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April/May 2003

Teens campaign for better sex education

In the county of San Mateo, CA, just south of San Francisco, is a group of teens stemming from different ethnic backgrounds and socio-economies called ASsET (Advocating Sexuality Education Together). Though we have differences in our backgrounds, we come together every other week to labor for the same cause. We all want required comprehensive sexuality education in our high school district.

The reason we ASsET teens are compelled to fight for a comprehensive sexuality education is because we feel that we must counter the message and example given by the popular culture of today: sex is appealing and frivolous and portrayed without consequences. On the other hand, the government promotes abstinence and minimal sexuality education, which is not the kind of education we deserve,

We the ASsET team feel that in order to make decisions regarding our sexuality, teens need full and complete, scientifically-backed information, just as anyone would want truthful information regarding any other decision. ASsET feels that we have a right to get our sexuality education in the classroom because it is often the only place we can be assured of a safe, neutral environment to receive this type of information.

Many parents are not comfortable giving sexuality information to teens, meaning that information will come from other places. Sometimes the only places left to go for this information are peers and the popular media, both of which often give confusing, misinformed, and even dangerous information regarding sexuality. We teens at ASsET would like all of our fellow students to receive the same level of truthful information, whether or not their parents are able to give it.

Comprehensive sexuality education is offered at all of the schools in our district, but it is a program requested by the teacher. Teen Talk is provided by an outside nonprofit organization, the Teen Pregnancy Coalition of San Mateo County, and follows the SIECUS Guidelines for a comprehensive sexuality education program. The program includes activities that involve youth in the process of our education. It includes information regarding contraception, anatomy, reproduction, communication, sexual identity, dating, feelings, and forming values.

The Teen Talk program encourages questions using an anonymous system, allows for discussions and uses visual aids and role-playing. We feel this program accommodates many learning styles and does not put extreme pressure on us to make a decision as many other programs do. It also does not dictate what is wrong and what is right, encouraging participants to make our own decision based on the information we collect. Teen Talk stresses abstinence as the only 100 percent method to protect yourself from pregnancy and STDs, yet they also teach you how to protect yourself in case you do decide to have sex.

While the ASsET team wants abstinence to be stressed, we know that for many teens this is not the option they will choose. In addition to Teen Talk, we have had programs that lacked a description of alternatives like contraception and educated decision-making skills.

We feel very fortunate to have comprehensive sexuality education provided to us in high school. However, we want to ensure that it is available for us throughout the rest of our high school years and for future classes. Such education is not currently mandated by our district or the state of California. We have one common goal: to make certain that comprehensive sexuality education is mandated in our district during all four years of high school.

To support our efforts, we have collected data from parent, student, and faculty surveys. We have analyzed the data and found overwhelming support for sexuality education in the schools from all the surveyed groups. We will develop a report which we will present to the community and the School Board. We are currently in the process of planning a community meeting at which we hope to gauge the reaction of the local community to including comprehensive sexuality education in our district's curriculum. From there, we will write the proposal for the School Board and work to be allowed to present our proposal to them. So far, the ASsET team has been pleasantly surprised by the lack of opposition to our project. Having talked to many parents, students, school administrators, and community members, we have found that very few have been opposed outright and several have even been persuaded to view things differently.

The ASsET team is very proud of our initial findings and responses. We look forward to continuing our work to make comprehensive sexuality education a reality for the teens in our district.

As a group, we have accomplished an enormous amount of beneficial information to aide in our cause. As individuals, we have gained a significant measure of knowledge about comprehensive sexuality and advocating for policy change. In addition, we have formed great friendships with teens in our community, and we all look forward to getting together and tackling our next project.

The ASsET team expect to complete our goal sometime in the year 2003 and plans to visit the School Board to present our findings by December 2003.

Robyn Klopp, 17, and Solitaire Miguel, 17 San Mateo, CA