Public Schools Concerning Human Sexuaity

Florida House has proposed Bill 169 in hopes to make adjustments to the current sexual education departments in public schools which will take effect July 1, 2010. These programs would address age appropriate decision making for sexual issues.

Currently Florida is the sixth highest teen pregnancy rate in the nation as well as the third highest rate for AIDS. The high percentages of these problems are within the youth population. Florida paid over $8.1 billion taxpayer dollars from 1991 to 2004 to address teen pregnancy problems.
Bill 169, “Education in Public Schools Concerning Human Sexuality,” hopes to be enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida. This will require all public schools that receive state funding adjust their current sexual education problems to incorporate the bill’s additional requirements.

A University of Florida research team performed a case study in 2007 analyzing the content being enforced in Florida public school systems. The results showed an overwhelmingly high number of teachers who educate “abstinence only until marriage” as the only way to prevent teen’s sexual problems. For this generation is it naïve to think an abstinence only curriculum will be successful, because in reality young people will more than likely look to explore their hormonal urges.
It is important to understand these adjustments are not teaching the youth to practice underage sex, but rather educating them on responsible decision making. A main reason the younger generations are the leading number of unwanted sexually transmitted diseases is due to lack of knowledge about the consequences of their outcomes.

The Florida House plans to start educating at the 6th grade level, emphasizing the value of self-esteem. Young adults are so impressionable it is very easy for them to be taken advantage of. Lines 99-102 specify the need to teach students how to identify inappropriate situations, such as unwanted verbal and sexual abuse.

Currently Florida’s sexual education allows parents to interfere as they see fit. Some programs require parental consent for the student to participate, while others may require the parents’ participation as well. It is common parents do not feel comfortable with the idea of their child have sexual relations; therefore they prefer to disregard the topic all together. “The Florida Healthy Teens Act” does not ignore the parents’ right to be involved with their child’s sexual education. Line 113-140 deal specifically with what a parent/guardian of a child should do if they are unsatisfied with the actions taken place in their program.

Florida’s sexual youth problems are on a continuous rise. This bill could instate the actions that need to be put in place to make the changes necessary.