High school health class is a staple of the American education experience. While at least one semester of health is a requirement for all Illinois secondary students, sex education is not.

Per the Illinois State Board of Education, sex education is optional within Illinois school districts. Schools are not required to provide sex education, and if they do, parents may choose to “opt their student out of instruction,” according to the Board.

If Illinois schools do choose to teach sex education, they must align with the National Sex Education Standards. 

Currently in its second edition, the 70-page book of sex education guidelines covers everything from being able to discuss gender expression and stereotypes by second grade to accurately defining federal health care laws in eighth grade.

However, this may not be the sex education you are familiar with. Jada Jacobson, sophomore in Education, recalled a very different and not always informative curriculum.

“Most of the health and sex ed classes were just like, ‘Don’t do drugs,’ ‘Don’t drink alcohol,’” Jacobson said. “It wasn’t really much about having sex, it was just kind of, ‘Girls get periods, this is what happens to boys through puberty.’ But when you get to eighth grade, most of the girls have already started going through puberty, so was that even helpful?”

Alicia Morales, junior in Education, missed entire years of sex education and health courses along with many other students who were also selected for the “advanced” program.

“It just meant we had higher math scores, realistically,” Morales said. “But they never gave us health … My class did not have anything like that until eighth grade, but the other kids did. That was interesting. My teacher had to teach us everything, from fifth grade through eighth grade, in one year.” 

Even when a curriculum is provided, complete adherence to the National Sex Education Standards may not be guaranteed. 

Health class curriculums, which also include subjects such as mental and emotional health, hazardous substances and healthy relationships, can be adjusted to give less time to sexual health.

“Every single year, we covered drugs and suicide, and it was always the same: horrible videos with unrealistic situations,” Jacobson said. “I think if they do require it, they have to look back into the curriculum and make it relatable.”

In 2021, Illinois Senate Bill 818 expanded comprehensive sexual health education standards but maintained that school districts “may (rather than shall)” provide the material. While the bill was a huge bump in consent education, school districts can still choose to place more emphasis on the drugs and alcohol portion of the curriculum.

Having a bad sex education curriculum — or no curriculum at all — is more than just a matter of preference. According to Morales, it’s a matter of safety.

“If you show them what happens and explain everything thoroughly, (students) will be more safe,” Morales said. “They’ll have answers without having to experiment with themselves and ultimately end up hurting themselves or someone else.”

While following a national standard doesn’t leave much wiggle room for educators, it does supply a clear path that might have been difficult for them to see otherwise. 

Though the national standard is uninspired, in Jacobson’s opinion, it tracks with the lack of preparation received by aspiring teachers.

“Reflecting the college curriculum (following a national standard) kind of makes sense, considering we don’t learn anything about sex ed,” Jacobson said. “If we’re required to teach it based on the national standards, then maybe it’s just these boring slides.”

At the University, the path to learning how to teach sex education isn’t clear. According to Jacobson, the subject isn’t mentioned in general course requirements for education majors. 

With their courses being fairly predetermined after joining a cohort during their junior year, opportunities to learn how to address sex education in the classroom aren’t readily available.

“We don’t do any of that … I’ve taken all of my Gen Eds except for children’s movement; we haven’t learned anything about sex ed,” Jacobson said. “The classes I’ve taken with secondary and middle school, we haven’t learned about it.”

Jacobson, who is looking to a future career in curriculum administration, said she wouldn’t feel comfortable doing anything more than advising a student to look in a different direction for answers.

“I don’t think I would feel comfortable informing a student, teaching a class,” Jacobson said. “Maybe answering a question in the way of, ‘You should go ask your family at home,’ but I don’t feel ready to lead a lesson.”

Schools can give parents the choice to opt their child out of learning about sex ed by sending them home with a permission slip. For Morales, this was one of her first experiences bringing this topic up with her parents.

“I had so much anxiety bringing that home to my mom, being the first time I ever had to talk about that with her,” Morales said.

Additionally, being pulled out of class can negatively affect the student from a social perspective, as Jacobson emphasized. 

“If your kid is sitting out in the hallway, it’s calling them out more,” Jacobson said. “It probably will embarrass them, and it’s probably not their own choice not to learn it. Even though it’s not hurting them grade-wise, it is going to affect their own self-esteem because they’re being called out by not learning it.”

Introduced in January 2022, House Bill 5349 would create a further barrier for students learning sex education by requiring parents to opt their child into the subject rather than having the option to opt them out. 

The legislature adjourned sine die in January 2023, meaning the bill has not been enacted and will likely not be discussed further. 

But what about changing the curriculum itself? To provide a clearer idea of what sex education should look like, organizations such as Planned Parenthood and the Teaching Sexual Health initiative from Alberta Health Services offer a variety of learning materials for parents and teachers to help educate their students.  

Changes to the classroom curriculum can stem from the beginning of an educator’s career or maybe before it even starts. Jacobson proposed adding sex education to the standard collegiate education major.

“Maybe not a set class, but part of one of the classes — maybe educational psychology, because that’s where we learned a lot about development,” Jacobson said. “Learning how to approach (sex ed) in a way that’s child-friendly, because you don’t want to say something and then have their parents lash out at you.”

At the end of the day, Morales feels the issue should always come back to creating a comfortable learning environment for young students to discover a new topic.

“The only thing that’s important to me is that kids are given the space to explore without the ability to hurt themselves, which is what the classroom is for,” Morales said. “It’s a place for curiosity. They should be allowed to ask questions; they should be allowed to have a trusted adult to give them those answers without having to go and Google search them.”

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