Advocates for Youth, a respected national agency in regards to adolescent reproductive and sexual health, recently published a best practices guide for “Youth-Friendly Sexual and Reproductive Health Services in Schools.”
he Best Practices Guide includes four common strategies schools use to provide health services:
• School nurses
• School-based health centers
• School-linked health centers
• Partnerships with community based organizations or health departments
Each of these strategies offers ways to improve the overall and sexual health of students. Doing nothing does not.
The fact remains that students are learning about sex. The question is, who's teaching? Is it trained educators, who use the same care with this subject as they would with algebra or english? Or are students being left to educate themselves among the misinformation shared by peers or pornography on the internet?
And since the average age children now see pornography online is 10 (University of Montreal), we need sexuality education to start earlier than that. Children deserve to know what to do if they come across these images, and have a context with which to process them.
What is your child's school doing about sexuality education? Find out today, and advocate for comprehensive and inclusive education for all our children.
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