After hearing the summary by the US government represetnative, I am truely concerned, it is based on magic, not rational,research medicine and thought. His story book world is hugely disconnected from the reality of our world - he needs to wake up!

Sex education is absolutely critical. That education should include the possible outcomes, physical, psycological and social of sexual intercourse. All methods of birth control and disease prevention should also be included. The fact that sex can be extremely pleasurable should also be part of the course.

The question that is really at the point is what role government should have in sex education.

Too many people are anxious to abdicate their responsibility for educating their children to the government. There are also too many people out there too willing to decide what I should teach my children.

"The less education a person has, the more they think they know", whereas "the mmore education a person has, do they realize how little they actually do know". This relates diffectly to our sexual/love drives at the younger ages. This is educated data that con be confirmed by anyone who has passed through either age! MALE sexual peak => 19 years of age FEMALE sexual peak => 30 years of age. Maybe 19 year old men need "stalk" older women to satisfy their drives. These older women will know about menstrual cycles, prophylactics, etc.., thus better able to "quence" their own drive, as well as their partners. Many younger age marriages result from the female's genuine thoughts of Love parallel that of her younger aged man. The mans' thoughts are different at these peak sexual times, and need be "quenched". Many underaged /teen pregnancies are because these women BELIEVE their man's love is genuine, and how he really does LOVE her. It is sad that by the time this "believing woman" reaches her sexual maturity, she has 2, or 3 children to hamper her hamper her copulatory affairs. Maybe our societal violence will increase due to the over abundance of constrained testosterone within it's male population. Some underage marriages/teen pregnancies do remain, however those that end prematurely obviously "outnumber" those that sustain. Regardless, the concept of Love, it's making, and teen pregnancies need be left to the individual. With "dissemination" of the previously stated facts of sexual maturity, possibly less teen births will occur and abstinence will prevail, or increased societal violence!

I agree with cityfixer. We need to be educated-and at a young age at that. The influence from the media is causing younger and younger kids to have sex without real knowledge of the consequences. The sex ed i got in health class did pretty well but the lesson plans need to be wider. And yes, they should focus on the 'good' and 'bad' of sex.

How long can this country continue with our collective heads in the sand. Openness to sexuality and sexual behavior is essential for people young and old to make informed decisions. Teach these children what they need to know. Abstinence only programs do not work.

When it comes to educating the young people about sexual relations it is absolutely necessary to be complete in this education. Just teaching abstinence only does not properly educate the students. We do not control their descions once they leave the classroom and all students should be prepared for any situation. however, supporting abstinence is not a bad idea.

I think that it is very important that kids have sex education early on in life. If they are not informed properly they could get false bits and pieces along the way and not know how to be safe. Abstinence is a good thing to support but you still need to be educated so that if you do not support abstinence you know how to be safe.

Abstinence only my butt. If thats what you want to call scaring a kid to have sex. its good to educate kids but it seems that the curriculum is set to scare the kids from having sex with thier herpes and genital warts. some believe that you shouldn't have sex before marriage, and I beleive that also, but not everyone thinks like that or even follows through with it. Its dangerous to teach abstinence only because those who arent educated about birth control methods will not use it, which can cause teen pregnancies. but thats my peice. peace!

I myself believe that one should not have sex before marriage, and while everyone else may not agree with it, I think it's very important that they urge students to do the same. Now while my reasons for being against premarital sex may be religious, there are also reasons for why teens should be encouraged to wait for sex. One of these reasons is that it gives teens an idea of when it would be considered "proper" for them to have sex. Now while it seem odd to encourage students to wait until marriage, when they can have sex upon reaching the age of consent, but other education programs do similar things. Take D.A.R.E. (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) for example: in addition to educating children about the negative outcome of drugs and the fact that many of them are illegal, they also urge children to never drink alcohol or use any products containing nicotene even after reaching the age in which they can legally do so. There really isn't anything wrong for teaching children such a thing either, they aren't hurting anything by advising them not to even use legal drugs, in fact they probably are saving them a lot of pain by telling them to do so. So how is it any different when educating teens on sex? It doesn't hurt anyhing by telling them to wait for marriage, and it might even save them a great deal of pain.

However, despite the fact that I think schools should encourage abstinence, it is still important that they teach students about contraceptives. It's the only way to guarantee that every generation will learn the importance of birth control to avoid overpopulation and the spread of STIs. But when teaching this, the teachers should remind the students that should only do this after marriage. The way I see it, by teaching sex education to students this way, both sides are satisfied.

Even if i do not believe in teenagers having casual sex, i do believe that they should be educated. It is a health matter that parents should talk to their kids about, but this doesn’t always happen. Teenagers should have a basic idea of birth control and STD's so that they can make informed decisions about their bodies. I do not believe that schools should get to in-depth in the matter though. It isn’t the place of public education to force discussions or ideas on student. Just give the basic facts, and leave the rest up to the people that really matter in that student’s life.

Just teaching abstinence only is not good enough. teaching it is ok but teens will not stop having sex because of this teaching. keep teaching kids about condoms and birth control too. teens have sex still but most of them use condoms and have done it multiple times. because they were taught to use a condom no one became pregnaunt. just teaching abstinence will only lose their education on the condoms and birth control. the piont is teens wont stop having sex, so teaching them not to wont help a bit. teaching them to do it safely does help and works.

Abstinence-only is a bad idea. Mostly because of the fact that it is one sided, and if being taught in public schools, that would cause a big problem with being biased and only showing one side of the argument. Students should be able to learn about all possible methods, legal or not, for the purpose of education. Perhaps a certain student is looking to go into law, but if they cannot see all of the sides and methods people use it is a biased and unfree education system. This government is designed so that people's rights are put on the "front-burner" and by presenting a one sided education plan, it is putting freedom on the "back-burner" and inching us closer to a one-sided, totalitarian government.

I believe that by only teaching teenagers about abstinence, you are limiting them knowledge that could save them suffering from an STD or finding themselves pregnant. Waiting til marriage isn't much of an option anymore, people are getting married later in life and most people don't want to be a virgin at the age of 27. By teaching them the value of contraceptives, they are able to make those decisions by themselves. What happens after the school isn't holding their hand and they enter the world of college? There is no way to keep teenagers from engaging in sex, but there is a way to keep them having safe sex.

I think that is a very good thing to teach kids about abstinence but in the same time is impossible if we think of all porn video on demand that exists  and all temptation. I think that very little persons don't do sex.This is there options.

If we want to know why teen pregnancy has declined in the US, it's because girls have more educational and economic opportunities. As a 24 year old, I have come to realize that marriage and starting a family is the most serious thing that I'll ever do, so if I want to do it right and not divorse within 3 years, I need to finish college, then grad school and get a good job before settling down in one city, getting married and starting a family. (not to mention paying off debts so that my spouse is not responsible for my $100,000 student loans). This means that I may be 30 by the time I am ready for marriage. This is a huge contrast to the way traditional people have lived. Young men and women would marry as soon as they were physicially ready. How am I supposed to reconcile my physical/ emotional need for sexual intimacy with my plans to get married when I'm truly ready. Maybe waiting until I'm 30 is a little excessive, but I want to put my well-being first, so unless I want to sacrifice my future for my spouse, I will need to find someone who can pick up their bags and transfer cities when I up and go to med school and then again when I find a residency and maybe even one more time when I find a position in a hospital. It's just unreasonable to wait that long. Instead, young people should be fully equiped with the best of technology and science to get them through to meet their goals without unwanted children.

It seems to me that young people see a future and they want to participate in what's going on and so they have gotten smarter about having sex. It took me all kinds of various forms of birth control such as condoms, the pill, the morning after, "pulling out", fertility awareness, and finally and IUD to find something that worked for me, but believe me, I did the research all on my own and it was a tough road and I'm lucky to come out clean. I sure wish that I knew more in school. The other thing that I wish I learned in school was how to avoid unwanted sex. Young women are often younger than their older boyfriend and the power differential is too overwhelming to say no. We mostly need  couples to learn good communication at an early age about sex. Not being able to communicate is dangerous.