Public Schools Sex Ed Teach Abstinence Only - Research Paper Example

Sex education got introduced into the American public school curriculum in the late 19th century, and continues to be a prime policy issue for the federal and state governments. The aim of this move by the government is to combat Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) and inculcate sexual morality by promoting abstinence. Over time, there has been further formalization of the abstinence agenda in public schools. In fact, only sex education programs that accentuated abstinence used to receive funding from the government, while the comprehensive programs that allowed safe sex with pregnancy prevention methods such as contraception were not funded by the government (Chisara, 2011, p. 23). In the present time, the government funds comprehensive sex education programs that promote safe sex and contraception among school-going children.

This essay discusses the reasons why abstinence needs to be taught in public schools. One of the reasons why public schools should teach abstinence to their children is that it the surest way of protecting this future generation from acquiring diseases that would make them unproductive in the future. Avoidance of all forms of sex is the appropriate and effective method of reducing the rates new HIV/AIDS infections among the school going children. In this regard, Knox & Schacht (2010, p. 146) observe that abstinence sex education policies need to be strengthened to reduce the prevalence of STIs in the school-going age population because while the children make up only about 25 per cent of the sexually active people, they acquire approximately half of all new STIs every year (Knox & Schacht, 2010, p. 161). As a consequence, the school goers become less productive as some of them miss classes to seek treatment for STIs in the short-term, while a considerable number of them become unproductive members of