Web better than parents for sex ed, some teens report: Review

After I wrote my reflection about the class discussion we had about sexual education in schools I decided to do some research about how well Canada is doing with this subject. I had some high hopes that the education was doing better than it was when I was in junior high and high school, but as it turns out my hopes were nothing other than hopes. I found this article that documents the results from a study done in Ontario that was meant to find how much teenagers knew about sexual education, and the results were not great. If the test given to the students in the study was a real test most of the students would not have passed it, something I find very disheartening.

All of the students that took the survey had met and passed requirements for sexual education in Ontario. This means that the students had all completed their entire sexual education curriculum. Many of the results from this survey really prove that the sexual education needs to be stepped up in Canada. When asked questions about protection and contraception most students didn’t know the answers, with an average on that section being only 43% correct. Many of the students did not even know how women can become pregnant. Another upsetting result is that many of the students could not recognize sexual assault.

The doctor who ran the survey commented that “"It's funny because we have exams for math and we have exams for science, but we don't really have an evaluation process for our sexual education programs”. This is something that I have never thought of before, but now that it’s been mentioned it makes perfect sense to me. Why isn’t there an evaluation? Why are math, science, reading and writing put on a higher level than health? To me I think health needs to be taken quite seriously, and while I understand that all the other subjects are very important why is it that the health and safety of the students is put at risk? As it turns out sexual education is still that awkward class that kids sit through for a few weeks and learn next to nothing. I always think of the scene from the movie "Mean Girls" when the extent of their sex ed class is "Don't have sex. You will get pregnant and die!". While by the looks of this study it's not that bad, but there could definitely be improvement.

I was hoping I’d find some better results about the way that sexual education has been going in Canada, but by the looks of it more work needs to be done, and I hope one day students will be able to learn about their own bodies and their own health without relying on Google.