Should sex education be made compulsory for all secondary school pupils?

It is extremely important that young people should receive informed sex education before they are old enough to become involved in any kind of sexual relationship. This can help to avoid a great many problems connected with sexual relations later on.

Many people feel that giving young people information about sex should be the responsibility of parents. However, sex education is such an important part of life that I think it is best if it is formally taught in schools by people who have been trained to do so.

If parents alone are involved in providing information about sex to their teenagers, they may feel too embarrassed to do justice to the subject. Even more likely, the teenagers may well feel too embarrassed to ask some of the questions to which they really need answers.

Also, parents may feel that, although they may have sufficient information about the subject, they may not have the knack of putting across such information to their children. They can get help with the actual information from books. However, learning how best to communicate this information is a different story. If parental attempts at sex education fail, the young people are left embarrassed and confused.

Young people are much more likely to become fully informed about all the issues involved in sex education if they receive the information in a formal school situation. They will be able to ask questions and receive informed answers. People attending the class will also benefit from the questions asked by other members of the class group.

Some aspects of sex education have been taught in schools for some considerable time in some countries. However, it has often been just the mechanics of sex that have been taught in the context of sexual reproduction. This has often been done in the course of biology lessons.

Nowadays, it is appreciated that much more should be covered in sex education lessons than this. Of course, the lessons should involve details of sexual reproduction, but they should also include information on contraception and safe sex practices. This will help young people avoid unwanted pregnancies, sexually transmitted diseases, known as STDs, or AIDS.

It is important that young people see sexual intercourse in context. Therefore, sex education classes should also include something about the emotions related to sex. Young people should also be given some information and guidance about relationships in which sex plays a part.

If young people do not get information relating to sex from teachers or parents, they are quite likely to glean their knowledge of sexual matters from some of their schoolmates. These teenagers may not be very well informed and so wrong information gets passed on. Alternatively, young people may look to teenage magazines for information about sexual matters. Unfortunately, the information found there can be rather sketchy and the curious reader may be back to square one.

Some parents oppose the teaching of sex education in schools. They feel that giving young people information about sex will encourage them to experiment with sex. However, young people are naturally curious about sex and it is much better that they are supplied with accurate information.

The subject of sex education is a sensitive one. Other issues become involved in it as sexual matters can be viewed differently by different cultures and faiths. However sensitive a topic sex education is, it is one that must be dealt with. Young people should go out into the world fully informed about what will be an important area of their lives.