The Biggest Taboo in the Public School System: Sex Education

Louisiana has the seventh highest teen birth rate in the entire country and one of the highest rates of sexually transmitted infections among people ages 15-24. These statistics are ridiculous. If the Louisiana school system gave students the option to be informed in school about safe sex, like many other states in America do, these rates could decrease. A lot of people fear that sex education encourages students to have sex, but it actually teaches them that they have a choice, and that there’s a right way to do it once the time comes, so that they do not end up with an unwanted pregnancy, STD, or any other negative consequences.

Some might argue that if a student does not have a trusted adult they can have the talk with, that they can still turn to the Internet. Well, the Internet can be misleading at times. Some students do not want to rely solely on the Internet to teach them about sex. Students need a class where they not only learn about safe sex but also about maintaining healthy relationships that involve sex. I do not believe that sex is just something that you do. Sex involves physical as well as emotional aspects and if students are not being taught how to deal with those aspects, then how are they expected to handle adult relationships in the future?

There are a lot of students in the city and across the state that do not feel informed about safe sex, and if this trend continues, Louisiana’s teen birth and STD rates will continue to be disastrous. If students had the opportunity to learn about safe sex in school, there could be a significant change in these horrible outcomes for girls and women.

BE INFORMED!

Louisiana state law does not require that schools offer sex education.

BY SASHA BOURNE

Sasha Bourne Is a seventeen-year-old rising senior at Benjamin Franklin High School, where she wears one of her many hats as an editor and writer for the school paper.