Attending a Catholic school from preschool until my senior year of high school, I believe I have grounds to say that sex education should be required for middle school and high school students.

Teen pregnancy costs taxpayers nearly $9 billion a year, while sex education in school would only be around $206 million. The U.S. is the leading developed country in teen births with more than 400,000 teens giving birth every year. Teenagers feel as if they are invincible and do not realize the serious repercussions of the decisions they make.

Schools should push for abstinence but also thoroughly teach how to practice safe sex. Adults do not need to make up lies; the reality of pregnancy is scary enough. Teachers need to expose young adults to the reality of pregnancy, childbirth and being a young parent. They should be aware of all the statistics and hear personal stories from teen mothers.

Going to a private school, I only received the “sex” talk once, in fourth grade. Being 9 years old, this subject was very embarrassing for everyone. Although we learned about puberty and maturity, no one was comfortable with learning about sex. I believe that all schools should be required to have a health class. The concept of health class isn’t to completely revolve around sex, but only make one of the many topics to be covered. Students can learn how to take care of their bodies while also learning how to solve problems with their peers without the use of bullying.

Being taught abstinence our entire lives did not stop individuals from my school from engaging in sex. A considerable number of recent high school graduates are pregnant or already have children. I believe that if we were taught how to have safe sex and realistic, understandable reasons as to why we should wait until we were older, then some of these girls may have been in college by now.

We can no longer deny that teenage sex happens. Clearly, preaching strictly abstinence doesn’t work, and different measures need to be taken. Please take the time to stress how important this information is. We are creating our next generation here, and I would like to ensure they are raised by mature, hardworking, ready-to-be parents.