Earlier this week, a collaborative group composed of a myriad of professionals in the fields of sexual health, public policy, sexual education, advocacy and philanthropy released a ground-breaking report outlining suggestions for minimum standards of sex education. The report, titled “The National Sexuality Education Standards: Core Content and Skills, K-12”, relates medically accurate, age-appropriate information for students, beginning at second grade. When it comes to sexual health education, I think it is important to “talk early and talk often” with youth; children are extremely curious about their bodies, sex, pregnancy and more, and it is important to create that safe space for youth to ask questions in a judgment-free environment.

At the moment there is no national standard for sex education – implementation varies by state – with the grand majority of students only receiving about 17 hours of sexual health education: three hours in grade school, six in middle school and eight in high school. Unfortunately, the grand majority of education occurs during the middle and high school years when teens may have already formed opinions and biases regarding sex and sexual health, and it might prove more difficult to change perceptions.

The new program truly embodies the term “comprehensive”, with extensive discussions on a wide-range of topics including: healthy relationships, consent laws, anatomy, sexual orientation, gender identity and condom usage. With the recent rise of bullying in the school system, I find the inclusion of bullying in the curriculum to be a responsible, positive step toward addressing this ever-pressing issue. Also, empowering teens to make informed, healthy decisions with regards to their sex lives will help them to successfully navigate the awkward and uncertain world of sex.

The grand majority of individuals are praising the report and see it as a foundational base for schools to build upon. However, there is some opposition to the program. Some people feel that the program addresses sensitive and controversial issues that are better left for parents to discuss with their children. I agree in that both schools and parents should take on the responsibility of discussing sex and sexuality with their children; however, many parents are uncomfortable with discussing such topics and often lack the information to provide accurate answers to their child’s questions. Also, some are concerned that the program starts too soon and that it is inappropriate to discuss sex and sexuality with second-graders. If you have the chance to read the report, which I highly recommend doing, you will see that the coalition does not advocate for teachers to teach 2nd graders about oral sex, anal sex, etc. Instead, the report aims that by the end of 2nd grade, students will know that “all living things reproduce”, be able to “describe similarities and differences of how boys and girls should be expected to act” and use “proper names for the body parts”. None of these recommendations seem outlandish to me or inappropriate for the age bracket. I guess the alternative is continuing to lie to our children by saying that storks deliver babies. I think we sell our children short by assuming that they will not be able to comprehend or understand these topics; children are amazingly perceptive and are able to understand a great deal when the information is presented in a way that is appropriate for them.

A few years ago, my fabulous aunt was relaying a story to me. One of my younger cousins, who could not have been older than 7 or 8 at the time, came home from school asking my aunt what “gay” meant. A question like this could throw the cool demeanor of any parent, but my aunt calmly sat my cousin down and explained to him that sometimes boys and girls love each other, like she and my uncle do, but also sometimes two boys or two girls will love each other in the same way and there is nothing wrong with that. My cousin nodded and said ok and then promptly lost interest in the topic and went to go play Call of Duty. You’ve got to love children.

What do you think? What should a comprehensive sex education curriculum entail? Should the United States have a national standard of sex education that all publicly funded institutions must follow?