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Teen-agers are usually well acquainted with the concepts, mechanics, and consequences of sex. They understand why they have sexual urges, know how to have sex, and are aware sexual activity can result in pregnancy or sexually transmitted disease. They also know how to protect themselves against these consequences. Teen-agers also know that attitudes toward sex differ according to religious or spiritual beliefs, cultural practices, and personal opinion.

So why do teens need sex education in school if they are already well versed in the subject?

A classroom provides a forum for teen-agers to discuss sex with each other with the supervision of an adult not their parents. This is important because at this age children want to separate this part of their lives from parental control. Teen-agers want to be their parents' babies, and they want to be adults. Sex, then, becomes a sensitive subject for them to discuss with their parents in anything other than a clinical manner.

A daughter does not want to look her mother in the eye and say, "I really wanted to do it with John last night, but he didn't have a condom, so we just fooled around instead. Would it be slutty of me to bring condoms on our next date?"

The young woman is asking who should be responsible for birth control. Her mother may have given her the facts about birth control, but she's more likely to discuss birth control with her peers. Though she may not phrase her question is quite such graphic terms in front of a teacher, she will ask the question in some form, knowing her peers will empathize with her situation.

Sex education for teen-agers, if offered as an elective, can provide a forum for young people to safely discuss the impact of sex on their lives. The classes could go beyond the basics, the mechanics, and provide insight to this complicated topic. There are aspects of sexuality that many young adults simply cannot discuss with their parents. Their parents are the ones who tell them to clean their rooms, do their homework, and not stay out past curfew. Their parents are the ones who hug them when they're sad and tend them when they're sick. Their parents are the ones who call them daddy's little girl' and my young man'.

Their parents, teen-agers feel, are not the ones to ask about who should bring the condoms.

Basic sex education starts in the home, and most parents, contrary to media myth, provide a solid foundation for their children. But children and young adults have a need to discuss and explore

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