During high school, many students experience a course in sex education where slides of gruesome photos of sexually transmitted diseases are shown; thus enabling students to think of the physical consequences of sex, not the emotional one.
According a Tallahassee Democrat article headlined, “More local girls juggle pregnancy, school”, Michelle Gayle, divisional director of curriculum services for the Leon County district, said that it is not enough to teach students the affects of sex in schools, she said the consequences of sex should be taught at home. Students need more than the “scientific perspective” of sex.
Stated in the article the Florida Department of Health reported that in Leon County 19.6 percent of girls under 17 who didn’t have a high-school diploma gave birth last year, which is higher than the percentage of pregnancies statewide for girls age 17 or younger with no diploma.
Many parents argue that students should not be taught sex education, but the majority of the time their arguments are based on the wrong reasons.
Parents should step up and take the responsibility of teaching their children the consequences of sex from an emotional point of view.
It is important to teach teens the importance of using contraceptives, but there is not a product sold in stores to prevent the emotional baggage of attending high school while dealing with issue teens face as a result of sex.
Brittany McCrary for the Editorial Board.