Pass These Bills: A High School Student's View

At a hearing in Harrisburg about two sex education bills, the testimony by witnesses was revealing about the state of education - or miseducation - about sex in our schools. One expert stated the obvious: “Many students are misinformed about sex.” One of the reasons given is that many teachers do not teach about sex because they are uncomfortable talking about it, even though sex is natural and it is nothing to be ashamed of. Another issue is that many teachers are not sufficiently educated on the subject, so they are not qualified to teach it.

HB 1162 and HB 1163 need to be passed so that students have the opportunity to be educated on a subject that really matters in life. These bills will help students to get informed about safe sex, so when they decide to be sexually active they’ll know about more than just abstaining from sex. Abstinence is not the answer for everyone, so by having sex education classes in school, they’ll know about different ways to be safe.

Demia in Philadelphia

Demia Burrell is a junior at Mastery Charter School and will be interning with the ACLU until the end of the school year.