This article by the New York Times discusses the effectiveness, better described as lack of effectiveness, of universities’ education and prevention of sexual assault. Although it does not explicitly mention sexual education right away, I believe this article could bring a lot of information into our deliberation. As the article mentions, over 55 Universities are under investigation for sexual assault complaints, and the number continues to rise. Even though colleges are offering mandatory classes and information sessions on sexual assault and how to prevent it, it is not stopping it from happening. This article will help with our deliberation because we will be discussing how the education around this subject needs to be effectively taught in earlier schooling, such as grade school and early high school. College is not the time to be having a discussion of sexuality. Sure, grade schools teach about puberty and the anatomical definition of sex, but what about consent? If young boys and girls are taught from the beginning about consent and sexual relationships, they will grow to have a better understanding of it by the time they reach college, instead of being forced to “learn” about it later in life. One of the goals of our deliberation is to explain ways in which the number of sexual assaults in universities can be diminished.

This article focuses a lot on the current sexual education programs in schools and ways they can improve. With improvements made to the early education system, we believe that assaults in Universities can be reduced, as discussed previously. Sexual education in many school systems only consists of abstinence and “scaring” kids with talk about STD’s and other diseases. Although it is very important to talk about the medical side of sex and sexually transmitted diseases, we will discuss in our deliberation that the education around it should be more honest and realistic. For example, some schools basically give their students the message that if they have sex, they will die. This is not okay because they have a distorted view of the actual health behind sex and are extremely unprepared for it later in life. College is simply too late to begin the dialogue around consent, agency, safer sex, and sexual health. The best tool for preventing sexual violence, according to this article, is to shape attitudes and behaviors long before young adults become sexually active, and this is one of our major suggestions we will address in the deliberation. Some people feel squeamish about having “the talk” at home, let alone in the school environment. Yet, things like the internet, social media, and other passive approaches are what leaves students with misinformation and more questions than answers. In the progressive world we live in, we need to address the issue of misinformation by educating our children more honestly and earlier in life.