Sunday, January 5, 2014

An Open Letter To Schools Who Do Not Give Sex-Ed

Hello Hello humans of earth and other beings.
I live in the U.S., if you all didn't know (though my heart lives in Canada), and this country is still generally conservative. Yes, more and more states are revising their laws on gay marriage, and abortion is slowly but surely becoming more accepted, but still, there is a very sensitive and tentative attitude towards sex, whether on tv, between teens, unmarried couples, or between two people of the same sex. 
Now I am mostly surrounded by people who are not conservative in that sense, and openminded about all that, and I go to a very good school where sexuality is embraced and there is no bullying or sexual pressure (that I know off...). But my school does not provide Sex-Ed. This is a school with several branches that goes from kindergaten all the way to 12th grade. That means if a kid is enrolled from the time they're five until they're 18, they are not going to receive any Sex-Ed from school, and you all know how wonderfully awkward the sex talk can be with parents. I will tell you this now in case you are not a highschooler like me: Sex is something an average kid learns about in around 4th grade. I mean, c'mon. it's just naive to think that just becuase mommy and daddy don't talk to their kid about the birds and the bees, and the school doesn't either, then the child will grow up having no idea what sex is until they reach college. I'm pretty sure that's Impossible. Not only will they learn what it is from either the ever-reliable source: our friend the interwebs, from their friends, or a combination of both. This only leads to misinformation, and kids having no idea what is happening to themselves or all that feelings stuff that kinda comes with adolescence.  So now, without further ado, I present to you 
My open letter to schools who don't provide Sex-Ed:

Dearest Schools-who-don't-give-Sex-ed,
I'm sure you feel you are doing the right thing. Perhaps the school board is filled with overly protective moms who fear that their child hearing the word sex will ever taint the pure and innocent nature they raised them with. I'm not blaming you, or even the moms. Well, not that much. I'm just here to say that perhaps you should reconsider. To the moms, dominating the school board: Your son knows what sex is. Trust me, honey. How can you expect a 15 year old boy Not to know what sex is? Do I really have to lay it out for you? With all the lame "that's what she said" jokes he makes in class, followed by the chorus of laughter from the other kids, I'm pretty sure he knows that a crane didn't drop him into your lap. Not sitting these kids down and telling them plainly what sex is, even if they know already, can't do any harm. Not telling your teenagers about safe-sex isn't going to stop them from having sex. I'm sorry parents, but there comes a point in a teen's life where all you can do is hope you've taught them well enough to make wise choices. And when I say "Wise choices", I don't mean abstaining. This is NOT me saying that every highschooler is fully sexually active! I'm just saying that there are always those highschoolers that have sex. Not giving them sex-ed is only going to lead to them not having safe sex and catching all those wonderful things called STDs. Another thing, schools-who-Don't-give-Sex-ed, don't forget that highschool is the place where a lot of self realization happens! Yes, in highscool, it's when you realize that you like the Backstreet Boys, or maybe that you want red hair, or even deciding that you never want to eat yogurt again. Highschool is about learning, but it's also about influences. We teens are just aching to be influenced. We Want to start making life choices, early as it may seem to you non-highschoolers. It tastes so good to say
"I'm a feminist" becuase I know it's true, but I also know that it was a decision I made about myself. So I'm actually asking to use this... eagerness of ours to your benefit. Teach these highschoolers about consent. teach them about condoms, and birth control and getting tested and all the good things that will actually help them in the future. I know, it may seem scary when you see our cute, angsty, figuring-it-out faces in the hallways as we rush to class, to think that we're going to be having a sex at some point in our lives. But by keeping us in the dark, you're only disadvantaging us. 
So, schools-who-don't-give-sex-ed, please. Please see it this way, an teach the kids to be responsible before we're released into the world outside of highschool, which as you hopefully know is out of your censorship control.
 Sincerely,
A higschooler who knows how it is
Panteha Abareshi. 
---

So I hope you all enjoyed my open letter to schools who don't give sex-ed ☺. Please feel free to comment kids, even if you hated it, I want to know! 

Stay safe lovelies.
Panteha 

EDIT: I forgot to mention that Arizona, which is sadly where I live, legally forbids the teaching of Sex-Ed in public schools. THAT in itself is atrocious. Apparently it's "Abstinence Only". Eew. I'm shivering with disgust. But that does not even apply to my school because I attend a charter school (yes I know. Charter schools are killing the public school system. I know I know) so I ain't even excepting excuses.

No comments:

Post a Comment