By Samantha Perkins
Profile
Mason HS
1st Place
Division 3, News Writing
Feature Columnist
In fifth grade, as I was walking into class for my normal day, our teacher announced that we were going to have sex-education day in class. Permission slips were sent home and faces were bright red.
On the dreaded “sex-education day,” my friends and I couldn’t stop giggling, afraid to ask questions or discuss anything we had just learned.
In my opinion, Mason High School approaches sex education like a fifth-grader.
High school is a confusing time for everyone; relationships with friends, peer pressure, and significant others are all a jumble in teenagers’ minds. Especially when it comes to sex. And like it or not, sex is a huge life decision that some students will choose to partake in during their four years at MHS.
However, many misconceptions surround the idea of sex, especially safe sex. The sex education program here at MHS is abstinence-based, which is defined as a program that teaches kids that abstinence is the only way to avoid pregnancy and STDs, as well as a couple of basic contraceptive methods.
Unfortunately, in our first high school sex education class, Intro. to P.E., we do not learn about any contraceptives.
They preach abstinence like it is the Bible, making students feel like it is abnormal and unnatural to have sex before marriage.
For some reason, sex education in high school, becomes less of a priority. This makes no sense because 20% of freshmen and 49% of seniors are sexually active (Kate Hendricks, VP for Medical Institute for Sexual Health). Those MHS students, in my opinion, are uneducated on safe sex.
I conducted a survey involving freshmen and seniors and asked them how they learned most of their information about sex. The answers ranged from the internet, friends, and even experiences. Only a few people said school had taught them the most about safe sex. That’s a problem.
The fact of the matter is that some teenagers are sexually active, and preaching abstinence will do nothing but cause mishaps when kids try to figure it out on their own.
The vast majority of students here at MHS are sixteen or older, which is the legal age to consent to sex in Mich. Despite this, our school fails to teach us contraceptive methods although some teenagers are actively having sex while attending Mason.
It is completely legal for them to have sex, but when it comes to teaching students about safe sex, I feel that our school falls short.
At MHS, there are three classes that teach sex education: Intro. to P.E., Child Development, and Adult Living. In Intro. to P.E., the topics that are taught are common sexually transmitted diseases, HIV/AIDS, abstinence, the male reproductive anatomy, hernias, testicular cancer, the female reproductive anatomy, breast cancer, menstruation, ovulation, toxic shock syndrome, and the journey of sperm and egg as listed on the parent sex education permission slip.
Nowhere in the curriculum does it teach about any contraceptive methods. Students in this class will not have any further sex education until and if they take Adult Living, which is currently the only class in the school that teaches contraceptives. Adult Living is only available to juniors and seniors, and by that time, 34.2% and 49% of those students are sexually active and uneducated!
While taking Child Development, family and consumer sciences teacher Deb Schafer teaches the skeleton of sex education: male and female anatomy and physiology, pregnancy and childbirth, and STDs. She could teach about contraceptives, but she explained that any changes in sex education would take a minimum of 3 months and is a very difficult process. She also explained that there are no laws preventing the teaching of contraceptive methods, and in my opinion, our school is not prioritizing teaching these methods to students.
It absolutely baffles me that our school system does not teach students about contraceptives or STDs prevention just because talking about sex might make some people uncomfortable! Some teenagers will choose to have sex anyway, so only teaching students to be abstinent will cheat them out of a safe sex life in and out of high school.
Still, the school continues to teach that abstinence is the only way to avoid unplanned pregnancy and STDs.
Providing students an adequate sex education program at MHS would also provide preparation to make knowledgeable decisions down the road. If students don’t learn how to have safe sex now, then how will they learn how to before adulthood?
Teaching students not to have sex will not do anything but leave them to figure it out on their own. It is the school’s job to educate teenagers and let them make smart decisions about sex, among all other things.
Although abstinence is a good way to prevent pregnancy and STDs, it is not the only way.