English
Introduction
In the Modern world, children and teenagers engage in harmful sexual behaviors due to a lack of adequate professional support. Early sexual behaviors have a negative impact on the student’s health and academic performance. Peer pressure leads to the usage of illegal and excessively use of harmful drugs that facilitate to practice of sexual behavior. Prevention of these behaviors helps in future well-being and prepares the students to become successful adults. Therefore, leaders should commit to mitigating the continuity of harmful sexual behaviors. However, leaders’ role in addressing the issue is counteracted by the fact that parents are more effective in guiding their students towards sexual health education. This argumentative essay will discuss leaders’ role in sex education and provide a counterargument.
Leaders must address the problem of better sexual health education strategies to help improve health and education outcomes in schools. Sexual health education has been given less concern; therefore, leaders should be at the forefront of addressing the issue. The need to address this issue is attributed to research that showed that among the many students enrolled in primary and secondary learning institutions, 40% engage in unsafe sexual behaviors, and 50% use drugs such as alcohol and marijuana (Kolbe, p.443). Most students engage in these behaviors due to a lack of proper guidance toward a better path. It affects their ability to reach their full potential in their studies. Leaders can design productive activities for students to engage themselves and prevent them from harmful sexual activities. Also, they can set policies that prohibit engagement in irresponsible sexual behaviors.
Schools substantially determine the well-being and educational performance of the students. Therefore, school health is a fundamental strategy that has the ability to create awareness of safe sexual intercourse and intervene in the use of drugs. Leaders are better positioned to develop sexual health education programs that reduce risky behaviors in a school setting. They can closely monitor the effects of unsafe sexual behaviors, such as unintended pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases among the students. Most adolescent boys and girls who are victims of these effects are in school. This makes it difficult for parents to address the controversial issue even though sexual socialization begins in a family setting. Leaders hold the role of providing information and access to SDH education services to students (Kolbe, p.443). They can portray transformational leadership by designing and implementing sexual reproductive health interventions. On the contrary, parents may lack the ability to understand the needs of their children, especially adolescents. They lack the awareness and knowledge to guide their students in pursuing their sexual desires and influence.
Although the leaders have played a key role in eradicating sexual behavior incidence of parents offering ineffective strategies such as restrictions has facilitated the increase of behavior. They strive to instill behavioral expectations as well as expected values through implicit and explicit actions (Admin, p.2). These approaches do not shape the children’s understanding of sexuality. Instead, they increase the probability of the student’s engagement in the prohibited practices. On the other hand, leaders use a modern attitude of engaging young people in sexual awareness. Leaders can hire trained personnel to equip students with skills and knowledge about health literacy. Socialization with students and engaging them in discussion forums build trust and confidence for them to express their concerns. It helps in a better understanding of their needs and helps in decision-making about an approach to their problems. They present their inquiries without fear of judgment and punishment. Unlike parents, leaders collaborate with health organizations to create awareness of healthy behaviors. Also, leaders ensure that their subordinates offer quality sexual education to students without holding back vital information (Admin, p.3). They provide integration of sexuality education to taught subjects. This promotes health and instills lifetime knowledge and skills about sexuality in school students.
Conclusion
In conclusion, this essay has discussed the complex dilemma of leaders’ and parents’ roles in providing sex education in school. The school realized some students’ mental unrest due to engagement in unsafe sexual practices and the use of drug substances. Leaders are in a better position to foresee the progress of students mentally, physically, and academically. This is because adolescents and teenagers spend most of their time in school. This limits the ability of the parent to engage in sex education actively. Leaders adopt better approaches to addressing sexual health education compared to parents.
References
Kolbe, Lloyd J. “School Health as a Strategy to Improve Both Public Health and Education.” Annual Reviews of Public Health, 2019, https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/10.1146/annurev-publhealth-040218-043727.
Admin. “Admin.” Slum and Rural Health Initiative, 2020, https://srhin.org/role-of-parents-in-sexual-health-education/.
