Dear future President,

In the United States, only 35 states mandate sexual education in the classroom. This creates an issue because adolescents are not taught how to protect themselves from Sexually Transmitted Diseases(STD)/Human Immunodeficiency Virus(HIV) and pregnancy properly. This lack of information causes rises in teen pregnancy and STD rates. Schools that do not inform students about safe sex and contraception believe that they can go to their parents or other sources to learn. Often, going to these sources can be awkward, inappropriate, provide false information, or useless. I am asking the president to educate adolescents about how to protect themselves from STD’S/HIV and pregnancy by putting mandatory courses to be taken in schools.

According to the Guttmacher Institute, in 1999, one in four teachers taught that abstinence was the only way to prevent pregnancy and STD’s. By 2002, only one-third of teens had received any formal instruction on contraception. The same source states that over half of the sex ed programs in the South have an abstinence only policy in their program, compared to one in five districts in the Northeast parts of the United States. Without all schools educating students about safe sex and contraception, the Mayo Clinic Staff experts say to parents, “Even if you’re uncomfortable, forge ahead. Remember, you’re setting the stage for open, honest discussion in the years to come.” If schools are not educating adolescents, then parents need to educate them about the mistakes they could make before they make them. Our future president could influence to teach their kids full and correct information by giving parents the information to the pass on to their children.

The minimum age of sexual consent is eighteen years old. Not educating adolescents that are growing into young adults about these laws could hinder them from making the right choices when it comes to sex. It’s almost like setting someone up for failure; we are not supporting them with the information needed for life.

There is the counterargument of parents educating their kids on their own. The issue with this is parents may only teach them biased opinions, or misinform their kids.all adolescents deserve the right to know every outcome of sex, and every way they can protect themselves. If money is an issue, schools can be integrating sexual education more into a health class or making the class a shorter course paired with another class. I feel every student should be educated about safe sex. What needs to happen is every school needs a sexual education course including topics such as STD/HIV prevention, pregnancy prevention, contraception methods, etc. We should be completely able to accomplish this in our classrooms.