Sex Education: Does It Really Work?

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prove that teens having sex at a
younger age is the reason for the failure of sex education in this country. To
counteract this problem abstinence should be taught to children under the age of
16. Then when the children reach the age of 16 they need to be taught AIDS and
condom education.
AIDS and other STDs are an important reason we have sex education. AIDS
education is supported in all fifty states: "Sex education is only formally
required or recommended in 47 states" (Gibbs 61). This shows that AIDS
education is considered more important than sex education. AIDS can be spread
by the transfer of bodily fluids such as blood or semen from an infected person
to one who is not. This includes sexual activity, intravenous drug use, and
blood transfusions. Many people are still contracting AIDS through sexual
contact even though there has been a nationwide awareness program. It is a fact
that "2.5 million teenagers are affected by sexually transmitted diseases each
year" ("The ...

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73). The social consequences of teens having children are great. If
a teenage mother does not finish high school or become married there is a
seventy-nine percent chance that the mother and the child will be poor
(Whitehead 73). Teenage girls have greater control over their fertility today
than they had in the past, and yet the percentage of births to unwed mothers
continues to rise (Whitehead 73). This shows that sex education has failed to
slow the rate of teen pregnancy.
Teens in this country are having sex at a younger and younger age. "In
1970, five percent of fifteen year old girls and 32 percent of seventeen year
old girls reported having had sex; by 1988 the figures ...

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