Mississippi is admittedly behind the times on a wealth of things, but sex education is one of most egregiously neglected areas. 

Of course, we have all heard the teen pregnancy statistic that Mississippi had the fourth highest birthrate in the United States in 2015, according to the Mississippi State Department of Health. After conducting extremely minimal research, I have already come to the conclusion that our state’s approach to sex education is a significant contributing factor to that ranking. It is time for Mississippi to re-evaluate its approach to sex ed, regardless of whether we take statistics into account. 

Mississippi does mandate sex education for high school students, but they allow for only two methods of teaching it: abstinence-only and abstinence-plus. The problem immediately becomes clear: abstinence-only should, under no circumstances, be advocated for by an education system. 

For many kids, sex education at school is the only way they are taught about sex, and refusing to delve into the actual facts of sexual health is irresponsible and embarrassingly backwards. Schools that utilize this method of teaching are turning a subject that should be all about reality and practicality into one of morality and guilt.

 For example, Steve Siebold of the Huffington Post states, “the sex education curriculum in Oxford, Mississippi, allegedly has students unwrap a piece of chocolate, pass it around class and take note how dirty it becomes.” This seems to invoke personal or religious ideals in a system that is ideally separate from both of those things.  

Even if a school were to choose abstinence-plus as their method of choice, it does not necessarily mean the right kind of education is being applied. While this does bring contraceptives into the equation, it only does so in a minimal way. Even with abstinence-plus, abortion is a forbidden topic to discuss.

The majority of teenagers have sex, and turning a blind eye to them in order to push an agenda will only keep Mississippi at the top of teen pregnancy and STI charts. There is nothing wrong with urging students to stay abstinent, but that should be coupled with comprehensive lessons on condoms, STIs and abortion. 

We owe it to the younger generation to give them all the facts, because that is the only way to set them up for safe sexual practices. Not knowing how to have sex safely can ruin someone’s life, and that is not worth pacifying a few holier-than-thou legislators that have enacted these abstinence-based policies. 

I personally feel insulted my tax dollars are allocated towards sexual education practices from 100 years ago. 

Andy Kopsa from The Atlantic outlines the problem in detail: “Mississippi received $739,000 through the Affordable Care Act ACA to implement abstinence-only-until-marriage programs in public schools. The grant guidelines stipulate Mississippi must match the federal funds with state funds at a rate of $3 state dollars to every federal $1. This translates into Mississippians spending around $554,000 in 2012 to teach abstinence-only programs that have not been proven effective.” 

With that in mind, it is clear Mississippi is wasting almost everyone’s time, directly or not. 

Sex education in Mississippi is only one side effect of an overarching problem with our legislature. It represents the state’s reliance on opinion over fact and its refusal to abandon its core “values” in lieu of hard evidence. 

Lacking knowledge about safe sex, especially for teenagers, ruins unwilling parents’ lives, brings children into an environment that sets them up for failure, and helps spread disease among our populace. Our government cannot claim to not know these things, because the information is readily available and impossible to refute. For some reason, Mississippi continues to rely on abstinence— a concept that has failed over and over again. If Mississippi ever intends to stop being an educational laughingstock, our government should start by revamping its sexual education guidelines.