School Should Help Children Survive in the Real World
Aaron Thomas Eske, 19
Lincoln, NE
No one pretends that there aren't ignorant drivers on the roads that need some lessons. Why, then, do people pretend that there aren't ignorant people having sex that could benefit from a couple of safety classes?
Telling a 16-year-old boy or girl to abstain from sex is about as effective as stopping a moving train with your body. And telling every parent of a 16-year-old boy or girl to talk to their child about sex is about as effective as stopping a torpedo with your finger. Sadly, there are just some things in this world that won't happen, but luckily, schools can fill the gap.
Schools exist to prepare people for the future—to someday set foot on Mars or finally write the great American novel. Despite the thoughts that first come to mind, the majority of this preparation doesn't come from history textbooks or science experiments. The four core subjects are only the crust of a school's purpose while the true center is the all-consuming subject: Survival 101.
Without the hidden lessons in high school, I can definitively say that I would be a lesser person. I gained more from math than just the Pythagorean theorem. Solving algebra problems gave me the confidence that I would eventually need to make my own decisions, like where to apply to college and who to date. Psychology convinced me that my oddities and inner fears did not make me more crazy or different than any other high school student who felt the exact same things I did. And, lastly, while I certainly can't name half of the English books I read in those four years, I do remember each of the valuable ways of thinking they exposed me to. New experiences like a family of failed missionaries enduring the Congo in The Poisonwood Bible, and new perspectives like growing up gay in the 1950s from Paul Monette Becoming a Man painted a new world that no one in my home could have possibly shown me, even if I hadn't been afraid to ask.
Even more important for me than the hidden lessons of high school were the messages that flashed like a neon light at 2 a.m. The dreaded classes that all ended in the abbreviation "ed" may have been a pain, but two years later I wish that college had an entire department dedicated to "ed"courses.In reality, students enrolled in "Career Ed," "Economics Ed," "Driver's Ed," and "Health Ed" with the same enthusiasm as a person making an appointment to have her wisdom teeth pulled. But we need these classes because they are more than just pains. "Career Ed" helps us avoid a society full of garbage men by teaching students the difference between stocker and stalker on their resumes. "Economics Ed" helps us avoid a country that receives no federal taxes on April 16th."Driver's Ed" helps us avoid a city plagued by fender-benders and crooked attempts at parallel parking. And "Health Ed" helps a person avoid spending his life sitting in a recliner with his head stuck in a bucket of fried chicken while a cigarette burns in the ashtray nearby. But better yet, "Health Ed" helps a mother avoid burying her 24-year-old son who died of AIDS or a teenage mother from dropping out of school.
No one pretends that there aren't ignorant drivers on the roads that need some lessons. Why, then, do people pretend that there aren't ignorant people having sex that could benefit from a couple of safety classes? Alarmingly, high teen birth rates and HIV/STD infections are just as much a problem in America as car accidents, so why is there such a disparity in how these subjects are addressed? It's time for sex to stop being such a taboo. Otherwise, a problem will quickly evolve into a catastrophe far more threatening than any terrorist attack.
Imagine being Sally, who after waiting over a month for her period, takes a pregnancy test and a "plus" sign appears. Sally is 15 and is only one of a million teenagers a year in the United States to shake her head in disbelief at what she sees on the stick before her. Or imagine being Katy who tonight has the task of calling her boyfriend and telling him she just tested positive for HIV. Katy is three months away from graduating from high school and is only one of 27 to 54 teenagers a day in the United States who has to make a similar phone call. Or imagine being Gerry, who can't face the prospect of being ridiculed one more day at junior high about the "girly" way he talks. Gerry is 14 and is only one of nearly 30 percent of the total teenage suicides in the United States related to sexual orientation.
The presence of you and me on this planet is proof that sex exists just as much as job interviews and taxes. Therefore, it is imperative that schools prepare students to survive the sexual aspect of life with the same fervor they teach the difference between Newton's first and third laws of physics. It would be preposterous for a high school to only teach one of Newton's laws and not all three because they are all equally significant. The same argument should also be applied to teaching the many methods of contraception or protection. Yes, abstinence is an extremely valuable lesson, but it is still no more vital than how to properly put on a condom or what types of birth control options are available to teens.
A common fear among adults is that teaching students about sex encourages them to start having it. It is a fairly legitimate argument until you step back and see that a classroom discussion does not trigger a teenager's sex drive. A teen's hormones and desires already exist well before a condom demonstration, and anyone who says differently is severely kidding himself. The real result of sex education is an increase in safe sex and not a boost in sexual activity.
A similar concern among adults involves teaching students about homosexuality or gay sex. Some mothers believe that if little Johnny reads a book about two gay men falling in love that little Johnny will also want to fall in love with a man. And perhaps Johnny will someday, but not because the book changed him. Rather, because the book sorted out the confusion that already flooded his mind. Saying that a book can make someone gay is like suggesting that reading Richard Wright's Black Boy can make someone black.
Okay, so maybe sex education alone won't inspire a student to set his or her sights on becoming the President of the United States, but without it his or her dreams could easily be dashed. On a smaller scale, a comprehensive sex education program will help a future mother's dreams come true and ward off any potential STDs that threaten her reproductive system. Lastly, schools have the power to turn thousands of gay youth from being just another teen suicide statistic into being happy people able to achieve their dreams of love.
The main responsibility of schools is to teach survival, and in doing so, secure the dreams of America's children. Sadly, there are just some things in this world that ruin lives, but luckily, schools have a great opportunity to step in and grant some salvation.
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April/May 2003 SIECUS Report
Reprinted with permission of the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States. 130 West 42nd Street, Suite 350, New York, NY 10036.
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