Should students have a right to receive complete information about sex?

“Academic pornography” or “a basic human right”? Sex education is a very controversial issue. Since 1940, in the United States, the Public Health Service advocated sex education as important in schools. However, sex education in the early years was about family life education. Since the late 1960s, conservatives and health advocates argued about teaching sex education in schools. The early protesters tried to ban sex education completely, but with increasing rates of sexually transmitted diseases (HIV/AIDS) and teen pregnancy, in the mid 1980s, the Christian Right argued instead for abstinence-only education (Pardini,1989). The Christian Right believes sex education is a parent’s job and teaching sex in schools can encourage teens to have sex and lead them to have bad morals. However, health advocates look the other way because they think that having sex education in schools is crucial because they believe it reduces sexually transmitted diseases and teen pregnancy. According to Elizabeth Gleick et al., nearly 90% of students who have taken sex education found the classes are useful for them. Therefore, sex education should be taught in schools as supplemental education because children may or may not receive it at home from their parents.

First of all, some researchers argue that sex education, with information about contraception and condom-use, encourages teens to become sexually active and this information should not be talked about until they get married. For example, Dr. Joe McIlhaney of the Medical Institute for Sexual Health is against teaching sex education: “That’s stupid to think, ‘Well, they’re going to do it, there’s nothing we can do’ when it is as risky as it is for them” (Abstinence-Only programs on rise, 2004). He claims that “teaching kids about contraceptives, encourages them to use contraceptives” (Abstinence-Only programs on rise, 2004). However, teaching teens about sex does not make teens want to experiment or become promiscuous. In fact, there is no proof that sex educated teens are more promiscuous than other teens (Gasiorowski, 1988, p.3). According to Canadian studies, the impact of sex education on a teenager’s behaviour does not lead him or her to be promiscuous (McKay, 2004, p.5). Without sex education, the number of teens 18 and under who are no longer virgins would still increase. In fact, the data shows that only 30 percent of teenagers age 18 and under are not virgins (Gleick, 1994, p.1). Therefore, more and more teens are sexually active, and abstinence-only education will not prevent unintentional pregnancies or sexually transmitted diseases (Gasiorowski, p.3).
In fact, without enough information about condom-use or contraception, the rate of teen pregnancy may also increase. According to McKay, the rate of unwanted teen pregnancies has decreased substantially during the last quarter of the twentieth century because of sex education. Statistics in Canada show that the pregnancy rate among 15 to 19 year-olds decreased from 41.7 per 1,000 in 1989 to 40.2 in 1999 and 38.2 in 2000. The pregnancy rate among 15 to 17 year olds decreased from 24.5 per 1,000 in 1998 to 22.7 in 1999 and 21.6 in 2000 (Statistics Canada, 2003, in McKay, p.2). Also, the increasing rates of sexually transmitted diseases has added more importance to teaching sex education (Wikipedia. P.1). Therefore, research shows that it is beneficial for teens to receive complete information about condom-use and sexually transmitted diseases, and the most qualified people to do this are health care professionals and educators.

Second, many abstinence-only supporters argue that sex education should be a parents role, and should not be taught in schools. According to Dr. James Kenny, parents should be the only ones who give children sex education, and not schools or books, because secular schools cannot teach morals and what is right or wrong. Schools teach teens about anatomy and physiology. Kenny states that parents are available any time for their children and they are in the best position to answer any questions. Also, he argues that they have more opportunities than school teachers to give sexual information in a normal way (Kenny, 1989, p.16). The role of parents can not be ignored. However, many parents do not have accurate information about sex: 54% of parents do not have enough information and 96% of students like to be taught about sex in school (Gasiorowski. p.111). Also, unfortunately, not many parents carry out their duties or responsibilities to educate their family members (Gasiorowski. p.7). In addition, when a child asks his or her parents “where do babies come from,” his or her parents will be stunned and maybe will not give the child a correct answer. Therefore, parents should not be the only ones to teach teens about sex because they may not have sufficient information or they may not have the encourage to tell their children.

In addition, abstinence-only supporters from the Religious Right believe that sex education should focus on the traditional moral values represented by sexual abstinence. For instance, Reverend Jerry Falwell, a religious fundamentalist and conservative activist in America, believes that sex education causes moral decline (Gasiorowski, p.2). Federal abstinence-only programs teach teenagers that abstinence from sex is a healthy choice for them and they should remain abstinent until they get married (Government Urged to End Abstinence-only Education, 2006, p.2). Indeed, being abstinent until marriage is not a bad thing, but not many teenagers remain abstinent until they get married. Also, Americans statistics show that few people remain abstinent until then. In addition, these programs prevent teenagers from having the right to receive important information about sex, such as safer sex and contraception (Government Urged to End Abstinence-only Education, 2006, p.2). If teenagers do not have enough information about sexually transmitted diseases, they may resort to having sex with a strange person who may be infected with AIDS. Consequently, informing teens about sexually transmitted diseases can help them to be protected from unsafe sex.

The responsibility for teaching sex education should be shared between parents and schools. Parents can not be the only people teaching teens about sex. According to researchers, sex education has a big impact on reducing unwanted teen pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases. Also, it does not encourage teens to have sex or to become promiscuous. Knowing the seriousness of sexually transmitted diseases can help teens to remain abstinent. Therefore, because of the risks of having unprotected sex, sex education is very necessary for teens and it should be taught in schools.

The main causes of increase the rate of divorce

Recently divorce has become a major issue, and many young people rush to the courts as soon as they find themselves a little dissatisfied with each other. Most couples, when they get angry or in trouble, make a quick decision without think deeply. Unfortunately, some couples choose divorce as a solution when they are unable to continue their relationship. Therefore, in order to avoid divorce, people should understand some important reasons why couples get divorced. There are three main reasons that may cause divorce: drugs abuse, stress, and lack of communication and romantic interaction.

The first significant cause of the recent rise in the rate of divorce is drug addiction. An addicted husband or wife looks like a negative person and someone incapable of being honest. Also, sometimes an addict is moody and changes his or her mind. If someone argues with addicts, they will start to fight and bring trouble, which lacks the romance and leads to hostililty. Moreover, if one is an addict, he or she usually has trouble concentrating because drugs damage brain cells and change the person’s temper and personality. Also, addicts sometimes can not be aware of what they did and they can not control their behaviour. Moreover, addicts always ask to be alone, which results in a lack of communcation and romantic interaction. Also, when a husband or wife is addicted to drugs, the children don’t like them because they are nervous and moody. Also,an addict’s children find it difficult to argue and discuss their proplems with or them because they know they will get quickly angry. In addition, usually, if addicts get angry, they start fighting over little things. Most divorces are caused by drugs and not by alcohol, whereas in North America, divorce can result from drugs and alcohol. For example, in the writer’s personal experience, an addicted husband ruined his family by beating his wife and children in Saudi Arabia. His children were surprised at how their father acted and started hating to be at home. Because the husband was unaware of his behaviour and mood, his wife and children did not endure living with him and went to a court in order to end their relationship. Consequently, most addicts are divorced or not married because they are moody and it is difficult to live with them.

Another cause of the recent increase in divorce rates is stress. Like in America, people also suffer from stress and pressure. Recently, many couples are under considerable pressure to earn money and cover their expenses. Some families can earn money, but maybe it is inadequate for them. Therefore, they think about divorce and end their marriage. In addition, when a husband or a wife is laid off, the stress affects their family members, which may lead to divorce. Therefore, when the rates of unemployment increase, the divorce rates can also rise. For example, in the writer’s personal experience, in Saudi Arabia, a husband had many children and wanted to improve his financial situation. Therefore, he invested most of his money in a company. Unfortunately, the company went bankrupt and all the investors lost their money. As a result of these finical troubles, his stress increased a lot. Therefore, he chose to divorce his wife and family to escape from these problems. In addition, another source of stress is children. For example, when children are naughty, they bring a lot of problems and stress to their parents, which makes a husband or a wife hates being married. Also, when a child gets sick, his/her parents will be worried, which increase their stress.

In addition, another main cause of divorce is a lack of romantic interaction and communication. Working most of the time makes couples busy and less communicate less. For example, when both come home from work, they feel tired and do not spend much time together. In addition, sometimes they also work at home, like a teacher who marks students’ assignments. For this reason, they are quiet most the time and have inadequate time to talk about their opinions or problems, which may lead to huge problems and divorce. In addition, if couples are quiet when they have problems, the little problems could expand into huge problems, which lead to divorce. Therefore, when couples communicate more, the possibility of getting divorce is reduced. In addition, romantic interaction can enhance the relationship between couples. For example, when a couple does not kiss, they feel that they are dissatisfied with each other, which may lead them to find another person to love. In the writer’s personal experience, in Saudi Arabia, there was a couple that rarely had romantic interactions. Having much work led the husband to be busy most the time. Therefore, his wife cheated on him because she was not satisfied with him. Also, less romantic interaction makes a couple dislike each other and they feel they do not love each other. As a result, they do not like to live together and start to think about divorce.

All the evidence above reveals how drugs, stress, and a lack of communication and romantic interaction can lead to divorce. In fact, it is difficult to live with an addicted husband or wife because his or her temper and behaviour are difficult to control. However, spouses should avoid divorce as much as possible. If they have difficulties and problems, they should try to work out their differences and seek help from their relatives or friends or professional counselors. Also, a husband or wife must be patient with each other if they see something in his or her that he or she disapproves of. Finally, each partner should have some romantic interaction and treat the other properly.