The teaching of comprehensive sex education in Schreiber health classes is part of the required curriculum. This approach is more beneficial than the alternative, abstinence-based education, and the school should continue to prepare students for realistic life situations in this manner.
“I went to a Catholic school growing up, so we never learned anything about stuff like birth control,” said health teacher Ms. Patricia Kosiba. “The most that was taught was by a live birth video. They basically tried to scare us out of having sex.”
Based on these experiences, she and the other heath teachers are happy with how the subject is taught here.
“We feel very grateful that we get to be realistic to the students,” said heath teacher Ms. Janine Kalinowski. “It’s great to have a non-biased and non-judgmental point of view.”
Although we should all be thankful that our school chooses the more practical standpoint of providing important material, there are still flaws in the way it is shown.
“It could be better,” said senior Emily Lipstein. “There could be more resources included in their lessons.”
Students would benefit from increased education on basic concepts, because many students do not feel comfortable having conversations of this nature with their parents.
“A lot of the teachers assume we know more than we do,” said senior Sofiya Semenova. “There’s also a big gap between the people that hook up with others often, and those that don’t, which gets glossed over most of the time.”
It is the job of the health teachers to fill gaps in students’ knowledge. For some students, talking with parents about difficult issues is discouraged, so it is beneficial that our school teaches students in this way.
Teenagers may find themselves in difficult situations where they must make decisions about sexual activities, but giving them the knowledge to handle it beforehand is a much more comforting and beneficial approach.
The school should continue to teach comprehensive health education to provide the most realistic and helpful information to students, but should consider incorporating more of the fundamental information high school students could use in realistic life situations.