Lindsay

Fairbanks

Professor Fielding

WRTC 103 10:10-11:00

October 9, 2017

Sex Ed in the Home?

Sex. Its a part of everyones life at some point. I mean technically all of us were created

because of it. Its a part of daily life, but how did we learn about it? Maybe it was from your

brother, your best friend, in the classroom, or even from your parents. There are many ways for

sex education to be taught, Christine Watkins wrote Sex Education Should Be Taught at Home

as Well as in Schools, published in 2014 by Greenhaven Press. She argues that children should

receive sex education in their public schools as well as at home, being taught by both teachers

and parents. Watkins builds her credibility by beginning the article with information about

AVERT (HIV and AIDS charity based in the UK), showing research with studies and statistics

throughout and pulling readers in with a logistical appeal and proving her argument thoroughly.

Watkins begins the article with background about AVERT, an international HIV and AIDS

charity, as well as the purpose and definition of sex education. Next, she gives a quick outline

about the goals for sex education and what types of information that should be provided to

young people. She briefly talks about when sex ed should begin and then moves into her main

topic. In the main part of her article she responds to her main argument, which is that sex ed

should be taught in schools and at home. She refers to and explains the benefits of teaching it

both places and how information coming from different sources can be good for young people.

This article features logos as the main appeal. Throughout the article, Watkins uses
many sources that give her piece a strong logos appeal, which strengthens her argument. She

provides the logos by using statistics and findings from studies conducted all over the world.

She points out findings from studies about sex education courses because parents are worried

that sex education will increase curiosity and children will have sex younger, However, in a

review of 48 studies of comprehensive sex and STD/HIV education programs in US schools,

there was found to be strong evidence that such programs did not increase sexual activity.

(Watkins P 4) A parent might feel comforted by this statistic and would feel more open to

talking about sex with their own children at home. Watkins also claims that Formal programs

with all these elements have been shown to increase young people's levels of knowledge about

sex and sexuality, put back the average age at which they first have sexual intercourse and

decrease risk when they do have sex.... (P 18) It is very important that parents understand that

their children need this knowledge and if its going to be talked about outside of the classroom,

its best to talk about it with them, not their friends or siblings.

After logos, ethos is the second strongest appeal, and Watkins does a good job of

building credibility for herself throughout the article. Right off the bat she establishes her

credibility by associating herself with the organization AVERT. AVERT is an international HIV

and AIDS charity based in the United Kingdom working to avert HIV and AIDS worldwide

through education, treatment, and care. (Watkins P 1) By telling us that she is using

information from a very reputable source, that makes us instantly trust her more with the

claims she is about to make, which is important for parents who want to talk to their children

about such a sensitive subject. Giving definitions and describing main points of the paper

thoroughly helps an author to become more credible, Sex education ('sex ed'), which is
sometimes called sexuality education or sex and relationships education, is the process of

acquiring information and forming attitudes and beliefs about sex, sexual identity, relationships

and intimacy. (P 3) Knowing her exact definition of sex ed will help parents throughout the

entire article to understand what they should be teaching at home and what is being taught in

schools.

Finally, Watkins incorporates the appeal of pathos, but not nearly as strongly as logos

and ethos. This article focuses mainly on the benefits of sex education at home with facts but

does appeal to emotion at some points. Watkins appeals to this sense by talking about a

parent/child or teacher/student relationships, Sometimes it can be difficult for adults to know

when to raise issues, but the important thing is to maintain an open relationship with children

which provides them with opportunities to ask questions when they have them. (p 5) Anytime

relationships come up an emotional feeling is evoked, no matter what type of relationship it is.

People nurture their relationships with others and talking about a sensitive topic with someone

you care about can be hard.

Watkins is effective in portraying her argument that sex education should be taught at

home and in schools. She shows her audience of parents, teachers and educators that teaching

this topic in both places can have positive effects on students. The author convinces the

audience of her argument by using all three appeals. Logos is the strongest appeal, with lots of

facts and statistics. She established credibility right off the bad appealing to ethos and a few

times talks about relationships which appeals to pathos. The way we are teaching sex education

in schools needs to change and the only way to that currently is to employ parents to help out.
Gender and sex are directly related so by knowing more about sex, why is exists and why is

happens, we can more easily understand or question our genders.

 Works Cited

Watkins, Christine. Sex Education Should Be Taught at Home as Well as in Schools. Opposing

Viewpoints. (2014): 1-8. Web. 21 Sept. 2017.