HEALTH Sex ed helps teens think twice Teenagers who have had formal sex education are far

more likely to put off having sex, contradicting earlier studies on the effectiveness of such programs, U.S. researchers said Wednesday. They found teenage boys who had sex education in school were 71% less likely to have intercourse before age 15, and teen girls who had sex education were 59% less likely to have sex before age 15. Sexually active teenagers are a matter of serious concern. In the past decades many school-based programs have been designed for the sole purpose of delaying the initiation of sexual activity. There seems to be a growing consensus that schools can play an important role in providing youth with a knowledge base which may allow them to make informed decisions and help them shape a healthy lifestyle (St Leger, 1999). The school is the only institution in regular contact with a sizable proportion of the teenage population (Zabin and Hirsch, 1988), with virtually all youth attending it before they initiate sexual risk-taking behavior (Kirby and Coyle, 1997). Male teens who received sex education in school were 71 percent less likely and similarly educated female teens were 59 percent less likely to have sexual intercourse before age 15. Males who attended school, meanwhile, were 2.77 times more likely to rely upon birth control the first time they had intercourse if they had been in sex-education classes. Sex education seems to be working, said study lead author Trisha Mueller, an epidemiologist with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It seems to be especially effective for populations that are usually at high risk. The researchers found that sex education reduced by 91 percent the risk that African-American females in school would have sex before age 15. In general, however, sex education appeared to have no effect on whether female teens used birth control. According to Mueller, earlier large-scale research into the effectiveness of sex education relied on data from the 1970s to the early 1990s. Those studies suggested that sex education was not very effective at delaying sex, she said. The new study looked at a sample of 2,019 teenagers ages 15 to 19 years, who responded to a survey during a 2002 national study. The researchers analyzed the possible effects that sex education had on the sex lives of teens and adjusted the results to account for the effects of factors like the wealth of their families. The study did not explore the hottest debate in sex education: whether classes should teach about contraception or focus entirely on abstinence. Students received sex education if they had either or both types of instruction, according to the study. While the study suggests a link between sex education and sexual behavior, researchers did not design it to prove a cause-and-effect relationship between the two definitively. Claire Brindis, interim director of the Philip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies at the University of California at San Francisco, said sex education remains important because kids still harbor mythology about sex. Some still believe you cant get pregnant if youre standing up or doing it for the first time or if your boyfriend is drinking a lot of Mountain Dew. A lot of sex education is about the plumbing teaching them about anatomy and physiology, what a condom looks like, Brindis said. What they really need help on is: Im in the back seat or Im at a party, and there arent adults around and theres pressure to do more than make out. They need help with What do I do in that setting? Burt defined sex education as the study of the characteristics of beings: a male and female. Such characteristics make up the person's sexuality. Sexuality is an important aspect of the life of a human being and almost all people, including children, want to know about it. Sex education includes all the educational measures which - regardless of the particular method used - may center on sex. He further said that sex education stands for protection, presentation extension, improvement and development of the family based on accepted ethical ideas. Leepson sees sex education as instruction in various physiological, psychological and sociological aspects of sexual response and reproduction.[15] Kearney (2008) also defined sex education as "involving a comprehensive course of action by the school, calculated to bring about the socially desirable attitudes, practices and personal conduct on the part of children and adults, that will best protect the individual as a human and the family as a social institution." Thus, sex education may also be described as "sexuality education", which means that it encompasses education about all aspects of sexuality, including information about family planning, reproduction(fertilization, conception and development of the embryo and fetus, through to childbirth), plus information about all aspects of one's sexuality including: body image, sexual orientation, sexual pleasure, values, decision making, communication, dating, relationships,sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and how to avoid them, and birth control methods.[15] Various aspect of sex education are considered appropriate in school depending on the age of the students or what the children are able to comprehend at a particular point in time. Rubin and Kindendall expressed that sex education is not merely a unit in reproduction and teaching how babies are conceived and born. It has a far richer scope and goal of helping the youngster incorporate sex most meaningfully into his present and future life, to provide him with some basic understanding on virtually every aspect of sex by the time he reaches full maturity. Sex education is instruction on issues relating to human sexuality, including human sexual anatomy, sexual reproduction, sexual activity, reproductive health, emotional relations,reproductive rights and responsibilities, abstinence, and birth control. Common avenues for sex education are parents or caregivers, formal school programs, and public health campaigns A new report from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) says one in five births to U.S. teens ages 15-19 is not a first child. The data comes from 365,000 teens who gave birth in 2010 and shows that 67,000 of those were the teen mom's second child. It's time we revisit sexual education in America's schools and make it a part of the curriculum in every middle school and high school. The delusional thinking is that providing comprehensive sex education in schools is an endorsement of sexual activity. So instead, in the richest country in the world, we are forced to learn about sex on the streets. Here's objective reality: Whether you like it or not, teenagers are going to have sex. They always have and always will.

According to America's Center for Disease Control, 47.4 percent of high school studentshave had sex. And these are only the kids who admit it. The average teenager has been exposed to more sexually explicit movies, games, magazines, and other materials than we have in our entire lives. As much as some Americans would like to hold on, the days of Ozzie and Harriet are over. Teenagers are bombarded by sex; what they are lacking is sex education. They're learning lovemaking through porn. Are we too emotionally immature to educate our kids about one of the most beautiful parts of life? Only 22 states require their public schools to teach sex education, which is an embarrassment for a country that claims to be progressive. Our public school system is still debating whether or not providing condoms in school promotes sexual promiscuity. Condoms don't promote promiscuity -- hormones promote promiscuity! Giving students access to condoms doesn't increase their odds of having sex, it just increases the odds that they'll have safe sex. I remember sneaking into a drug store when I was in high school to buy condoms. It was a painful experience because like most Americans, I was programmed in church to be ashamed of my sexual desires. Critical thinking says it's time to pass legislation that mandates comprehensive sex education in all of our public schools. The human sex drive is the most powerful force on earth. Harnessed and celebrated, it's a beautiful, natural phenomenon that produces unparalleled pleasure. People have risked fame, fortune, and their very lives in pursuit of the ultimate sexual experience. Yet in America, we learn little about sex as children and are brainwashed to believe it's wrong unless we are married. Our culture of sexual repression makes America appear naive and immature in relation to many parts of the world. The delusional thinking around sex in America is derived primarily from puritanical dogma that bullies us into believing sex is a sin. Critical thinking says nothing will ever stop the most primal drive that smolders within the human psyche. Nature will always favor this form of expression, no matter how many fanatics threaten us with eternal damnation. Religious and political leaders in America are notorious for delivering speeches and sermons with puritanical fervor while simultaneously engaging in the same acts they condemn. Whether it's the president of the United States or the hellfire evangelical, the hypocrisy among American leaders is legendary. And sex scandals are not new to America. From Ben Franklin to Thomas Jefferson, senators and congressmen, to hundreds of Catholic priests -- all have participated in what many describe as sexual misconduct. Sex is an undeniable force that can manifest itself positively or negatively, but make no mistake: It will manifest itself. I'm not encouraging teenagers to go out and have sex, but critical thinking says as sure as the sun will rise in the east, teenagers are going to have sex. So rather than fight the inevitable, why not do everything we can to make sure they are having safe sex? One major source of controversy in the realm of sex education is whether LGBT sex education should be integrated into school curricula.[11] LGBT sex education includes safe sex practices for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transsexual individuals and general instruction in topics related to homosexuality. Studies[who?] have shown that many schools do not offer such education today. NATIONAL Older but wiser? Safe sex after 50 November 26, 2007 | P.J. Huffstutter, Times Staff Writer Jane Fowler thinks it's about time college students had "the talk" with their grandparents. She doesn't mean grandmothers and grandfathers explaining the facts of life. She wants kids to explain safe sex to their elders. It's part of a broader message the 72-year-old has advocated for more than a decade. Ever since she contracted HIV when she was in her 50s, Fowler has made it her mission to help aging baby boomers and members of her generation avoid her mistakes. OPINION Abstinence-only sex education April 16, 2007 Re "Drug-resistant gonorrhea spreading rapidly in U.S.," April 13 This article proves to me that abstinence-only sex education in our public schools should be encouraged, not ridiculed. Sixty years ago, when I took sex education in a public high school, abstinence before marriage and monogamy were taught as sensible and healthy norms for society. It is a joke on our sexually active youth today that something from a drugstore can prevent or cure sexually transmitted diseases. Why does this health-obsessed society rage at cigarette smoke and trans fats but condone behavior that invites gonorrhea and worse? OPINION Religion overrules sex education April 12, 2007 Re "Abstaining from federal sex-ed funds," April 8 Since when does intolerant religious dogma dictate the national policy on sexual education for our children? Since President Bush and Republicans forced an abstinence-only agenda on states for federal funding. The stated goal: Achieve chastity for our hormonally active children. I would have had to lock my six daughters in their rooms for the duration of their teenage years to achieve this goal. The absurdity of the abstinence-based programs became apparent last year when the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services issued a memo stating that states "must not" promote contraceptive and condom use to receive funding.