Rough Draft of Persuasive Essay: Sex Education in Public Schools The glamorous side of sex is everywhere; music, TV shows, movies and social media. It is easy for a mature adult to ignore the sexual messages on these channels. However, for a teenager, going through physical and mental changes and peer pressure, it is extremely easy to fall in love with what is shown as "beautiful". Everyone fell for half-truths to be cool in their teenage lives. As it happens, teen pregnancy and STDs aren't one of those things you can just walk away from. Children and STDs leave a lasting effect on everyone involved. The National Conference of State Legislatures states: Although the teen birth rate has fallen to its lowest levels since data collection began, the United States still has the highest teen birth rate in the industrialized world. Approximately one in four girls will become pregnant at least once by their twentieth birthday. Furthermore, young people between the ages of 15 and 24 represent 25% of the sexually active population, but contract half of all new sexually transmitted diseases. For this reason, teens should be fully educated on the dos and don'ts when it comes to sex. Telling a young man that he should simply wait until marriage would intensify his curiosity about sex and push him to try it. Sex education is necessary for public schools; however, it should not be limited to abstinence. According to the organization Advocates for Youth, “Sex education is the cause of healthy sexual behavior and leads to the decline in teenage pregnancies.” This may be because sex education teaches young people about sex from a biological and scientific point of view. Thus, explaining why teenagers physically feel a certain way when puberty occurs. Answers lingering questions about b... middle of paper... programs would prefer young people to be mature enough to understand why their bodies matter and the consequences of sexual relationships. Both can prevent teenage pregnancy and disease, but it depends on the individual and their values. However, the National Library of Medicine found, through observation and research, that “there was a positive correlation between the abstinence program and teen pregnancy. In fact, teenagers who were taught abstinence-only were more likely to get pregnant than those who were taught sex education. The motto would be: “Knowledge is power”. As a result of this program, the rate of unplanned pregnancies and sexual disease epidemics has decreased. This is why it is argued that sex education should be taught in the public school system.