In order to graduate high school, AISD students are required to complete a semester-long health course which covers nutritional, mental and sexual health. But does this course effectively serve students need for proper education? If you were to ask me about where it was that I got my sexual education, I would give the same shameful answer as many youths: my friends and the Internet. Today’s big social problems such as unwanted teen pregnancies, drug abuse and sexual assault have been caused largely by ignorance. If our officials wanted to start anywhere in mending these unhealthy habits, it should be in the classroom. The district’s health curriculum desperately need restructuring, one that establishes the expectation that we students receive the modern and realistic education that we deserve.

It was not in health class that I learned about sexual health, It was not until my classmates began holding their own personal classes in the hallways. Every conversation that I overheard taught me a different myth about my own body and sexuality. With students left in the dark about their own health, they are forced to find answers from unreliable sources, and educators then lose the power to shape healthy habits by teaching students what they really need to know.

Normalizing sexual health can create a healthy foundation for discussion. Students who are too afraid to ask questions about these taboo subjects are more likely to avoid speaking out on sexual harassment or any other unsafe situation they might have been put in or observed. Young men and women must feel comfortable talking about their own bodies so that they feel comfortable to ask questions and clarify subjects they may not understand without judgment from their educators or their peers. Especially for students without a trusted adult in their life to talk to about these intimate subjects, it is imperative that teachers create a safe and confidential learning environment.

Health class sexuality units should not be isolating students by making them believe that the only moral option is to abstain from sex, but rather to understand it, and how to avoid unsafe situations. It is unrealistic for educators to believe that all students will abstain from sex, drugs and alcohol. Currently, the world that our generation lives in is surrounded by those things, and teenagers must be properly educated on how to live in this environment safely. Rather than teaching students to always abstain and to be ashamed of their sexuality, educators should be informing them on their options; whether to abstain or not, consent, contraceptives, the effect that sex has on relationships, etc.

Sexual health is not the only unit that Texas schools fail to properly inform students in. The recreational drug abuse unit in the health curriculum teaches students to simply “not do” illegal drugs. It is unrealistic to believe that all students will adhere to this instruction, and a more effective form of education would be to advise students on how to safely react to these types of problems. Then, once students are properly informed, they are able to make their own mature decisions on what they should do to keep themselves safe.

Being that 2018 is a time of immense progression, it is time for our district officials to step up and provide the practical education that the students of our time must have. With the proper changes, we can diffuse ignorance, and provide students with a healthy outlet to learn about their sexuality, about speaking out, and about being safe.