Sex Education - Essay Example

WHERE TO BEST TEACH SEX EDUCATION: HOME OR SCHOOL Teaching sex education is a crucial topic for most families, but there is a growing necessity to teach it to teenagers and even children. The growing statistics of teenage pregnancy and issues of overpopulation are the reasons that urge schools and homes to educate children on these matters. However, the critical question is: Where is the appropriate venue to best teach sex education to children Is it the home or the school In order to answer this, it is important to lay down the advantages and the disadvantages of teaching it in these venues.

The advantages of teaching sex education at home include the outcome that children will gain a sense of appreciation and high regard for their sexuality. This may be undertaken with parents who want them to enjoy and celebrate that very special part of their being. It is possible for parents to attain self-respect for their children if they are able to appropriately and relevantly teach them sex education at home. This self-respect is one that can be ensured by parents in their children regarding their sexuality, given that they teach them responsibly.

This vision may be best promoted at home by providing a loving and thoughtful sex education. The demand that parents speak to their children is high in today's intense peer and media pressures. There is also a compelling need for parents to be open-minded and communicative to their children regarding sex education. On the other hand, the advantages of learning education in school include objectivity, collective learning, and freedom of inquiries, which may not be found at home (if parents tend to be strict and conservative).

Children will certainly appreciate more to learn sex education in school rather than at home, given this home environment. There might be uneasiness between the child and the parents, which might preempt the child from raising certain concerns, for which the school may be a good venue. The expertise of teachers who are also knowledgeable about human anatomy and reproductive health is also one advantage of learning it in school. The school may also incorporate sex education in global issues like global poverty and poverty alleviation, enabling the students to view the matter in a holistic perspective.

This is certainly within the objective of the school to make the students informed and aware of their social environment outside the topic of sex, which is affected by it. However, the objective ambiance that the academic environment provides can make learning sex education less personal. Thus, the best way to teach sex education is in school since all students are assured of the quality of the delivery of information. At home, only open-minded, responsible, loving, and well-informed parents can effectively teach this to their children.

The outcome of bestowing this duty to parents might produce varying results according to the home environment, the openness of communication, and the nurturing patterns of parents, and children who have a positive home environment obtain the most nurturing sex education (Kirby, 1999). It is however important that while the school teaches sex education, parents reinforce at home. This is acknowledging the importance of home environment to the development of the well-being of the child. As tackled earlier, the demand that parents speak to their children is high in today's intense peer and media pressures.

Despite the children obtaining sex education in school, the parents sustain this by ensuring that their children develop self-respect, responsibility, and a good view of sex (Hutch, 1992). It supports the many views of sociological theorists like Erikson, Mead, and Cooley about the importance of the family as a sociological agent (Horton and Hunt, 1984). Sex education is certainly linked to preventing global poverty and other related social problems. The teacher is able to do this in his/her initial presentation of the objectives.

Early pregnancies, abortion, and early marriages contribute to the occurrences of poverty and low productivity and the school can clearly make a link of these issues along with sex education. In the end, sex education is not only enabling children to become knowledgeable about sex, but more importantly, it is how they can carry this knowledge responsibly in relation to fighting poverty and being responsible themselves. ReferencesKirby, D. (1999) Sexuality and sex education at home and school.

Adolescent Medicine. Vol. 10, No. 2. Horton, P. and Hunt, C. (1984) Sociology. New York: McGraw Hill.Hutch, R. A. (1992) Called home: the creation of family life. Journal of Religion and Health. Vol. 31, No. 3.