Teaching about Sex in Secondary Schools: Education or Encouragement?

Photo CreditÂ http://www.publicsphereproject.org/drupal/node/822

Sex. It’s nothing to start squirming about, or getting weird about. If it’s important to learn theories you will never see again in your life like, Einstein’s e=mc2, why shouldn’t it be important to learn practical knowledge on your sexual well-being and health?

School is meant to be a place that promotes empowerment through education. I can most likely speak for many of you, but I’m sure most of you would have been shocked, if you learned that you caught a sexually transmitted infection last night, just because you didn’t know that latex condoms prevented sexually transmitted infections (STI). Personally, I would be mortified, not to mention really embarrassed that I could have easily prevented this from happening.

In Canada, youth between the ages of 15-25 have the highest rate of catching a sexually transmitted disease. It’s important that schools have sexual education programs likeÂ Planet Ahead-Condomania, because it educates teenagers using factual information on why it’s important to learn to about safe sex practices. Some may argue that teaching kids about sex in school, only encourages them to try it for themselves. It’s true that sexual education programs hand out condoms to those who participate in their workshops and seminars.

But, with sixteen being the average age that teens lose their virginity at, sexual education programs are not encouraging teens to engage in this kind of behaviour, but are simply reacting to it. Sexual education programs like Condomania, educate teens on the realistic outcomes of teen pregnancy and STIs. So thanks, Condomania for teaching teens about the true facts about sex. Let’s just say, I’m sure we’re just glad it wasn’t our parents who gave us “the birds and the bees talk”. Boy that would have been gruelling!

HereÂ are some great resources you can use to learn about your sexual health.

About the Author: Amanda Jang

Amanda is an easy going, carefree Vancouverite that enjoys sipping on green tea lattes and eating chocolate chip mint ice cream on sunny days. After a crazy semester in Australia and a spontaneous backpacking journey around Southeast Asia, Amanda has found a new passion for travel. You can always find her roaming around Vancouver at movies, restaurants, concerts, art shows and taking advantage of the great outdoors. Amanda loves the laid back West Coast lifestyle, but also secretly loves being kept busy.

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