The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is working on a proposal that would provide guidelines for sex education in schools. The organization is taking such action in an attempt to help young people avoid “dangerous” sexual activity.
The proposed guidelines would recommend to national governments that their educational systems provide students with a more extensive sexual education than what is currently available.
In addition, they suggest sex education begin at an earlier age. Edited information would be provided to younger people, and the material would become more detailed as students mature.
This is being done in an effort to combat the nearly 111 million new cases of sexually transmitted infections reported in people ages 10-24 globally each year, and the 4.4 million abortions performed on women aged 15-19 annually, according to an article in Time.
Though these guidelines have not yet been finalized, they are already under fire from conservative U.S. and religious groups who have said the guidelines are too explicit. They have voiced concerns over the proposed reforms to sex education that would provide information they are fundamentally opposed to, such as abortions and contraceptive methods.
One element of the reforms being singled out in particular is the suggestion that schools begin teaching introductory sexual information to children between the ages of five and eight. According to the guidelines, this material would be edited for the intended audience.
CU students have had mixed reactions to the proposed guidelines.
David Backlin, a junior integrative physiology major, said kids are having sex at a much younger age now when compared to past generations. Backlin said sexual education programs such as the ones being proposed are a helpful means of combating unsafe sex practices.
Backlin also said, however, that five would be a young age at which to begin such education programs.
“I guess five seems a little young,” Backlin said. “But definitely teach contraceptives to ages 9-14 because you keep hearing younger and younger kids keep getting pregnant because they don’t know how to prevent it.”
Matthew Boettger, director of The Aquinas Institute for Catholic Thought, said although the church does not have an official position on sex education, abstinence is the most fitting way to teach safe sex.
Boettger clarified that the church is opposed to sex education that teaches how to use contraceptive measures.
“Simplified sex education focusing on contraceptives does a disservice to value of the whole person,” Boettger said. “Contraceptives were not created to prevent pregnancy since abstinence could do that. Contraceptives were created because the sexual urge is powerful and we wanted a means to be able to act upon the desire without its pro-creative benefits. In other words, we don’t want to have to say no to sex.”
Boettger said there is no easy answer to the AIDS epidemic but said, “In my personal opinion, AIDS will not be solved by throwing condoms at the problem.”
Courtney Legge, a freshman psychology major, weighed in on the issue of providing sex education in schools.
“In elementary school it was mostly abstinence-only, but they taught about safe sex, too,” Legge said. “I think it helped; not having anything would be worse. I don’t think it made a huge difference, but it was a good foundation.”
Legge said the UNESCO proposal would aid in the effort to inform people on the dangers of unsafe sex practices.
“I think it’s a good effort. Some people just aren’t aware of the problems that come with not having safe sex practice, so if you can just inform them it would be a smarter way to prevent it,” Legge said.
As it stands now, Colorado’s sex education law allows for comprehensive curriculum that teaches students science-based facts instead of an abstinence-only emphasis. The system resembles something similar to what UNESCO is proposing, although it still does not go as far as the proposal.
Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Maria DiManna at Maria.DiManna@colorado.edu.
