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Abstinence Only vs. Comprehensive Sex Education

In the world, sex is looked at from many different angles. For some, its an intimate
moment shared between two individuals that allows for the creation of life. For others, its
viewed as a casual activity without intimacy. No matter what a persons view is of sex, most
people feel it is a very controversial and taboo topic. Even in the school system, educating
students about sex is heavily debated to due to the diverse beliefs of our leaders in schools and
the nation.
In our text book, American Education, Joel Spring provides a little background on the
values and goals of sex education. When it was introduced in 1926, the main goal of the class
was for the better good of family life through teaching how to control sexual desires. According
to Spring, sex education courses taught that sexual control was necessary for proper home
functioning which includes the comfort and happiness of all, maximum development of the
mates, proper child production, and effective personal and social education of children (p34).
The increased growth of the number of students in high schools increased the chance of youth
engaging in sexual activity early in life. (Spring 2012)
With many teens and adolescents being sexually active, some have unfortunately had to
experience the consequences of unprotected sex. There are two methods in which the
information is delivered to students, which are Comprehensive- Sexuality and Abstinence-Only.
Comprehensive- Sexuality informs students of sexually transmitted diseases and contraceptives.
Abstinence- Only teaches students that the only safe sex is no sex. I will explore what the
difference is between the two programs and their effectiveness.

The Center for Disease Control conducted a survey of sexual behavior among high
school students in 2011. Their results showed that 47.4% had sexual intercourse and 33.7% had
sexual intercourse three months prior to the survey. Of the latter, 39.8% had not used a condom
in their most recent encounter and 76.7% were not on any method of birth control. (CDC 2011)
As research shows the increase of teen pregnancy, youth that are sexually active and contracting
STDs, it is important that students be educated about the consequences of unprotected sex. The
approach in which schools should take in educating students about sex has been a big
controversy.
Abstinence-Only emphasizes that the safest way to protect you from sexually transmitted
diseases and unplanned pregnancy is to abstain from sex until marriage. The government has
provided funds to public schools that follow the guidelines for the program. A few of them are,
has as its exclusive purpose, teaching the social, psychological, and health gains to be
realized by abstaining from sexual activity; teaches abstinence from sexual activity
outside marriage as the expected standard for all school-age children; teaches that a
mutually faithful monogamous relationship in the context of marriage is the expected
standard of human sexual activity; teaches that bearing children out-of-wedlock is likely
to have harmful consequences for the child, the childs parents, and society; teaches
young people how to reject sexual advances and how alcohol and drug use increases
vulnerability to sexual advances; and teaches the importance of attaining self-sufciency
before engaging in sexual activity. (Jefferies, Dodge, Bandiera, & Reece 2010)
The government has even forbid schools that are receiving funds for this program to teach
students about contraceptive methods and except when emphasizing the failure rates. (Jefferies,
Dodge, Bandiera & Reece 2010)

Comprehensive- Sexuality includes emphasizing the importance of abstinence, but also

informs students of consequences of unprotected sex such as sexually transmitted disease,
unplanned pregnancy, and prevention methods. Unlike AOE programs, most CSE programs
include instruction on communication skills, decision-making, sexual orientation, and gender
identity. (Jefferies, Dodge, Bandiera, & Reece 2010) This method is highly informative of
issues that teens face with engaging in sexual activity and helps to provide ways they can protect
themselves. In some areas, schools even distribute some methods of contraceptives to students.
In 2006, Florida had extremely high numbers of sexual activity among teens. They
ranked 3rd highest with cases of HIV among children and the second highest for adolescents and
adults. It was also ranked at 7th for new syphilis infections and 6th in teenage pregnancy.
(Jefferies, Dodge, Bandiera, & Reece 2010) The state was also one of few to receive one of the
highest amounts of funding to promote the Abstinence-Only program in schools. Researchers
conducted a study to measure Florida teachers awareness and instruction of the guidelines that
were outlined by the government. Half of the teachers out of 199 adhered to the guidelines, with
most covering human development, personal skills, families, friendship, love and marriage, to
name a few. However, not many of the teachers addressed gender identity and sexual orientation.
The majority of the teachers did discuss contraception, HIV/AIDS, pregnancy, and STIs.
(Jefferies, Dodge, Bandiera, & Reece 2010)
Sex-education is an important topic in the education of youth. As they learn ways to
protect themselves from harmful diseases, some are actually putting into practice what they learn
and are taking advantage of the resources that are offered to them. Dodge, Reece, and Herbenick
conducted research observing the type of sex education the participants received and its relation
to condom use, testing and diagnosis of sexually transmitted infections. Researchers surveyed

over 1,152 men with 84% white, 7% Asian, 2% black, 6% Latino, and 7% other. 87% of the
participants identified themselves as heterosexual and 13% identified themselves as gay, bisexual
or other. Of the group, 81% specified that they had received condom-education in school and
19% specified they didnt. Individuals who didnt receive school-based condom education were
more likely to contract an STI than those who did receive this form of education. (Dodge, Reece,
& Herbenick 2009) Resources that are made available to adolescents can possibly save them in
the future. If they learn early the precautions of engaging sex before marriage or at an age where
he or she can fully accept the responsibilities of the consequences of unprotected sex, the number
of teenage pregnancies and STD diagnoses could reduce.
As previously stated, the government is providing funding to schools that teach an
Abstinence-Only program. Surprisingly, even though the number of teen pregnancies in the U.S.
is steadily rising and it is ranked at one of the highest for teen pregnancies of the developed
countries, the government probably will not change its views of the way sex-education should be
taught. Stranger-Hall and Hall observed the relationship between Abstinence-Only instruction
and the rate of teen pregnancies and birth rates. They also noted the states that had laws and
policies on the education of abstinence.
According to their results, 21 of 48 states stressed the importance of adhering to state
legislation. There were 7 states that emphasized abstinence education, 11 covering abstinence
through comprehensive-sex education and 9 didnt mention any laws of abstinence. The states
with no laws or policies on abstinence had a pregnancy rate of 58.78%, while states that did put
emphasis on their abstinence policies had a pregnancy rate of 61%. The lowest pregnancy rate of
all the states were those that taught abstinence through the lens of Comprehensive-sexuality
based.

As the rate of teen pregnancies continues to increase, so does the rate of students who
drop out of schools. When teens become pregnant some feel embarrassed and that they will be
bullied by their peers for becoming pregnant early; Or may be weighed down by the stress of life
and trying to prepare for a child and cant afford to come to school. Regardless of the reason, its
causing our students fall behind and creates an achievement gap or as Gloria Ladson-Billings
called it, the Achievement Debt. When students leave school, they fall behind academically
because of the amount of time they miss from school and the content that they are also missing.
In many urban communities, this has become a generational curse; parent drops out of
school to take care of child, child grows up and goes to school and does the same thing his or
parent did. Charles E. Basch explored the relationship between teen pregnancy rates and the
achievement gap. In 2006, the birthrate among black females was at 36.1% , 47.9 % among
females of the Latin descent and 11.8% among white females. Teen mothers are less likely to
finish high school and attend college. The education of teen mother is estimated to be two years
behind mothers that wait until their 30s to have children. (Basch 2011) If there continues to be
this gap in the achievement of students in the school system, partly because the government has
chosen a program that is based solely on abstinence to teach students about sex, it is time to
revamp the approach educators take on instructing students.
As I conclude, sex-education is a major component to the instruction that students receive
today. As a Christian, I do believe that abstinence is the best way to protect you from unintended
pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases. However, I do realize that as a future educator and
a community we do our students a disservice if we dont offer them alternative methods to
protecting themselves. People always want what they cant have and will eventually go to
whatever length to get it. With that in mind it is important that children understand the

consequences of engaging in any sexual activity. If schools feel that they dont want to provide
actual condoms for students, then offer students another option of how they can get it, like
Planned Parenthood. With all the resources available in this overly developed nation, there is no
reason for someone to experience the consequences of being sexually active. By offering
students this option, we can decrease the number of teen pregnancies, youth diagnosed with
sexually transmitted diseases and most importantly prevent the achievement gap or debt from
becoming any greater than it needs to be.

References
Basch, C. E. (2011). Teen Pregnancy and the Achievement Gap Among Urban Minority Youth.
Journal Of School Health, 81(10), 614-618. doi:10.1111/j.1746-1561.2011.00635.x
Dodge, B., Reece, M., & Herbenick, D. (2009). School-Based Condom Education and Its
Relations With Diagnoses of and Testing for Sexually Transmitted Infections Among
Men in the United States. American Journal Of Public Health, 99(12), 2180-2182.
Jeffries, W. L., Dodge, B., Bandiera, F. C., & Reece, M. (2010). Beyond abstinence-only:
relationships between abstinence education and comprehensive topic instruction. Sex
Education, 10(2), 171-185. doi:10.1080/14681811003666317
Spring, J. (2012). The Social Goals of Schooling. In American Education (pp 34-36). New York,
New York: McGraw-Hill
Stanger-Hall, K. F., & Hall, D. W. (2011). Abstinence-Only Education and Teen Pregnancy
Rates: Why We Need Comprehensive Sex Education in the U.S. Plos ONE, 6(10), 1-11.
doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0024658