Furthermore, some schools have begun to address certain sexual reproduction topics as early as the 5th grade: the 5th grade! The areas of sexual education usually begin with very core problems and progress down the line: STD’s, puberty and adolescence, abstinence, the ramifications of young teens getting pregnant, birth control devices and practices, and so forth.

The Guttmacher Institute

The Guttmacher Institute one of the world’s foremost authorities on sexual and reproductive health in the U.S. and abroad and is recognized by the World Health Organization and Pan American Health Organization for its contributions to the science and study of sexual and reproductive health. It conducts comprehensive research into public policy, education, and society to create new ideas and strategics to engage the general public in combating teen pregnancy and STD transmission and to lobby for better regulations and programs to better educate young people about pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases.

From a 2006 Guttmacher Study:

• By 18 years old, three-fifths of American girls and more than half of teen males have had sexual intercourse.

• Between 1995 and 2002, the number of teens aged 15–17 who had ever had sexual intercourse declined approximately 10%.

• Of the three-quarters of a million teen pregnancies that occur each year, approximately 82% are not intended. More than one-fourth of those ‘unintended’ pregnancies in abortion.

• The pregnancy rate among teen girls age 15–19 has declined gradually—from 117 pregnancies per 1,000 women in 1990 to about 75 per 1,000 women in 2002.

• Despite those statistics, the U.S. continually has one of the highest rates of teen pregnancy in the developed world—virtually twice as high as those of England and Canada, and eight times as high as those of the Netherlands and Japan.

• Every year, roughly nine million new sexually transmitted diseases (STD’s) occur among teens and young adults in the U.S. Compared with rates among teens in other developed countries, gonorrhea and chlamydia cases among teens here are extremely high.

To discover more information about teenage sex, pregnancy, and STD’s–see the Guttmacher Institute’s website.

Additional helpful links:

National Public Radio

This website delves a bit more into the social statistics and opinions concerning whether sex ed should be taught, what should be taught and what should not be taught, and to what degree should it be taught in primary schools. It confirms the fact the vast majority support some form of sex ed in the classroom–but are more evenly split on subject such as abstinence vs. safe sex measures.

Sex Education in the U.S.: Policy and Politics

This article from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation–a leading authority on many of society’s pressing heath and healthcare issues–contains a myriad of valuable information and insight into social attitudes, local policies, and current governmental efforts concerning sexual education in the U.S.

The human body is hardwired to begin reproducing in the teenage years, and for millennia it was common for marriages to take place as early as age 12 or 13 and for the first pregnancy to be shortly thereafter. As industrial society developed, it became increasingly necessary for these things to be delayed, but our urges, drives and desires have not changed. Teenagers still have sex, and in fact have higher sex drives due to pubescent hormones than the people society approves sexual behavior for. Contraception methods such as condoms, the birth control pill and IUDs can enable them to explore their sexuality while avoiding pregnancy, and condoms in particular can prevent the spread of STIs.

Sex comes naturally, and no one has to be taught to want it, but contraception does not come naturally, many methods are counter-intuitive and require education in their use. The vast majority of US teachers want to be able to teach about these topics—according to the nonpartisan Alan Guttmacher Institute—but increasing numbers are forbidden to teach their students any contraceptive or sexual health program beyond abstinence from sex until marriage. The Institute reports that in 1988 fewer than 1 in 50 sex ed teachers in the US had to teach abstinence-only programs, while in 1999 it was 1 in 4. The popularity of these programs has only increased since then as Bush-era federal programs have given financial incentives for schools which teach students not to have sex until marriage, defining sex outside of marriage as “wrong and harmful at all ages.”

This policy puts one particular group in a bind—gay and lesbian students. In most states gay and lesbian people cannot marry, and while there is obviously no risk of pregnancy, gay men in particular are at great risk for STIs. The vast majority of districts never address sexual orientation, a factor which may contribute to the isolation of gay and lesbian students and bullying against them. Also, curricula which denounce sex in general are never able to meaningfully address issues of consent in order to prevent sexual assault and “gray area” sex. Every day young women and some young men are pressured into sex that they do not want—their sexual freedom is undermined by abstinence-only sex ed programs.

The good news is that science and public opinion support a move towards more comprehensive sex education. While teen pregnancy has dropped dramatically in recent years, 86% of this reduction can be attributed to greater understanding of contraception by the students involved. The US still has much higher teen pregnancy rates than other countries where abstinence-only programs are unknown. And while about a third of the population support abstinence-only programs, more than half support comprehensive sex ed programs. Abstinence-only programs have shown no impact on whether students have sex or when, and as common sense gains ground in this debate, more students will have more resources to have safer and freer sex if they choose to. This is good for them, good for their families and good for us all.