Introduction to Sex Education
Sex Education. Traditionally sex education has consisted of parents explaining the facts of human reproduction to children reaching the age of adolescence and of setting down the “do's” and “don't's” of sexual behavior. Increasingly, however, authorities in health education have come to consider such instruction inadequate. They believe that sex education should begin early in childhood. It should, they feel, include not only biological facts but also the basic principles of wholesome human relationships. In addition, these authorities believe, parental guidance should be supplemented by sex education programs in the schools and by counsel from the churches and other concerned institutions.
These authorities are of the opinion that early and comprehensive sex education is essential for many reasons. They believe it is important that children early be made aware of what it means to be a male or a female. These experts assert that sexuality—the quality or state of being male or female—is much more than a physiological process. It is a major aspect of personality and, as such, is closely tied to emotional and social adjustment and to physical development. Sexuality, they say, has a profound influence on the pattern of an individual's life within the family and in society.
Sex Education Programs
The primary goal of any well-rounded sex education program is to equip young people to use their sexuality responsibly, as individuals and as family members, in their present and future lives. Allied to this general goal are such specific aims as reducing venereal disease, illegitimate pregnancies, and broken marriages.
Children will receive various information and impressions about sex from their everyday experiences whether parents wish it or not. Authorities are in general agreement that the loving atmosphere of the home is the best place for children to develop sound ideas and attitudes about the role of men and women in family and out-of-family situations. Parents should provide guidance not only to develop wholesome attitudes in their children but also to correct misinformation and to allay fears.
Most sex educators agree that to guide children, parents themselves need to be adequately prepared. They feel it essential for parents to regard sex as a creative force, a natural and dignified part of life. In addition, parents need accurate information on the biological aspects of human sexuality and sound attitudes on marriage and family life. Above all, parents should be understanding about and responsive to the natural curiosity of a child and should be honest and factual in answering a child's questions. The information given should correspond to the child's level of maturity.
By the time children reach school age, they have accumulated various kinds of information on sex from their parents, from friends, and from television and movies. The schools are thus presented with the opportunity—and, many educators and others believe, the responsibility—to supplement the efforts of parents and correct any misconceptions children may have acquired.
In some communities, there has been resistance to any form of sex education in the schools. However, many parents, educational and health associations, and other groups have come to feel that the schools are ideally suited to provide basic factual information and to emphasize social standards and mores as part of the normal educational process.
Some authorities, while not against sex education, feel that teachers and curriculum directors on the whole are inadequately trained in this area and that some programs are educationally unsound. Many other people who object to sex education in the schools do so on moral or religious grounds; some feel that it encourages premarital sex.
In general, educators favoring sex education think the program should extend from kindergarten through 12th grade and even into college. It should deal scientifically and objectively at the appropriate levels of maturity with the biological, psychological, and social aspects of sexuality. This material can be integrated into normal classwork in the lower grades and can be given in special courses in upper grades.
Sex education often includes information on sexually transmitted diseases, with special emphasis often given to AIDS prevention. Some high schools, primarily those in the inner cities, provide their students with condoms and birth-control counseling.
Most supporters of sex-education programs agree that, to be effective on a large scale, sex education requires the involvement of many institutions, including churches, community organizations, health and educational associations, and the news media. Working individually or collectively, these institutions can be important forces not only in furnishing facts but also in instilling responsible attitudes about sex and the part it should play in the life of an individual.
Information On Sex Education
Information on sex education can be obtained from such sources as the following:
American Medical Association, 535 North Dearborn Street, Chicago, Illinois 60610
Council for Sex Information and Education, Box 72, Capitola, California 95010
National Education Association, 1201 16th Street, N W., Washington, D.C. 20036
Sex Information and Education Council of the United States, 80 Fifth Avenue, New York, New York 10011
