Teen’s Health Causes Condom Distribution in Public High Schools

The average age for the start of puberty is eleven years old. During adolescence, teens undergo changes within their bodies. This is the time where they begin to form their own identity. As a result, it leads to experimentation in a vast number of ways. Dress, personality, and drugs are all types of experimentation that teens go through. The most important is sexuality.

Decisions being made by teens today are resulting in consequences that are affecting their own health. The recent breakout of STD’s (sexually transmitted diseases), AIDS, and teen pregnancies in the past two decades have brought this issue to the attention of society. There is a dispute of whether or not condoms should be handed out in high school. Both sides present their arguments well, however, there can only be one decision made. Should condoms be distributed in high schools?

Giving condoms to teenagers is essentially giving them permission to have sex. Do not forget that these are high school students; freshmen at a mere age of fourteen and sometimes only thirteen. The ideas of distributing condoms to teens will only emphasis the idea of sex. Limbaugh says it best, “The logic and motivation behind this country’s mad dash to distribute free condoms in our public schools is ridiculous and misguided…

Condom distribution sanctions, even encourages sexual activity, which in teen years tends to be promiscuous…” With condoms present, the topic of sex will occur more frequently. This doubles the chance of peer pressure into having sex. The added temptation to engage in sexual activity will result in woman having sex at a younger age. Soon the average age of people beginning to have sex will not be sixteen, but fifteen or even fourteen!

There are proven studies that disprove the notion that condom availability encourages sex. There have been numerous national health organizations that have adopted policies in support of school condom availability. “A comparison of public high schools in New York City and also Chicago found positive effects of condom availability programs. With the same sexual activity among senior high students in both cities (NYC, 59.7 percent; Chicago, 60.1 percent), sexually active students in New York, where there is a condom availability program, were more likely to report using a condom at last intercourse than were those in Chicago, where condoms are not available in school (60.8 to 55.5 percent).” (Advocates for Youth)

It has also been proven that condom availability programs found a significant increase in condom use among sexually active students but no increase in sexual activity. According to the World Health Organization, a review of studies was conducted on sexuality education and found that access to counseling and contraceptive services did not encourage earlier or increased sexual activity. (Advocates for Youth) Teen’s health is at risk and making condoms available is one way to help aid teens.

The rise in teen pregnancy has become a major issue that needs to be addressed. Media including television shows, movies, magazines, and even celebrities, who are suppose to be examples for the younger kids, all promote sex in one way or another. Teen pregnancy doesn’t just affect the teen, but it affects the child, the family, and the rest of the economy. For example, a seventeen year old gets pregnant and has a baby.

The child suffers because the mother is not old enough to care for the baby and provide it with its necessities, food. By not receiving all the vital vitamins, the child is malnourished and its health is at risk. And because the mother is taking care of the baby all day, she does not have a job and collects welfare. The mother is not contributing to society anymore and depends on the rest of us to assist her. This is an example of how the society at large is paying for her mistake. It’s beneficial that we come up with a plan to help reduce the number of teen pregnancies.

Each year new viruses are detected and begin to spread. Sometimes scientists are lucky enough to create a vaccine to cure them. However, when it comes to sexually transmitted diseases and AIDS, victims of those diseases may not be so lucky and in some cases, unfortunately result in deaths. Health of teenagers needs to be taken seriously because they are the next generation. If no action is put in place to prevent such diseases, spreading continuously throughout the world may occur. The consequences of not using condoms are immense. According to a nursing school website, one in four college students has an STD. Society needs to think long and hard about how their future will unfold if they do not act fast.

Condoms should be available in high schools because of the rise in teen pregnancy, STD’s and Aids. The big picture is teen’s health and helping them in any way possible to benefit in the long run. Because the previously mentioned studies have shown that having condoms available in schools increases the percentage of students who use condoms as well as not change the percent of students who are sexually active makes the decision to have condoms available in the nurses office simple.

The nurse’s office is the desired place because it is already an established department dedicated to teen’s health. However, students may not just walk in and grab condoms at their convenience; there are certain requirements that must be met before they are granted such privileges. Because kids come from all different types of schools, it’s not fair to have requirements outside of the given high school.

High school is where boys are made into men, and where girls mature into woman. So, starting in high school, the plan is as follows: Students of all grade levels who choose to participate in the privilege of having must attend monthly lectures regarding sexual education. These lectures will cover an array of topics that will get the students involved and inform them of the consequences of sex.

But will mostly educate them on how to go about engaging in safe sex to protect their health. To keep the students interested, raffles and sex trivia will be played towards the end of the lectures. Regarding absents, there are on average nine school months. Students are allowed to be absent three times. If a student is absent more than three times, he/she will be taken off the list of students who are allowed access to condoms.

If students during the middle of the year decide they would like to take part in the privilege of access to condoms, then there are easy steps they must take. First is to attend three straight lectures without being absent. An alternate route to that is a one hour session one on one with the nurse talking about what was covered in the previous lectures. The next step is to get a seventy five on the quiz about the previous lectures covered by the nurse. The final step is to promise yourself that you will do the best of your ability to keep yourself safe from the dangers of the sexual consequences that lurk in society. After completing those steps, the students name will be placed on the list that has access to condoms.

Location of the condoms is important. The chosen position would be in the nurse’s office on a table. The nurse’s office is the ideal place because it not only connects with health, but also because anything that happens in the nurse’s office is confidential. It will be up to the nurse’s discretion whether or not to inform parents of any incident. Also, the nurse will be familiar with who is on the list and who is not, so there will be no need for awkward conversation that would scare students away. The idea is to create an environment where the students feel comfortable.

Those who oppose condom availability believe the cost to provide high schools with condoms would be too high. The belief is that the cost of the condoms will be coming from society’s tax dollars. “Why should I pay for teenagers to have sex,” would be the most common question asked by local tax payers. According to Amazon, it costs $2.25 for a three pack of condoms. With a high school of 800-1200 students, to provide a condom for each student would cost between $600 and $900. However, with the availability of condoms being like a basket of candy, they might take more than one over the course of the year. So, for example each student takes sixteen condoms (eight school months times four weekends a month equals thirty-two weekends) over the school year, that’s comes out to between $9,600 and $14,400. Unless the school has some sort of fun raiser for condoms, the cost for the condoms will come from the taxpayers.

What was not taken into account was market branding. Bulk order of condoms obviously costs more than a three pack of condoms from the internet. So, the calculation of seventy-five cents per condom is not true. However, even if it was true, there are other ways to provide condoms for high schools without taking from taxpayers. Sponsors such as Trojan can come in and take care of that cost with donations of however many condoms the school asks for.

For example, a high school will contact the major brands for condoms and tell them how they have potential long time loyal clients. A brand as big as Trojan, would happily donate the condoms to the high school for the benefits of the long run. High school students will have Trojan condoms at their disposal for four years. By the time they enter college, they know nothing but Trojan. This will lead them to buy Trojan condoms for the rest of their life. All this is done without having to seize a single cent from taxpayers.

There are people who believe that having condoms available will cause teens to think more about sex and be influenced by it. They believe if condoms are readily available and are being handled by 800 students at school, there is no doubt that sex will be on those student’s minds. At fourteen years old, sex should not be the major concern. Education should be on student’s minds. They consider sex as being a more grown up concept and should not be exposed to at such a young age. Giving out condoms, which has an immense part of the concept of sex, would only increase students curiosity of sex and ultimately lead them into having sex.

Those members of society are clearly living under a rock because the media puts the stress on sex. Television shows, music, and movies all emphasize sex. But they do it for a reason, sex sells. A beautiful woman on a stage singing and dancing half naked is more entertaining than a fully clothed woman. It goes back to our bodies. Because of puberty and hormones, the sexy woman is going to appeal to us more than the other woman. The example of the half naked girl is not only in concerts, but in music videos, television shows, and movies as well. There is no hiding from sex. So the idea that the availability of condoms will emphasize sex might actually be true; it is nowhere near the impact of media.

The increased problem of teen’s health has increased in the past two decades as a result of the rise in STD’s, AIDS, and teen pregnancy. The proposal of having condoms readily available in high schools with a solid curriculum of sexual education is the best option for increasing the use of condoms and protecting teen’s health. Studies from New York high schools have shown evidence of the success of condom availability. Having Trojan as a sponsor will put the taxpayer’s minds at ease because all the condoms will be donated and they won’t have to pay a single penny. Lastly, media is the cause of the prominence of sex these days. All in all, the availability of condoms in high schools……