Students to Seek Expanded Sex Education

Sexuality usually isn't a topic that teens and adults feel comfortable discussing together. However, that's exactly what the 15 teens in the Speak Out! Program, sponsored by Camp Fire USA, plan to do at the Tuesday meeting of the Santa Ana Unified School District board. Speak Out! wants the school district to broaden its sex education program beyond abstinence-only. Members are asking for information on contraceptives, safe sex, relationships, discussing sex with parents, and skills to negotiate with a partner or say "no." The sex education Santa Ana high schools provide is folded into a health unit that covers the reproductive system and some STDs, but otherwise relies on the message "wait until you get married," said Laura Raya, 17, of Santa Ana High. "It's like they are hiding something from you," she said. "They are not giving you enough information to be prepared."

A grant from the Berkeley-based California Wellness Foundation provided the means for Speak Out! to spend after-school and weekend hours preparing. They spent the past 18 months doing research, conducting telephone and in-person surveys of teens, parents and teachers, and interviewing community leaders. Two-thirds of those surveyed said sex education in their schools is inadequate. In addition, whenever they tried to talk to their parents, the adults would walk away or hang up the phone, students said. Those dozen or so parents who answered said they wanted their children to be better informed, but didn't know enough themselves to help their children.

School board members who have met privately with Speak Out! praised their efforts and their courage in making a public statement on such a controversial issue. "We need to respect their wishes to address that," board member Nadia Marie Davis said. "It's very rare that students are actually coming to us with the problems that they perceive, and that they have solutions for. For the kids to be coming to us is invaluable."

Back to other CDC news for October 23, 2001

Previous Updates