Since some social problems such as unmarried pregnancy and abortion occurred due to the lack of sex education in school curriculum as some claimed, some parents and youth organizations asked for sex education being a compulsory part of the secondary curriculum. However, some are opposed to it, saying it will affect students’ efficiency of academic learning. So is it really a must to include sex education in the secondary curriculum? In this essay, the pros and cons of including sex education as a compulsory part of the secondary curriculum will be explained.
One argument in favor of including sex education as a compulsory part of the secondary curriculum is that it could save embarrassment among students and teachers. As most secondary schools in Hong Kong are co-educational, both girls and boys need to get along with each other. If they do not understand each other’s gender, they may not know how to respect each other properly. For example, boys may not know that they should not touch girls’ bodies without permission, and if they do so, it will cause embarrassment among students and teachers. And sex education as a compulsory part of the secondary curriculum can help students understand each other’s gender and learn to respect each other.
Another important argument is that appropriate sex education in secondary curriculum could prevent sex-related problems in both teenage and adulthood. Sex education in secondary curriculum could teach students correct sex knowledge and the results of irresponsible sexual acts which could help prevent problems like contracting AIDS and unwanted pregnancy.
The first disadvantage is that sex education is not an academic subject. Students and parents might think having sex education is a waste of time. As sex education is not examined, students might not put effort to learn about it and parents might worry putting sex education in compulsory curriculum would reduce the time of revision of other academic subjects, which will affect their children’s academic results eventually.
Another problem is that teachers are not always trained how to properly teach sex education and their own beliefs and views might be biased. Besides, due to the traditional Chinese culture, most teachers might be conservative while teaching it and get selective about sex knowledge.
To conclude, there are both advantages and disadvantages to include sex education as a compulsory part of secondary curriculum. However, it is believed that, the advantages are more as it is an effective way to prevent teenage pregnancy and can teach students to respect the other gender. Sex education therefore should be included as a compulsory part of secondary education.