When I was fifteen and in the tenth grade, I remember taking health education. A few weeks within the semester was set aside for sexual education. It stressed the consequences of sexual activity. We were taught thoroughly on sexual transmitted diseases and abstinence. Within fourteen weeks, we were informed on birth control and contraception in two periods. Most of my peers and I took it as a joke and paid little attention to what was being said. As I got older, I began to see friends with unwanted pregnancies and a few with STDs. It made me wonder if anything could have been done to prevent these circumstances. Looking back to sex education class, I have concluded that birth control should be emphasized more in schools.
One reason for unwanted pregnancies is lack of knowledge. An in-depth report from the Kaiser Family Foundation based a series of national surveys with more than 4,000 public school student, parents, teachers, and principles about their experiences with sex education. Almost all secondary school students report receiving some information about HIV/AIDS and abstinence; in contrast, fewer say practical skills are taught (Kaiser). Examples are how to use a condom and where to get one (Kaiser). Parents look to sex education to provide their children with these skills that are not fully covered or not covered at all. More that eight in ten parents say how to use condoms and other form of birth control should be addressed (Kaiser). When these issues are addressed, little time is spent on it. Parents say that one or two class periods are not enough.
(Kaiser). If adolescents knew more about what they were engaging in, the number of teenage pregnancies would probably decrease greatly. .
If pregnancies decrease there would also be a decrease in dropout rates. Pregnancy is the number reason for females dropping out of school. According to the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention, one million teen-aged girls become pregnant every year.
