ex education was almost completely eliminated in the US by the end of 1970's. In the end only three states still required that sex education be taught in school (Donovan). When the AIDS virus was learned to be contracted through sexual intercourse in the 1980's, almost all 50 states immediately changed their laws to require sexual education in the areas of STDS and HIV/AIDS prevention (Donovan). But even with the requirement to provide sex education most of the programs in the US were still lacking in methods of contraception, condom use and other prevention strategies, and controversial topics like abortion, masturbation, and homosexuality (Donovan). The controversy today is not whether or not sex education should be taught in school, but what should be taught in the classroom.
             What exactly does sexual education entitle? It depends on where a student lives and attends school and whether or not his school is public or a private religious institution. Most public high schools teach everything from how to use a condom to the sexuality of homosexuals to STD prevention. But in private schools, private Catholic schools to be more specific, abstinence is the only method of sex education being taught. Educators in the US are pushing beginning to push more for abstinent only programs to be taught in public schools now also.
             Changing sexual education programs to abstinence only programs defeats the purpose of sex education. Both parents and school administrators are denying the importance of teaching students about every aspect of sex education. Safe sex should be promoted in schools, not just abstinence only before marriage. Supporters of abstinence only programs "promise school boards and parents that if schools let them come in and teach an abstinence only curriculum, children will not have sex" (Donovan). This message is very appealing to adults, who feel that adolescents today become sexually active too early. Parents a...