Opinion

Sex Education an Important Missing INGREDIENT in Gloucester CURRICULUM

Editor Jessica Munley

Just the same as gym and health classes, sex education should be required. Sex education classes have been proven to lower the rate of teen pregnancies and reduce the spreading of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). Gloucester High School decided opt-out of teaching this subject when given a choice by the state of Virginia, but GHS needs to opt-back in.

According to the Virginia Department of Education, most sex ed. classes in the state are abstinence-based, although this method has been proven multiple times to have no effect on the number of teen pregnancies, the age at which students begin to engage in sexual activities, or even how often they do so. Advocates for Youth stated that “80 to 85 percent of parents indicate they want their children to receive comprehensive, medically accurate, age-appropriate sex education.” Be that as it may, as reported by the Guttmacher Institute, the federal government has spent roughly $2 billion tax dollars supporting ineffective, abstinence-based courses over the past 20 years. While the administrators at GHS can’t do much to change that, they can still help to educate their students.

Another important lesson Gloucester fails to teach is that of consent. Males and females both should be taught to gain consent from his or her partner before engaging in sexual activities. While the rate of reported sexual assault and rape cases fell by more than 50% between 1993 and 2014, the Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network (RAIIN) states that “every 98 seconds, another person experiences sexual assault,” as well as the approximation that “only six out of every 1,000 rapists will end up in prison.” When children are taught about gaining consent, assault cases can drop an astonishingly large percent. A great example is in Kenya, where instructors took month-long courses before teaching six two-hour lessons to students. Reportedly 50% of girls successfully stopped a rape attempt in the following year, and assaults were intervened 48% more than previously.

Gloucester High School is great in many ways, but it can do better. Teaching students about safe sex and consent is important. Teen pregnancies can be fewer in number, assault cases can fall, and students can have the benefit of knowing what they’re getting into before they do so. Now that the facts are out, the time for action is now. Gloucester High School can become even better than it already is.