JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Some experts say students need more sex education in the classroom. University of North Florida Associate Professor of Public Health Dr. Elissa Barr is among 10 professors nationwide pushing for more and better sex education in schools. They have developed new standards for the people teaching sex education to students. According to a recent study by the Centers for Disease Control, 80 percent of teens age 15-17 have no formal sex education before they have sex for the first time. "That number is scary," said Barr. If those young people had sex education there's a good chance that many of them would have waited. They would have delayed initiating sex for the first time and there's a good chance that those that chose to be sexually active would have used protection." Barr and her colleagues hope the new teaching standards will eventually be implemented at colleges with health education programs. "It's really difficult to just take a sex education curriculum and just hand it to somebody and say 'Here you go, now go teach young people how to reduce risky sexual behaviors,'" she said. The new "National Sexuality Education Standards" were published this month in the Journal of School Health. They are not yet a requirement, but have been disseminated to many colleges nationwide. In Florida all school districts are required to teach sex education, but there is not a national requirement. Florida parents have the option to opt their child out of the lessons, but experts say very few parents choose to do so. In Clay County, Supervisor of Student Services Donna Wethington sat down to talk with us about the sex education curriculum. She said health specialists teach puberty education to fourth-, fifth-, and sixth-graders. In seventh grade, students have a "healthy choices" class where they learn about relationships, sexually transmitted diseases and disease prevention. "We do definitely teach abstinence is the only 100 percent sure way of avoiding those consequences especially at this time in life," Wethington said. She said she believes the lower grade levels are well covered. "I wish we had more time and availability and funding to do some more at the higher grade levels," she said.
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