Physical Wellness

US Sex Ed Criticized For Having Low Ratings

By Jenn Loro | Update Date: Dec 12, 2015 03:28 PM EST

Recent findings from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) revealed that less than half of all US high schools and about 20% of middle schools across the country were found to be failing on providing adequate sex education to teens as recommended by the federal health protection agency.

According to Tech Times, most states were unable to teach the recommended 16 topics that should have equipped high school students on how to manage the risks associated with sexual relations. Furthermore, no state were found to have complied at least half of the sex education courses for middle school students.

 Think Progress also noted that about 50% of American high school teens are already engaged in pre-marital sex. However, the CDC report mentioned that most schools appeared to have a conservative stance on teaching sex education. A large number of the surveyed schools emphasized abstinence-oriented education instead of teaching disease and pregnancy prevention courses to their students.

For some, the results were not exactly surprising. Oftentimes, sex educators in schools are not properly trained or sufficiently oriented to deliver the proper way of discussing reproductive health-related topics to minors.

"It was a little awkward. One period she was telling me to do jumping jacks and the next she was telling me about gonorrhea," recalled Marcela Morales-Lugo, a New York City-based senior high student as quoted saying by NPR.

CDC found the results of the survey very alarming. In a separate article by Tech Times, health authorities were concerned about the rising number of new reported HIV cases attributed to sexually active youths.

The government feared that the trend would likely continue if schools do not exert a stronger effort to make students better educated about reproductive health.

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