children get the information about sex education? Schools are the one institute that children regularly attend; they are geared towards increasing student’s knowledge and improving their skills. Sex education in public schools now seems to be more and more of a controversial issue. People are arguing whether sex education should be taught in public schools or whether it is the parent’s responsibility to teach their children. I believe it should be the parent’s responsibility to teach their children about sexual education, but there is no guarantee that children will be taught by the parents. In formal survey of 8,000 students over 12 years of age, fewer than eighty percent had received meaningful sex education from their parents (Gordon). Many children feel that parents are the least informative source for information concerning birth control and sexually transmitted diseases (Griffith p. 68). A parent’s responsibility becomes a burden to society when they choose not to educate their child. This generation could be in real danger if parents were left to educate their children on sexuality. There are eighteen states that require by law to provide information about some kind of sex education, whether it’s about STDs, HIV/AIDS, abstinence or information on contraception. These states are Nevada, Utah, New Mexico, Kansas, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee, Iowa, Minnesota, Kentucky, Vermont, West Virginia, New Jersey, Maryland, Delaware, Rhode Island, New Hampshire. The District of Columbia in Pennsylvania is also required to provide some type of sexual education. Idaho schools are not required by law to provide any sex education to our schools, according to Teen-Aid Inc. Evidence shows that comprehensive sex education programs that provide information about both abstinence and contraception can help delay the onset of sexual activity among teens reduce their number of sexual partners and increase