Emily Kalshoven

My topic for the Research Argument Assignment is the issue of American school systems teaching abstinence as the only form of birth control. I feel that the Sex Education programs that we have in the United States are failing. Teen pregnancies are almost expected in every high school these days. In the Sex Education health class that I took in my freshman year of high school, there was a girl who was eight months pregnant in the class with us. Even with the pregnant girl sitting right there in the front of my class, my teacher still only taught abstinence and refused to bring up any other forms of birth control. Pregnancy is not the only problem. Youth are also learning the hard way about sexually transmitted infections by having unsafe sex – many of these infections may be prevented by the use of proper protection. So why are we so set on teaching abstinence when we know this method is not working as effectively as we wanted? Why are the teen pregnancy rates so much higher in the U.S. when compared to other developed countries? What are other countries teaching in their schools and in homes that has a positive impact on the lives of these young people? My thesis will be something along the lines of: “Lack of proper sex education has caused an increase in the number of teen pregnancies and contractions of sexually transmitted infections when compared to statistics of other developed countries.” I plan to use sources from Google Scholar and Google Books to find my exact sources for this assignment. Also, I plan to use the library’s website to find books and articles on my topic. I believe that people should see that the current means of sex education are not serving their purpose of protecting the youth of our nation.