Parents as Advocates
for Comprehensive Sex Ed in Schools
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Parental support for school-based sex education is overwhelmingly positive.
Over the past 20 years, in survey after survey, local, state or national, 80
to 85 percent of parents indicate they want their children to receive comprehensive,
medically accurate, age-appropriate sex education. Parents see such courses
and content as supplementing, not supplanting, their discussions at home. They
say that their children need both to be taught about delaying the onset of
intimate sexual relationships until they are mature and responsible and also
given the information and skills they need to use condoms and contraception
when they do choose to become sexually active. It's not either/or, but both.
Parents' involvement in school health education committees,
as members of school boards, or as advocates during
community controversy is vital to making sure
that young people receive accurate information and that answers to their
questions are not censored. Many curricula and classroom
materials exist to meet children's
needs and help them grow up sexually healthy. But there are also "education" materials
that are discriminatory, inaccurate, biased, and judgmental, and that use
shame, fear, and guilt to scare young people about sexual intimacy.
Sexuality education curricula and programs should be reviewed carefully for
the following important components:
- Acknowledging
that sexuality is a component of each person's
personality, character, and life
- Containing age
appropriate information, based on physical, emotional,
and social developmental stages
- Containing information
that is honest, medically accurate, and based upon
verifiable scientific and behavioral theories
- Respecting of
differences in family, religious, and social values
- Being nonjudgmental
and open to all questions and concerns related
to sexuality
- Reflecting cultural,
social, and ethnic diversity
- Encouraging children/youth
to discuss sexuality issues with their parents
and to ask them questions
- Providing parental
review of all materials used in the classroom
- Avoiding shame,
fear, or guilt
- Promoting gender
equality
- Including skills
for decision making and resisting pressure
- Acknowledging
that sexuality and sexual decisions are influenced
by family, media, peers, religion, and personal experiences
- Acknowledging
both responsibility and pleasure in intimate sexual
relationships
- Giving young
people opportunities to role play and to practice
effective communication
- Acknowledging
the diversity of sexual orientation
- Acknowledging
that sexual abuse, coercion, and incest occur and
offering referrals for counseling and support for survivors
- Promoting responsibility,
respect, and honesty in relationships
- Containing materials
evaluated by respected researchers and published
in credible sources
- Offering reference lists from scientific, professional,
peer-reviewed sources rather than personal opinions,
newspaper articles, sermons, speeches, or magazine articles.
Finally, the chosen curriculum should be taught by knowledgeable, comfortable,
and well trained sexuality educators.
As a Parent You Can Become an Advocate by:
- Learning what
your school offers in sex education
- Acknowledging
that sex education is a life long process and that
parents are only one of the primary sex educators of young people
- Supporting honest,
balanced sex education that is comprehensive and
that includes education about abstinence and contraception
- Knowing what
training your child's teachers have had in sex
education
- Knowing the official school system policies on sex education.
Click here to return to the Parents'
Sex Ed Center home page.
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