Alaska High School Students Push State To Require Comprehensive Sex Education

Main Category: Sexual Health / STDs
Also Included In: Pediatrics / Children's Health;  Women's Health / Gynecology
Article Date: 04 May 2009 - 3:00 PDT

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The Alaska Association of Student Governments recently passed a resolution calling for the state to adopt a "mandatory, comprehensive, medically accurate, age-appropriate nine-week sex education course" for all high school students, the Juneau Empire reports. Alaska currently does not have a standardized sex education curriculum, and programs vary across the state, according to the Empire. The resolution lists 19 reasons for mandating comprehensive sex education, including evidence about the ineffectiveness of abstinence-only programs; the public cost of teen births; and the fact that Alaska has more per capita cases of chlamydia than any other state. The student government association passed the resolution at its spring conference, where about 225 student representatives from 20 high schools were in attendance. The organization has sent copies of the resolution to state legislators, the state Board of Education, as well as to municipal and education officials (Hsieh, Juneau Empire, 4/29).

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