Sexual education at U-High is taught during a student’s physical education period in a class deemed “Health and Wellness,” where over two weeks teachers cover topics including sexually transmitted infections, birth control, contraception, rape, sexual assault and consent. 

Two weeks is not enough time to teach students something as important as sexual health, and especially when in 2021, one in six U-High students reported to have engaged in oral, anal or vaginal sex. Students need a semester-long required course on sexual health. 

According to a 2017 study by Planned Parenthood, over 50% of teenagers have had sex before age 18, and according to a 2018 study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, half of the 26 million contracted STIs were contracted by people between the ages of 15-24. If there was a more concrete course for sexual health, teenagers would have a much better grasp on sexual safety. 

Sex education needs to become a semester-long course at U-High. With over half of teenagers actively having sex, it is essential for them to be taught to do so safely, and two weeks allocated to it is not enough.