Abstinence avoids the issue

The abstinence pact nation is growing, it is not only something that high school students are getting involved in.

A pact that says the person who signs it will not have sex until marriage is growing in popularity on college campuses. I think this is great, too many young girls are getting pregnant in high school and do not know what to do when presented with the idea of being a parent. I think schools need to go one step further, however, and reintroduce "sex-ed" in schools.

I really don't believe that offering our youth sex education is going to make any difference in the desire to have sex. I think if the idea is already there, maybe from magazines, television, music or the civil war their bodies are having with their hormones, then the prospect of having sex will always be there.

Sex is a risqué topic that causes nearly everyone to blush when it is brought up, and while no one wants to talk about it, it's something that needs to be brought up.

If parents don't want their kids taught sex education and pregnancy prevention by a school teacher, then the parents need to be the ones who step up and teach their children what will happen if you do or do not have protected sex. But since sex is such a taboo topic in mainstream American culture, what are these kids being taught?

Health class, as my small Texas high school called our sex-ed session, was taught by one of the football coaches (many of my classes were taught by football coaches actually). When the time came to talk about the human reproductive system, there were the obligatory snickers, red faces and uncomfortable squirming by the students. And, while sex is a serious topic and shouldn't be taken lightly, there were some light moments in the class. Like when Coach drew the male reproductive organ on the whiteboard… with a permanent marker. It was great; a whiteboard length drawing that could barely be covered up by the pull-down overhead screen while the school scrambled to figure out how to erase it.

The class wasn't always humorous, I did learn about the effects of having sex, protected or unprotected, pregnancy, STDs, everything.

My parents and I have always had an open relationship. I could discuss any topic with them and not feel judged, but by taking the class I learned about the sensitive topic from an unbiased source, someone who wasn't there to talk about only one side of the subject.

Abstinence is a great way to avoid the complications of sex, but it's not the only option. Abstinence-only education has raised the pregnancy rate among teens because they are not being taught anything else about sex and its repercussions.

The sex conversation should not be avoided because it can be awkward to bring it up and discuss all the options.

Talk about it, talk with your siblings, talk to your parents, talk to whoever you feel comfortable with. Talking may take the taboo away, but it won't take away the serious nature of the topic.