RUNNING HEAD: Sex Education

Education: Among Patients and Among Students

Shante Brown
Student No: 823-282-009
Date Submitted: September 30, 2015
NURS
Professor: Nadine Janes
Humber College ITAL

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Ontario has considered implementing a new sex education curriculum for public
school students. Educators believe children should have more knowledge about human
orientation and sexual intimacy in order to decrease the rates of sexually transmitted
diseases and teen pregnancy in the future. Education is important to nurses since the job
of a nurse is to put the needs of clients first. (CNO, 4, 20) By all means, nurses should
advocate for their clients with care and educate them as well. The idea of a new and
improved sex education curriculum in Ontario is fit; as children need to be more
knowledgeable and have a better understanding of how to apply the knowledge about sex
into their daily lives as teens and adults. Many parents disagree with the new curriculum
because they believe that the displaying of sexual content to children who are unaware
may indirectly influence them in taking part in sexual activities. The reasoning for
parents being against the curriculum can be viewed as somewhat biased because it
focuses mainly on a negative perspective. The key goal of the curriculum is to educate
and make children more aware about sex and how to protect themselves at a younger age.
The CNO document Infection Prevention and Control states that Ensuring the use of
safe, effective and ethical infection prevention and control measures is an important
component of nursing care(CNO, 3, 2009). As a nurse, it is important to ensure safe,
effective and ethical infection prevention for patients. By educating children at a younger
age it equips them with the knowledge needed to make decisions and take the appropriate
precautions and protect themselves from any possible illness when engaging in sex.
Knowledge is an important aspect, as without knowing; there cannot be any
understanding. In nursing, knowledge is important, According to the CNO document RN
and RPN Practice: The Client, the Nurse and the Environment Teaching others

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influences the work environment and advocates for or bring about a change. (CNO, 14,
2014) Nurses do believe that knowledge is a priority because it allows the nurse and the
client to know what is best for them. Educating children about the human reproductive
system allows them to understand why and how the body changes. In the CBC news
article, Kaufman states Kids are asking all kinds of questions about their bodies, about
gender, about what they see out in the world. (CBC, 2015). Many children are not yet
aware of theses topics, and they are curious to find the answers. The famous saying,
curiosity killed the cat is somewhat relatable to children who are uneducated when it
comes to sex. They are forced to learn on their own through experience.
In essence the new sex education curriculum is preparation for children to make safe
sex related decisions in their future. Sex education allows children to learn about their
bodies, and the opposite gender's body, Eventually, the knowledge of the child grows and
by the eighth grade the child should have learned about several sexually transmitted
diseases (STDs) and pregnancy that occur through sexual intercourse. Sex education is
particularly important for young females as it educates them about menstruation, around
the time that they will begin that change in their body. Females will be able to learn why
they have a menstrual cycle and how they can deal with it.
The understanding of sex education for a younger audience is more efficient since the
curriculum will correlate well with the childs daily lives. In the CNO document,
Telepractice evaluating the clients understanding of the information or advice is a
principle of client care, because clients will not be able to apply knowledge without being
able to understand. In correspondence to the statement on menstrual cycles, children age
three to six, are usually curious about their genitals. According to Erik Eriksons

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Psychosexual Stages of Development, children tend to fantasize about their genital area
around this age, and sometimes masturbate as a new source of pleasure. So, with children
being taught sex education from a younger age, they will be able to understand more
about their genitals and why they become so driven towards it.
Most importantly, children should be educated in this topic to emphasize that having
sex not only displays pleasure, but can also spread STDs and infections. As previously
stated, CNO stresses on transmission of infection from person to person as that is a major
cause of illness within our world. If students are educated enough about STDs and
infections, most likely STDs and infections rate could possibly decrease since these
students would have been taught the information. Unfortunately, most adolescents are not
educated enough at the right age to understand that protection is very important.
According to Statistics Canada, 68.6 thousand students have dropped out of school from
2007 to 2010 in Ontario. By this statistics 68.6 thousand students that did not attend high
school are not fully aware of the sex education, as it was never taught to them. Having
this subject taught to a younger crowd is more beneficial, as it ensures that students are
properly educated.
Conclusively, sex education should be taught to students at a younger age to get
earlier exposure on the subject. In the nursing field, education, knowledge, understanding
and application is a very important aspect since it indicates to the client how to prevent it
the illness from spreading and how to make the infection better. If we want to bring about
change within our world like nurses do, we have to educate our children in school and
help them have a better understanding about sex education so they will be able to apply
this knowledge earlier in their lives.

RUNNING HEAD: Sex Education

Reference
1

CBC News. February 25, 2015.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ontario-s-newsex-ed-curriculum-the-most-up-to-date-in-the-country-1.2969654.
country. Retrieved from http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ontario-s-new-sex-edcurriculum-the-most-up-to-date-in-the-country-1.2969654

Do, T. (2015, February 25). Ontario's new sex ed curriculum 'the most up-to-date' in the
country http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ontario-s-new-sex-edcurriculum-the-most-up-to-date-in-the-country-1.2969654

Gilmore, J. (2010, November 3). Trends in Dropout Rates and the Labour Market.
http://www.torontosun.com/2015/09/05/ontarios-sex-ed-curriculum-whats-new

Ontario sex Ed curriculum: 5 things to know. (2015, May 4). Retrieved from
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/ontario-sex-ed-curriculum-5-things-toknow-1.3059951

Outcomes of Young Dropouts. Retrieved from http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/81-004x/2010004/article/11339-eng.htm

Practice Guidelines: Infection Prevention and Control. (2009, June). Retrieved from
http://www.cno.org/Global/docs/prac/44034_SupportLearners.pdf

"Practice Guidelines: Supporting Learning." CNO. June 2009. Web.

<http://www.cno.org/Global/docs/prac/44034_SupportLearners.pdf>.

"Practice Guidelines: Telepractice." CNO. June 2009. Web.

RUNNING HEAD: Sex Education

<http://www.cno.org/Global/docs/prac/44034_SupportLearners.pdf>.
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"Practice Guidelines: RN and RPN Practice: The Client, the Nurse and the Environment.
(2014, June 1). Retrieved from
http://www.cno.org/Global/docs/prac/44034_SupportLearners.pdf

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Shah, M. (2015, September 5). Ontario's sex-ed curriculum: What's new? Retrieved
from http://www.torontosun.com/2015/09/05/ontarios-sex-edcurriculum-whats-new