When it comes to discussions in school about the intimate aspects of life, the conversation is often minimal and glosses over essential topics that should be addressed. Sexual Education is the teaching to students within schools of the knowledge, skills and values in order to protect them, develop social and sexual relationships and understand their bodies and the bodies of others. There are many purposes for it, such as giving students adequate information to discover themselves, to practice safe sexual practices and not to demonize the idea of sexuality. Sexual education rarely includes in-depth conversations about what to expect in sexual situations or how to handle them responsibly. Harwood, in a 2023 article, “Inadequate Sexual Health Education for High School Students in the United States,” notes, “Only about half of states require sex education to be taught, and only a quarter require medically accurate information to be taught” (para. 1) This highlights a significant problem:. Students maturing into adulthood are not being provided adequate information that could help them navigate through their development and understand how their bodies function. information such as in-depth consent, proper use of condoms and birth control, topics on sexual orientation and so many others are kept from the curriculum.
The lack of standardized sexual education in schools has led to a troubling pattern causing many students to remain unaware of safe sexual practices. In the United States, there is no federal mandate regarding sex education; rather, policies vary by individual state. According to Shah (2022) in the article “The Failures of American Sex-Education,” facts such as “Only thirty nine states, plus D.C, even have government mandated sex-education. Within the states with mandated sex-education, only thirteen must provide ‘medically accurate’ sex-education.” (para. 2) are presented. The evidence supports the argument that current sex education policies fail to equip students with necessary knowledge about sexual health, self-care and safety within relationships.
Due to this lack of education on topics often considered “taboo,” teenagers are forced to seek information elsewhere. Pickering (2025) reports “A 2022 report from Common Sense Media found that nearly half of teens report learning about sex online, with pornography being among the top sources. Research indicates that, “even when schools and families avoid topics related to sexuality, young people still encounter sexual content.” (para. 4) This reality demonstrates the consequences of withholding information. From the fact that students are not getting enough information, they are turning to unreliable sources such as pornography, which often misinterprets sex, intimacy and the idea of consent. The porn industry portrays unrealistic scenarios and fails to reflect the emotional and physical realities of safe sexual encounters. This is detrimental and provides students with information that is going to be more harmful than good and they are not being provided information from the school system to tell them otherwise. Pornography causes a distortion that can negatively shape young people’s understanding of healthy relationships and intimacy. An argument could be made in and of itself that porn has ruined the sexual perception of many youth and adults in the 21st century and the lack of sex ed causes an even bigger distortion.
Ample evidence shows there are a lot of real-world consequences of insufficient sex education. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in 2019 there were 1.8 million cases of chlamydia and over 600,000 cases of gonorrhea. This is a 19% and 56% increase respectively from 2015 (Harwood, 2023). These statistics highlight the lack of understanding sexually transmitted diseases (STIs) and suggest that students are not being taught how to protect themselves in an adequate way. While teen pregnancy rates in the U.S. have declined over the years, they remain among the highest in the developed world. Notably, countries that implement comprehensive sexual education tend to have lower teen pregnancy and STI rates compared to those that promote abstinence only programs.
Although schools often touch on these important topics, the coverage lacks the depth needed to truly educate and protect students. Comprehensive sexual education must go beyond the basics of condom use to include discussions that discuss the in-depth realities of consent, contraception and emotional readiness. These lessons can be integrated more thoroughly into the health curriculum by expanding the time allowed for such instruction or by simply enhancing the quality of discussions during existing class periods. Policies that define and allow for more room for teachers to instruct on these topics, being stricter in what curriculum needs to be included in the classroom and extending the duration for teaching this information is needed in order to change this problem. Without proper education, students are more likely to engage in unsafe practices, misunderstand their own bodies and be unprepared for healthy relationships. In order to protect and empower the younger generation, schools must take a more proactive and meaningful role in providing complete and accurate sexual health education.
