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Sex Ed Snoozefest
"Sure we get info about using condoms and listen to a laundry list of STDs, but I didn’t get the sense that anything could actually happen to me. "
By Ankitha Bharadwaj, 18
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Sex education is back in the news after the Centers for Disease Control recently found that 1 in 4 girls in America between ages 14 and 19 has an STD. As a result, Youth Radio’s Ankitha Bharadwaj thinks there should be a stronger emphasis on sex ed in high school classrooms.
I slept through the entire semester of sex ed last year.
When I see obviously pregnant sophomores walking down the halls, I wonder if they snoozed through the class too.
Sure we get info about using condoms and listen to a laundry list of STDs, but I didn’t get the sense that anything could actually happen to me.
It seems like sex has become a predominant part of the high school experience, and now we’re starting to see consequences that aren’t as obvious as a bulbous belly. A Centers for Disease Control study recently found that 1 in 4 girls in America between ages 14 and 19 has an STD.
The California State Board of Education recently released a plan to raise youth awareness about STDs, pregnancy, and the emotional risks associated with having unprotected sex. But no one can regulate how and when teens have sex. I think being informed about the risks should be as elementary as learning the alphabet for today’s young people.
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