U.S. Schools Are Doing a Remarkably Terrible Job Teaching Sex Ed
LatestA new study from the Centers for Disease Control shows that middle and high schools in the United States are doing an almost universally terrible job teaching sex ed. Schools are especially struggling with teaching students how to get and use condoms; teenagers are less likely to use one today than they were a decade ago.
The CDC study, which we saw via NPR, is based on the agency’s National School Health Profiles, surveys conducted at U.S. schools every two years. The study, which you can read in full here, asks middle and high schools whether they’re teaching 16 recommended sex ed topics, ranging from how you get pregnant, how HIV and other STIs are spread, the efficacy of condoms, how to use them, and creating “healthy, respectful” relationships. Surprise: most schools aren’t teaching all, or even some, of those things.