Sex Education Should Be Made Mandatory in Schools - Assignment Example

[Effective] Sex Education should be made mandatory in schools The role of sex education in United s, as well as globally, is a controversial issue. Schools are hesitant about addressing sexual issues that are broadly viewed as moral or that have various social, religious and psychological implications and are not deemed fit for formal education or to be made part of any "core" curriculum. State fund and the role of the federal government are also crucial in deciding what and how sex education should be taught, or whether it should be taught at all. In this case, the question about the content and media of sex education becomes pivotal, as this is the moot point that affects how sex education is viewed or is supported by society and the institutions. The argument whether sex education should be made mandatory in schools, will be supported along with a short discussion on the kind of the content that should be discussed or taught as part of sex education. Thus, I want to argue that not only should sex education be made mandatory, but it should also be effectively taught keeping in mind, the practical issues and peer pressures teenagers face and thus help students overcome modern personal crisis and ultimately, help in their psychological and social upbringing. The current scenario of sex education in US is not quite encouraging or effective. Either it is taught ineffectively, or it is taught keeping one goal in perspective - to perpetuate abstinence and post-marital sex. Therefore, the first question one has to ask is "What constitutes sex education" Sadly, when one tries to answer this, there arises the conflict between cultural values, how much is enough, and whether sexuality constitute both biological and behavioral science. Does sex education also attempt to explain the relationship between sexuality and media, religion, law, culture, arts and gender I strongly feel that it should. Sexuality constitutes our image of ourselves, determines our orientation and sexual health, and affects our social skills, relationships and sexual behavior. Hence, sex education has a huge responsibility to play, contrary to popular opinion, and this can determine the human development of a child, who is the future citizen of a country. Is the ultimate aim of sex education to stop teenage pregnancy If so, then the role of sex education becomes quite negative and conservative in nature. It then aims to eradicate a social evil and prejudices the child's mind, rather than helping them to take up a stand with the help of their own free will. Any form of force or action is always less effective than something that has been done from the inner self will. This should be the proper aim of sex education. Sometimes sex education becomes a bitter power play and a good instrument in the hands of various political organizations. It is a political tool and US has faced such political tug of war in the field of sex education since the 60's. In Talk about Sex: the Battles over sex education in the United States1, Janice M. Irvine says that, "The efforts of national evangelical organizationsall of which oppose comprehensive sex education, abortion, sexual representation in the media, and gay rights - gained momentum on legislative and policy fronts during Bush's administration" (Irvine, xv). Since the Victorian time the "myth of childhood innocence" has always been upheld and the true picture of childhood and various discourses have been developed to propagate this very form of "truth". The image of the child as sexual being therefore provokes religious, political and social controversies that are rooted in deep moral shame and fear about tarnishing this popular picture of childhood innocence by sex talks (Irvine 13, 14). Nevertheless, we are evolving as a society and sex education should provide valuable knowledge keeping in mind the current social crisis that children face - without which a growing child may be exposed to greater exploitations and danger. The physical, emotional and psychological outfall after sex can have massive repercussions too, and sex education should help mitigate such emotional crisis too - outside the general health and safety information. In the book Values in Sex Education, J. Mark Halstead and Michael Jonathan Reiss, they say that the aim of sex education is to encourage certain kinds of skills, attitudes, dispositions, behavior and critical reflections on personal experience2. They also add that the school has threefold role to play in sex education. Firstly, sex education becomes an extension of the child's consciousness and helps to counterbalance extreme opinions. Contrarily, he also admits that the school has the responsibility to exert this influence in a balanced way as this represents the "official view of the society". The second role of the school is to in the fill the gaps of the students' knowledge, including the various values and cultural implications associated with sex. This role will always remain exclusive of the fact that the sexual behavior of a child and his/her understanding of sex starts much before the beginning of formal education and simultaneously continues to be shaped by family, media and peers. The third role is the most important in terms of critical decision and objective decision-making that it helps the child to inculcate, as it helps to critically evaluate the diversity implicit within sexuality and sexual values. The challenge that schools face here is to segregate the judgments that will be universally regarded as appropriate or inappropriate as sexuality and ideas related to it are to some extent culturally biased. Schools must make students aware about this challenge and how such diversity of sexual values exist and therefore students will know better how to face such challenges in life (Halstead and Reiss, 10). There are various arguments against sex education - both traditional conservative arguments and progressive or liberal arguments. Measor, Tiffin, and Miller, talks about Feminist critics who have attacked the British sex education, as it perpetuates the stereotypical idea about female sexuality and the sexual role of women within the society. This in turn brings up issues of power that perpetuates the age-old, "taken-for-granted power networks". 3 The book also delineates opposing argument to this, by portraying the concept of danger that some institutions hold against a liberal sex education, since too much exploration of pleasure through sex education, may hold some potential danger for women. However, the authors oppose this argument by saying that we live in a "sexualized society in which desire, albeit mostly male desire and the expression of that desire are seen as of paramount importance (Measor, Tiffin and Miller 10). Thus, here one can ask the question whether sex education is fraught with the dangers that sexuality or the expression of it has on the students than on concentrating on subjects like desire and self-reflection on sexuality (as separate from society). If that is so, then the whole importance and emphasis of sex education is being undermined, even if it exists. Thus, my argument stands for effective sex education (unbiased, minimally gendered and critically thought inducing) that should be made mandatory in schools. Moreover, it will take into account not the shame and fears of introducing sexuality or the concept of it to morally asexual and innocent children, but to an evolving sexualized society. In chapter 8 of the book, the failings of sex education have been discussed and it shows a gap where the emotional content were not discussed and only factual information were merely passed on. Thus, sex education should be made mandatory in schools keeping in mind that it does not only do a perfunctory duty of passing on information to school kids but help in their emotional and sexual development too. In Sex For Dummies4 By Ruth K. Westheimer, Pierre A. Lehu, they talk about the various countries where sex education has been introduced and that it varies from country to country. For instance, in Phillipines, sex education is mandatory at high school levels, whereas in Sweden it is made mandatory from the age of 7. In most of United States, parents who object to sex education being part of their child's curriculum have the right to pull their children out of any sex education programme - in which case sex education should be made mandatory as parents can interfere and excuse their child from getting the right information about sex and sexuality on the whole. They even explain that a topic like sex should be handled both by parents and by the school and there should be "active participation" between both the parties (Westheimer and Lehu, 343). Sadly, conservatives who think that sex education is shocking are still raising many issues. One such author is Laura Ingraham. In her book Power to the People5 she describes how in Alexandria, Virginia, where sex education has been made mandatory since the 1980's, has started teaching students "avant-garde" and "edgier stuff" like history of abortion, transgender, and how abortion was legal at the founding of the country. In Montgomery County, Maryland, eighth graders are taught to develop their sexuality and understand the sense of their own gender identity. Next she describes how parents fought to shield their child from sex education as it was contradicting the moral teachings of their religion and how the school siding with the Massachusetts Teacher's Association and Human Right's Campaign, lost the battle. The judge had sided with the parent's right to raise their child as they see fit. She even went to the height of saying "sex and school don't mix (Ingram, 206-207). Judging both the options - the oppositions that school face when trying to make sex education mandatory are quite serious and challenging. However, there is no denying that such conservative forces will try to set back such liberal forces back into the primitive era. Sex Education should help the modern child understand the evolving sexual role of the society and understand the various ideas of sexuality embedded in social discourses, which will help him/her to find the right balance. What is the right balance Anything that will help the child critically weigh the challenges that sexuality pose as opposed to various religious, social, and political biases and find his/her own comfort zone without falling a prey to psychological and cultural prejudices that can harm him/her gender identity, sexuality and social behavior in any way. Knowledge is power, and therefore the role of the school to give an objective view or views about sex to students (with the consent of the parents) should be the responsibility of the state and the schools. I thereby conclude that effective sex education must be made mandatory in schools by the state, keeping in mind the dangers, challenges, and crisis of the American society and the child should be exposed to a practical, scientific and behavioral understanding of sexuality and not made a victim of prudery of the Victorian era! Works Cited 1. Irvine, Janice M. Talk about Sex: The Battles over Sex Education in the United States. published by University of California Press, 2004 2. Halstead, J.Mark and Reiss, Michael Jonathan. Values in Sex Education: From Principles to Practice. Edition: illustrated. NY: Routledge, 2003. Page 7 3. Measor , L. Tiffin, C and Miller, K. Young People's Views on Sex Education: Education, Attitudes, and Behaviour NY: Routledge, 2000. Page 9 4. Westheimer, Ruth K and Lehu, Pierre A. Sex For Dummies Edition: 3, illustrated, revised. Published by For Dummies, 2006 5. Ingraham, Laura. Power to the People.Washington DC: Regnery Publishing, 2007. Page 206 Read More