Ongoing debates about sexual education in Battle Ground Public Schools raise important questions about what our children are learning and who is teaching them.
While parents remain the most important conduit of information regarding sexual health, it is reasonable for schools to offer factual, accurate instruction about a topic that is important to helping teens navigate their changing world.
In October, the Battle Ground school board opted to scuttle its entire sexual education program. District officials decided they would offer human growth and development to fifth graders, as well as limited lessons about HIV and AIDS prevention as required by state law.
The decision was short-sighted and potentially harmful to students. Whether or not parents care to admit it, teens will seek out information about sex; it is important that such information come from reliable sources rather than their friends or the internet.
Last week, Battle Ground officials slightly walked back that previous decision. They added high school elective courses to the slate of exceptions, predominantly affecting Advanced Placement courses that address topics overlapping with sexual health education.
Officials also opened the door for the creation of a course that includes comprehensive sexual health education as a high school elective, but that class would need to be developed by the district and adopted by the school board at a later time.
Some parents have expressed concerns that sexual education leads to promiscuity. While it is possible to find scientific studies that reach differing conclusions, most research indicates the opposite: Comprehensive education leads to fewer unwanted pregnancies and a decline in sexually transmitted diseases.
The four states with the highest teenage birth rates as of 2017 — Arkansas, Mississippi, Oklahoma and Louisiana — all stressed abstinence in sexual education, and only Mississippi required state-mandated sex education. Researchers at the University of Georgia analyzed changing teen pregnancy rates among the states and concluded, “Abstinence-only sex education is ineffective in preventing teen pregnancy and may actually contribute to it.”
In other words, a lack of information leads to predictable results.
Washington is one of 21 states that does not mandate comprehensive sexual education in schools, and Rep. Monica Stonier, D-Vancouver, has helped introduce a bill that would mandate comprehensive sexual health education to all students by the 2022-23 school year.
Competing statistics are certain to be part of the debate surrounding the bill. So is the inclusion of sexual orientation and issues relating to the LGBTQ community, which has become a flashpoint for questions about sexual education.
A broad understanding and discussion of issues relating to sexual health is important for fully educating students and preparing them to make informed decisions. Basics should be required for all students, but comprehensive sex education should be presented in elective courses, allowing parents to have some say in the depth of instruction their children receive. The Legislature would be wise to tread lightly with a topic that inherently touches upon deeply personal values.
Regardless of what comes out of next year’s legislative session, parents will remain the most important teachers of sexual health. Ensuring that children are well-informed and apply their values to the topic of sex must begin in the home.
