Sex education in public schools has been a controversial issue in the United States for over a decade. With the HIV crisis and teen pregnancy on the rise, sex education is needed. Part of the American public believes that sex education should be taught at home by children's parents. They believe that sex education programs in schools do not emphasize abstinence and encourage children to have sexual intercourse. American culture is very sexually oriented. Sex can be seen in all media. Charles Krauthammer said, “Sex oozes out of every pore of culture, and there is not a child in the world who can avoid it” (Bender). After dealing with sex on a daily basis, today's independent teenagers will make their own decisions about whether or not to have sex. The important thing is to make sure they know all aspects of it. Reality-based sex education gives young people a positive understanding of sexuality. It also provides sexual health information and decision-making skills (What). Topics include sexual development, reproduction, relationships, affection, intimacy, body image, and gender roles (What). Successful sex education programs have several highlights. Highlights include exercises to encourage assessment of values ​​and skills in which students are taught how to negotiate in sexual situations (“What kind”) Most of this nation favors sex education in public schools. Polls show that eighty-nine percent of citizens support him(What). Should the remaining eleven percent of the country be able to decide what children in the United States learn and what they don't learn in public schools? The only argument of the 11% against sex education is that they believe that sex education encourages teenagers to experiment with sex. This reasoning is based on absolutely nothing. There is no evidence that sex education causes anything negative. This country is a democracy. A study of teenagers in Sweden and the Netherlands showed that teenagers in those countries were just as sexually active, but the rates of teenage pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases were much lower. Researchers say this is due to sex education that begins in elementary school and continues (Bender p.13). Only ten percent of American school-age youth participate in a comprehensive program lasting at least forty hours (deMauro p.89). American adolescents also score low on sexual knowledge questionnaires (Gordon p.