By Nina Simon & Alice Scott
The Tower
Grosse Pointe South HS
1st Place Division 2, News Writing
News Analysis
JUDGING CRITERIA
- Sharp, attention-getting lead that underscore the why/how elements of the news
- Clarifies the news elements, i.e. timeliness, nearness, impact and prominence
- Clarifies through research the background necessary to understand current news
- Develops an understanding of the issues/problems through interviews with varied and balanced sources
- Avoids personal opinion unless properly attributed
- Sentences, paragraphs of varied length, written clearly, concisely and vividly
- Effective use of facts/quotes from both primary and secondary sources
- Proper diction/grammar; use of third person
Even when many students have concerns in relation to underage sexual activity, Michigan health classes have implemented policies to restrict the amount of true sex education taught in classes. How are students who have faced consequences because of sex supposed to know what to do if they aren’t allowed to be taught the proper information?
Michigan policy states that schools will emphasize that abstinence from sex is a positive lifestyle for unmarried young people because abstinence is the only protection that is 100 percent effective against unplanned pregnancy, sexually-transmitted diseases (STDs), and more. It also states that the class shall be elective and not required for graduation.
Health and sex education teacher Nicole Westfall said if there was anything she could change about the program, it would be making sure that students were taught more detailed and current material.
“There are more things we could add to the curriculum,” Westfall said. “Discussing anatomy, pregnancy and STDs just scratches the surface of the basics that teens need to be aware of. It has bits and pieces of what kids need to know, but not the whole picture.”
With the Center for Disease Control reporting that approximately 55 percent of people under the age of 18 have had sexual intercourse, Lily Bates ’21 said sex education is crucial for teenagers, despite some viewing it as an uncomfortable topic.
“There shouldn’t be such a stigma surrounding (sex education’s) discussion,” Bates said. “Sex and the human body are important things to be taught, and with the right teachers and curriculum, that experience could be a lot better.”
According to Bates, expecting high schoolers to refrain from sexual activity is not an effective way of emphasizing the consequences of what unsafe sex can lead to. Bates said she believes in a more modern and practical program because it would be more applicable to teenagers today.
“Pushing abstinence on teens is outdated and unrealistic,” Bates said. “Instead of disregarding sex as part of teenagers’ lives and pushing it off to the side, it would be more beneficial to educate them about sex.”
Westfall points out that because of the severely outdated policy, there are some gaps in content that she feels would be important to fill, especially considering not all students have the same knowledge entering the course. She said it is a “huge problem” that she is trying to fix.
“[During health class,] we talk about STDs, pregnancies, HIV and all these other consequences of sex, but do not teach what specifically leads to them,” Westfall said. “We are really missing some pieces in making sure students know things that happen.”
Westfall said she still feels she can be open with her students regarding sex, but does feel there are barriers to what she can teach because of Michigan law and the district policy that mirrors it.
“There are definitely limits on what we can say and show because of the policy,” Westfall said. “I do not feel like I am ever asked questions that I can’t answer, but I do think our curriculum is outdated and could be polished up.”
According to Westfall, any changes must be made by the Sex Education Advisory Board – a legally-mandated committee of community members dedicated to creating and editing an up-to-date sex education program for the Grosse Pointe Public School System. She said they have not met in over three years, nor made any significant changes in over 10.
“It somehow went backwards when they tried to update the curriculum in 2008,” Westfall said. “We used to be allowed to teach how to use a condom, but some community members were upset, so there was no improvement.”
Nurse, midwife and Grosse Pointe parent Tish Roeske said, in her profession, she frequently sees what can happen when there is a lack of sex education in schools, having encountered many young people who are the product of an “ineffective” curriculum.
“Almost every day in my clinical practice, we see young patients who didn’t know or didn’t have access to crucial information,” Roeske said. “No one taught them where they could get preventive or emergency contraception without parental permission, which is where I become involved.”
Community member and parent E. Cooper said that although teens should understand that the only way to truly avoid the consequences of sexual activity is to refrain from it, it is also necessary to educate them about alternative courses of action.
“The school should be required to teach different options to prevent pregnancy and STDs, but with a focus on abstinence being the safest option,” Cooper said.
According to Cooper, there is a “fine line” in deciding when kids are old enough to be learning about sex. She argues that it may not be the school’s job l to determine where that line is, especially if a parent doesn’t agree that it’s the right time for their child.
“If it has not been introduced at home, and now it’s being required at school, that can be tricky,” Cooper said. “It’s really uncomfortable for some children if they are not ready for that because all kids mature so differently.”
Bates argues that contrary to some opinions, the school’s intention for providing students with crucial information is not to condone certain behavior. She believes it is in the best interest of the students for the school to give them as much knowledge as possible, not to promote promiscuity or recklessness.
“They are not encouraging it, they are just saying there is no way to stop teenagers from having sex if they want to,” Bates said. “They are educating us in every way possible so that we are informed and safe, but I don’t think it’s perceived that way.”
According to Roeske, statistics support her professional opinion that it is more beneficial for students to be offered a well-rounded sex education because lack thereof can be counterproductive.
“Public health research shows that wherever there are abstinence-only programs, those are the areas where there’s the highest incidences of unintended pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases,” Roeske said. “I think parents mistakenly think that more information about sex will lead to more consequences, but that is not the case.”
Bates said one of the main reasons she disagrees with an abstinence-based curriculum is because it inadvertently does the opposite of what it is marketed to do: protect kids from unplanned consequences and help them to make good choices.
“They do not want all the (consequences) that can come from sex, but there are other ways to prevent those things and teach about, other than abstinence and telling kids not to do it,” Bates said. “There are so many more consequences of shoving it under the rug.”
However, Cooper said it is important for the curriculum to make clear there is no way to fully prevent the repercussions of sex without abstaining. With the CDC reporting that only around 50 percent of teen mothers receive a high school diploma by the age of 22, those repercussions can be detrimental to teenagers’ futures.
“One of the benefits of not having sex is that you have unlimited choices for your future,” Cooper said. “If you have an unplanned pregnancy or get an STD, your options are much more narrow, whereas if you refrain from sexual activity, there are no risks whatsoever.”
Roeske said that in her opinion, there is no reason to portray sexual activity in such a negative and consequential way. She believes that problems should be prevented before the fact as opposed to after.
“There’s no reason mistakes have to turn into lifetime crises,” Roeske said. “We are better and smarter than that, and we have more tools and resources than that. Sex is something big that happens in our society, but we don’t know how to talk about it in a normal way.”
Bates said the school’s sex education program is not enough to fully help students navigate intimacy throughout their lives.
“Schools teach kids every other essential thing that will help them in life,” Bates said. “Why not this?”