Should sex education be given in schools? Nowadays it is not the question, it should be; how should it be given? Young people need the correct information to protect themselves. These days more than 93% of all public schools in Mexico offer sexuality courses, many of these schools work together with some health centers in order to keep their students informed to avoid the most common problems related to this topic such as teenage pregnancy, and sexually transmitted diseases.
A relevant and worrying social problem as I mentioned before is teenage pregnancy. According to the Encuesta Nacional de la juventud 2005 and ISEA, Aguascalientes is one of the states of our country which registered around 1130 births from young mothers (14-19 years) per year; which locates this state above national average. It shows as that there is lack of sex education among young people because on the contrary they should know how to prevent this situation or because the sexuality courses that exist are not effective. Besides, to be informed helps young people to achieve their goals since they have enough tools to face up the real world; on the contrary the lack of sex education changes their lives.
Another social phenomenon among young people is the sexually transmitted diseases. As we know sex education begins in high school when young people start to experience changes in their bodies and minds; therefore, it is important that they be well informed about sex education due to this topic being very attractive for them; so if they do not have enough information about their sexual lives, they can get a venereal disease that could change or finish with their lives. According to ISEA in Aguascalientes the number of patients under of 19 years is 940 per year; it is very alarming for that reason sex education must be an obligatory course to decrease this social phenomenon.
On the contrary, there are many people who consider that this kind of courses should not be given. Nowadays although, there are more open minded people, there are still some people who do not agree with informing young people about this topic, because they think it arises the young people interest in it and they begin their sexual lives in an early age. However, our current world arises this interest in young people because of the advertising; therefore, it is vital that they be well informed about sexuality in their education to avoid getting wrong information from advertising and outside world.
In conclusion, it is vital that the sex education courses should be given in public schools to decrease the social phenomenon among young people. As we can see our state is one of the states of our country which has the highest rate of teenage pregnancy due to lack of information about sexuality, so it is a social problem that we should take care by keeping students informed, even at home to start having a sex education because it is a family matter too.