Lack of sex education in schools is effecting college students

When only 13 states require sex education to be medically accurate, a lot is left up to interpretation for students and young people regarding their sexual health. According to the Guttmacher Institute, 37 states are pushing for abstinence-only, which, STI rates have shown us, isn’t exactly effective.
With a lack of national standard in the US of who gets taught what (or when they get taught), students get a range of information depending on what state they live in.
As for Nebraskans, our laws do not require sex education. The law states that it is a matter of local control, however the Nebraska State Board of Education supports “an abstinence approach to risk behaviors associated” with “sexual activity.”
This practice reflects well with Nebraska’s STI rates compared to the rest of the country.
According to the Nebraska STD program, in 2013 the rate of infection for chlamydia was 1166.5 per 100,000 women ages 20-44 and the rate of infection for gonorrhea was 416.5 per 100,000 women ages 20-44. It was also stated that the chlamydia rate within Nebraska has only increased since then while the gonorrhea rate is stable but high.
Chadron State remains no exception to these statistics. In fact, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Dawes County has the highest rate of chlamydia in Nebraska according to 2016 STD Surveillance.
The Eagle advocates for more mandated sex education in schools for the state of Nebraska. The benefits outweigh the awakwardness that that can occur when discussing the topic with students. Sex education doesn’t focus solely around the physical act of sex.
A quality sex education class should cover topics such as health of male and female genitalia, how to have safe sex, consent, STI’s and qualities of healthy and unhealthy relationships.
Students should learn about male and female genitalia to be able to identify what’s normal and what’s not concerning our reproductive organs.
For females, it’s important to learn symptoms of STI’s, ovarian cancer, as well as when they should visit a gynecologist. The same is true for men, learning symptoms of testicular cancer, which can affect men between the ages of 15 and 35 and STI’s.
Chadron State College is taking proactive steps towards helping our students with the recent opening of Western Community Health Resources on campus providing reproductive health care services in Crites Hall, room 012, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m, Monday through Friday. They offer highly confidential visits discussing birth control options, condoms, HIV and STI testing and sexual health counseling.
Sexual education is not something to be taken lightly and we shouldn’t be shy to talk about it especially when addressing concerns regarding our health.