When examining the sex education curriculum of the United States and its various faults we should look to countries with leading comprehensive sex education programs and follow their lead.
As demonstrated by the case of a Texas high school where 15 percent of the student body contracted chlamydia, all while there was no policy on sexual education, it is clear that an openness in discussing sex and sex education is crucial for children and teens to fully understand sex and its consequence. A lack of comprehensive sex education can lead to an ignorant culture of sexual violence or latency when it comes to preventative measures that can/have become normalized in our culture. As far as education is concerned it is important to shine a global spotlight on sex education and consent advocacy. An example of implementing reactionary programming to combat cultural trends would be England’s attempt by the PSHE Association (Personal, Social, and Health Education Association) to implement educational programs to teach topics surrounding consent as a reaction to reports by the Office for National Statistics that stated that in 2014 there were over “7,000 sexual assaults against children aged 13 or younger, and more that 4,000 rapes of children under 16.” The result was an educational system to teach about the topic of sexual consent to children in schools as young as age 11. Programs such as this are critically important to communities and aiding children’s understanding of not only sex and inappropriate behavior but also in providing education on personal boundaries, which is something that we should try to replicate in the United States.
European countries, in general, have most of the world’s lowest teen birth rates with countries such as Germany, Italy, and Switzerland having less than 4 teen births per 1,000 people. This commonly low teen birth rate among European countries can be linked to a more common practice of progressive sex education. This further proves that American’s need to steer away from misguiding teens on the subjective dangers and moral implications of sex but focus rather on the positive and factual topics surrounding sex as to better inform their youth. This current fear mongering approach is far less effective as can be exemplified by the US having one of the highest teen birth rates of developed nations at around 30 teen births per 1,000.
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