ipl-logo

Sex Education In Public Schools: Article Analysis

1043 Words5 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Annotated bibliography about sex education

The concept of sex education in American public schools has been an ongoing controversy for quite some time now. In an article from the New York Daily News, author and NYU professor Jonathan Zimmerman provides the argument that sex education will not work for American youth regardless of method. Zimmerman elaborates in his article the inefficiency of teaching sex education in a universal manner as well as the ideal that Americans need to “show much more solicitude” to the parents who oppose sex education in public schools in the United States. Zimmerman begins his article by analogizing the teaching of sex ed in schools to teaching religion publicly; he poses a hypothetical situation in which a person says that children aren’t learning religion …show more content…

For instance, Zimmerman cites dated statistics (the 2004 Zogby poll) in order to backup some of his claims; the problem with that is that the social standards of the United States are constantly changing, and the opinions of parents may be different now than it was a few years back. Another issue with the article is how specific it is to one instance which is sex ed in only New York. Despite the article being from a New York publisher, in order to establish a significantly stronger argument on why sex ed will not work for everyone, it would’ve benefited Zimmerman greatly if he did research on and spoke about the United States as a whole in order to convey the importance of the issues of American sex ed. The article has plenty of potential to reach much wider audiences if published by other means, and with some editing and new research, Zimmerman would have a solid, universal. Zimmerman’s stance on the issue at hand is unclear at certain points in the article, such as when he states his agreement with the way teaching of sex ed that has been implemented despite being an article focusing on “why sex ed won’t work for all.” One place where the article really shines is the usage of analogy. Zimmerman’s tie between teaching sex ed in schools and mandating prayer and religion in schools provides an very clever way of getting the reader to think about his or her own stances and morals, as well as make comparisons between the two instances to determine whether or not the sex ed in New York is

Show More
Related

Rhetorical Analysis Of Tragedy At Newtown By LZ Granderson

1234 Words | 5 Pages

He first tries to get at the reader's emotions by bringing up the Tragedy at Newtown throughout the article. Most people know that when they see Sandy Hook or Tragedy at Newtown they first thinks about the children that died at an elementary school from a school shooter. He tells the reader about the law that was up for a vote that would allow teachers to carry guns with more training, but ends that sentence with “It was approved the day before the shootings in Newtown” (cnn). Not only does he bring up Newtown, but brings up the Colorado theater shooting that happened. He states a quote from the Colorado governor in which he basically says that he was surprised that with all the people in the theater that no one had a conceal and carry and could have stopped the shooter.

Read More

Tom Robinson Trial Essay

521 Words | 3 Pages

The Trial (jury member) Today was the day of Tom Robinson's trial. From what we the jury were told it was simply a black man against a white man. So at first I figured this wouldn’t take long. The case was about a black man being accused of bearing and taking advantage of a white woman.

Read More

Emma Elliott's Eight Mainstream Beliefs

360 Words | 2 Pages

Emma Elliott, a writer for the Concerned Women for America organization, compiled a pamphlet in 2005 in support of an abstinence-only based sexual education system. Elliott establishes her argument in a unique countering organization. She presents a popular claim about sexual education and then refutes it with a reason supporting abstinence. In general, she includes eight mainstream beliefs. The first one is rather general where she refutes that “Abstinence education doesn't work”, and she continues to say that is does and backs up her argument with multiple studies, such as the program “Best Friends” caused 80% less possibility of sexual activity.

Read More

Compare And Contrast Griswold Vs Connecticut

925 Words | 4 Pages

The first article presented only the author’s point of view and refused to say the words “birth-control” or even “contraceptives.” Sadly, it only focused on how “evil” the people were who were sending out the literature, not how these women, many of whom were likely married, simply did not want any more children and needed medication and information on how to prevent pregnancy. The second article, however, addressed the issue with a more factual approach. It seemed to accept the idea that women have the right to birth control and sex education, even if the author only discussed married people. These articles are evidence of how, in one hundred years, the nation can change its entire stance on an issue.

Read More

Parents Should Fight Comprehensive Sex-Ed Summary

372 Words | 2 Pages

The Illinois Family Institute is just as the name says. It’s a family-based organization with conservative views, who promotes “marriage, family, life, and liberty”. Among this organization is Laurie Higgins, the author of the article “Parents Should Fight ‘Comprehensive’ Sex-Ed”. Initially from the title, the article looks like she would be in support of abstinence-only education, since it’s the opposite approach of comprehensive sex-ed. However, Higgins takes the conservative approach one step farther and alludes to the idea that public schools shouldn’t even teach students about sex.

Read More

Rhetorical Analysis Of The Essay 'Prison' By Peter Gray

1651 Words | 7 Pages

This piece of evidence, although it may sound like it gives good numbers in support of his argument, it does not. Gray does not mention how he came to a number of two million or how he claim to the idea that the parents do the work for the children. Gray’s ethos becomes questionable when he uses informal language throughout the essay. On page 7, he uses “don't” instead of do not. Although they both have the same general meaning, using do not sounds more professional and would make the readers feel more comfortable with Gray’s knowledge on the ways school had damaged childrens will to learn. Gray also included a citation for the website wikipidea in the middle of his essay for each website he used such as www.alternativestoschool.com, www.sudval.org, and www.Wikipedia.com.

Read More

The Pros And Cons Of Opposition To The Evangelical Fellowship Of Canada

396 Words | 2 Pages

Many Evangelical parents hope to provide sex education to their children by applying the

Read More

Summary Of Against School By Laurence Steinberg

970 Words | 4 Pages

Gatto’s strategy is better than Steinberg’ s strategy because statistics can cause boredom to the reader. Also, because, the author now is giving different perspective of how people see the American school system, as he make reference to the modern schools as the “... the results of a “revolution”...”(Gatto 4). Gatto used shocking quotes from American satirist H.L Mencken; who wrote that education “... is not to fill the young of the species with knowledge and awaken their intelligence. … Nothing could be further from the truth. The aim.., is simply to reduce as many individuals as possible to the same safe level, to breed and train a standardized citizenry, to put down dissent and originality (Gatto 3).

Read More

Summary: The Coddling Of The American Mind

993 Words | 4 Pages

Where this fits in this conversation is on the side of supporting censorship on the grounds that the parent censors what ever the parent sees fit. However, the article minimally discusses how responsible the parents will be when they censor what their kids will see and hear as well as how they will treat sudden exposure to ideas and images. The writer, here, is on the side of the common, fearful parent who wants to help other parents censor their kids. Unfortunately, this article does not discuss the treatment of censorship when kids are exposed to what the world has. Article 2 Discussion () Even though this article is on the side of pushing for censorship without questioning it’s effects, this article paints the perspective of the reason why censorship exist in the first place; to make sure ideas that are nuanced, very descriptive, and depicts a portion real life through the eyes of mature human beings.

Read More

How America Oversexed And Under Educated Summary

1888 Words | 8 Pages

This week’s discussion, “How America is Oversexed and under Educated” has brought up a sensitive topic that is typically viewed by the average American household as some type of taboo, hidden secret, sin, private or personal topic that is never openly discussed outside the confines of the household. The family usually allows this sensitive topic to be handled at the school level for sex education awareness or behind closed doors at the home by parents or a relative. However, today’s assertion that sex is everywhere in America is probably one of the biggest understatements that you could ever make about America’s culture. The sexual exploitation measures that are founded throughout our society to sell or buy items that elicits the natural instinctive

Read More

First Amendment Thesis

251 Words | 2 Pages

I believe that the author’s thesis is about the issue of censorship and how it impacts our First Amendment. The author presents us a two different perspective of the issue. Such as, our practice of our First Amendment can lead us to a place where someone can create materials that we may find offensive. But are protected by the First Amendment at the same time could have people who want to limit offensive material and therefore, through censorship are limiting the First Amendment rights of others. To demonstrate her point, Susan Jacoby, interviewed a small sample of women to gather their perspective about an image from a Playboy magazine.

Read More

Research Paper On Texas Abstinence-Only Education

1467 Words | 6 Pages

Professor Ross Government 2306 8 February 2015 Is Abstinence-only education the correct approach for Texas? Owning one of the highest rates of teen pregnancies in the Union, Texas has an abstinence only approach in sexual education to try to reduce pregnancies? In addition to this, Texas ranks first as being the top spender in sexual education, but can’t get solidified results out of its spending. Texas doesn’t teach anything about contraception, how the Texas Department of State Health Services has said that the mission of the program is to delay sexual actions among teenagers until they are old enough, and the use of abstinence only education to protect children from explicit content only to find out in their own way leads to curiosity

Read More

For Goodness Sex Ventacchio Summary

1412 Words | 6 Pages

Those of us who are thirty years and older may recall a curriculum that was fear and judgment based, and that the only acceptable sex education was an abstinence-only based curriculum, and you are told only about the dangers of sex. American’s have been told that sex is something sinful, so naturally talking about something so sinful is very uncomfortable. However, the interest in sex, stills remains, and we as humans, are both interested and disgusted simultaneously. Moreover, Vernacchio asks his students what they might imagine there own ‘first moment’ to be like.

Read More

Mandatory Sex Education Persuasive Speech

947 Words | 4 Pages

Introduction 1. Attention Getter: The provision of sex education in schools has been a controversial subject matter among different education stakeholders ranging from parents to educators. A focus, however, on the prevalence of adolescents’ abortion, pregnancy, and HIV and AIDS rates indicates significantly high rates.

Read More

Thesis Statement On Sex Education

1012 Words | 5 Pages

II. 1st paragraph: Studies done in the University of Georgia show the importance of sex education in a macro scale of just the US, but other research has been done on a micro scale in Memphis, Tennessee that other angles like economics must also be taken into account as to what the consequences are of no sex education or abstinence-only education. A. A

Read More

More about Sex Education In Public Schools: Article Analysis

Related Topics

Open Document