Our View: College students suffer from a lack of earlier sex education. How much do you know?
Let’s talk about sex.
We know it’s hard to do in the U.S., given the nation’s awkward and repressive attitude toward sexuality. But recent studies illustrate a dangerous lack of sex knowledge in America’s youth, and it looks like it’s time to start talking.
College students received an average score of 64 percent on a sex knowledge test given in a study by the University of Central Florida. This is just one of several small studies that all point to the same trend: Students are reaching adulthood without a basic understanding of one of the most universal facets of human life.
So what is to blame for students receiving a failing grade in sex? It’s pretty clear that the abysmal state of high school sex education is the root of the problem.
Most sex education in public schools is based on an abstinence-only model, which teaches students that refraining from sex until marriage is the only way to avoid pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases. Many schools switched to this model when a vast amount of federal funding became available only for such programs.
These programs rarely include information about contraceptives or safe sex practices, and blatantly ignore gay, lesbian and bisexual students. Abstinence is, of course, a valid and safe choice that should be offered to students. The problem comes when it is taught to the exclusion of safe sex and essential information about human sexuality.
Such programs are inaccurate (11 of the 13 commonly used curricula contain outright falsehoods, according to the House Government Reform Committee), ineffective (the congressionally mandated evaluation of four abstinence-only programs found they had no impact on students’ behavior) and unhealthy (the same report found abstinence-only curricula may deter contraceptive use among sexually active teens).
By age 20, 75 percent of Americans have had sex before marriage, according to a study by Public Health Reports. Sex education must take into account this reality.
Without reliable sources of information, adolescents are forced to gather information from friends — or, worse, the Internet — which leads to the perpetuation of dangerous misconceptions.
Of course, once students arrive at college, they have access to many more resources for reliable information about sex. But by then, it might be too late. If you’ve been sexually active for years, are you really going to go out of your way to ensure your conceptions about sex are accurate?
And, college students are no safer from the consequences of unsafe sex than high school students. In fact, while nearly half of all pregnancies in the U.S. are unintended, college-age women have the highest rate of unintended pregnancies of any age group, according to a 2006 article in Perspectives on Sexual & Reproductive Health.
New York recently passed a law requiring comprehensive high school sex education. Oklahoma owes at least that much to its students, both high school and college.
No one should reach adulthood and enter college still thinking she can get pregnant from oral sex or prevent pregnancy by showering after sex — real questions students asked of one sex educator.
And while many Sooners are already sexually active, it’s never too late to educate yourself. Email woc@ou.edu to find out how you can attend the next meeting of the Sexperts, OU’s peer sex education group. Even if you think you know your stuff, we urge you to check it out.
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oudaily99 5 months, 3 weeks ago
"...adolescents are forced to gather information from friends — or, worse, the Internet..." Uh... What? I would choose the internet over friends for information any day, especially if I was as an adolescent.
Sex education should start from the beginning of public school for the safety of children, and condoms should be freely available as a public service. Are we serious about controlling STIs or not? Seriously, PLEASE, TAKE our tax money and provide condoms for everyone.