Dear Next President,

I’ve known there is a lot of stuff going on with your job and duties, but I’m only asking for a little bit of your time to discuss what’s wrong with America’s schools Sex Ed classes, which are now considered a joke to me. To me, a high school sophomore, I feel like my whole life I’ve learned more about how a baby is made and what chromosomes a baby has year after year. Instead, we need to be learning about not only just the risks, but also the benefits of birth control. I feel like students and peers shouldn’t be learning about sex from TV shows and YouTube.

We shouldn’t be shaming other girls or boys for the level of experience they have; we need to start explaining it to them. Abstinence isn't the only option within their relationships and when they have sex, they need to know how they can prevent any unwanted pregnancies or sexually transmitted diseases that could mess up a person's life forever. I want to make sure that boys and girls my age are getting the information they need on how to protect themselves at such a young age. Plus, we shouldn't be making them ashamed of their bodies.

Not that it’s a bad thing to encourage abstinence, but that’s the only lesson being taught. Schools should be teaching students to be safe. Not only does this cause issues for people that don’t choose abstinence, but it also makes them a little uncomfortable if something were to go wrong, they wouldn’t be comfortable going to a teacher or parent. I'm not going to blame parents, but don't expect your kid to come up to you and say “Hey mom/dad, I'm gonna have sex. You got a condom?” Like no..that’s not how it works. I think personally, parents should be a little more open about it so their kids don't have to rely on Planned Parenthood for everything. Sex Ed teachers should encourage parents to talk about it with them to prevent the first talk about sex to be a “I’m pregnant conversation.” Please consider making sex education mandatory in all high schools.