We live in a highly sexualized world, so it’s ironic that most high school sexual education classes still use random objects and ‘old timey’ public service announcements to teach their students about sex. Sexual education in public schools must be more straightforward so that we can properly inform students of what sex entails. This would ensure that they become properly educated about sex and are able to avoid early pregnancies and unwanted STIs.
Remember the banana that sex ed teachers would use to show boys how to wear a condom? This sex ed lesson is ridiculously common, having been mentioned in every other Teen TV show or film. Yes, it’s important to show students how to use a condom, but this is not enough to adequately teach them about sex.
Students in middle school (and younger) are exposed to sex on a daily basis through the media and from their peers, and it is no longer sufficient to leave sex education until the senior year of high school. Instead, sex ed must begin around the time that students enter middle school, and then be taught every subsequent year. By eighth grade, 13-year-old students typically use the internet, so there is no reason for teachers to treat them like children when it comes to these mature topics.
Sex is natural and there is nothing to be ashamed of when speaking about it in a mature and sincere manner. As such, students in class should be able to ask open questions and have them answered directly and honestly if they need clarification or are confused about anything.
Students should be able to ask open questions and have them answered directly and honestly.
To make sexual education more straightforward, school districts should hire trained sexual health counsellors who can give students a concise explanation of sex and its derived topics. If the district is unable to do so, then certain teachers should take a ‘crash course’ on how to teach sex in modern society.
Moreover, the resources used to teach children about sex must change. Do away with the ‘Trojan bananas,’ and replace them with more current resources. Youtube has education channels that cover such topics — “Sexplanations” is a series of sexual education videos that are hosted by a licensed sexologist and are aimed at a teenage audience.
Educators should also inform their students about intercourse among people with different sexualities. Although it may not serve the same biological purpose, sex among homosexual couples is also for pleasure and intimacy. Opening students’ minds to these notions would prevent misunderstandings and help to promote respect between individuals.
While sex saturates our media, people can still be very sensitive when discussing the topic. Of course, adopting a more mature and open curriculum will provoke controversy. To that, I would strongly advise educators to treat both the topic and their students in a mature fashion. Students should be told, without any biased perspectives, that sex is more than what they hear about in the media, and that it’s biologically important.
Adults often underestimate teenagers, but with proper education, teens can be mature about sex, and can avoid unwanted consequences. This isn’t to say that a more direct education is going to completely eradicate unwanted youth pregnancies or other problems, but our schools do need to employ more precise sexual education to prevent sexual confusion.
