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We Still Haven’t Figured Out Sex Ed
Where schools have failed to educate teens about sex, TV has stepped in — and tried to get it right
I had just been hired for my first permanent teaching position and was invited to meet the homeroom students I’d soon inherit. When I stepped into the classroom, sitting before me was the first group of teens I could call “my class.” The moment was colored by a mixture of fear and excitement, of pressure and eagerness to get it right.
The vice principal cleared her throat. “Let’s everyone take a moment to congratulate Jan.” All eyes turned to a wisp of a boy, demure, slouched at his desk, eyes half-covered by a hoodie. “This weekend,” she continued, choosing her words, “Jan became a father to a healthy baby girl.”
Smart move, I noted. Get ahead of the story.
The room was silent. This precise moment marked Minute Zero of my teaching career.
What surprised me was not that Jan had been thrust into parenthood, but—and here was my new-teacher naiveté—that this 16-year-old had been sexually active to begin with. But that shouldn’t have surprised me. All I needed to do was recall my own high school experience, the chat room gossip, the talk of who did what behind the shed at so-and-so’s party. Or consult studies confirming…
