A special report aired this week on KSLA News 12 which, frankly, shocked me. I had no idea so many of our teenagers are infected with sexually transmitted diseases including Syphillis, Gonorrhea and Chlamydia.
Those diseases not only sound bad, they are bad. In her report, Summer Knowles listed a number of possible reasons for the prevalence of sexual diseases. Number one, these kids are having unprotected sex. They may not be getting consistent access to health care and kids who grow up in poor neighborhoods are also more likely to get these diseases.
So what's the answer?
There are sex education programs in our schools. One recommendation is to start teaching sex-ed much earlier, maybe as early as 5th grade. Of course, parents need to play a key role in all this and teach their children they are responsible for what happens to their own bodies. And everyone just needs to be aware of the problem.
As I said, it surprised me. I'm James Smith.
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