My graduate program is social justice-based and has inspired me to advocate for marginalized communities, particularly for girls of color and poverty. Below you will find my letter to the Secretary of Education, requesting that he implement policies that require all US public schools to offer comprehensive sex education programs, and have counseling staff to provide education and support around sex-related issues. I ask that these school counselors also need to be legally protected to direct students to resources for managing their sexual health, even if these support sources are outside the student’s geographical region.

Dr. Miguel A. Cardona

Office of the Secretary
U.S. Department of Education

400 Maryland Avenue, S.W.
Washington, D.C. 20202

Dear Mr. Secretary,

I admire the outstanding work you have contributed to education in the United States, especially the ingenuity you engaged and administered to reopen schools after the Covid-19 shutdown. The global crisis we all faced highlighted inequities in our country, based, once again, on race and economic status. These two factors are often both present in the same populations, especially in the southern states.

 I write today to remind you of the great inequities that persist, particularly for black and poor girls, and the ways that infringements on their right to education effects every American. The Department of Education needs to mandate that all public schools in the country have a counselor on staff who is trained and skilled to meet the needs of all of our children, specifically in the area of sex education and access to birth control (should this medical need be unavailable in the area). Further, all schools need sex education programs that provide sound, scientific information.

When our classrooms lose girls to pregnancy, there is fallout in several ways:  These young moms and their children are more likely to have poor health and well-being than their peers. Their educational trajectory often ends while they are still children, impacting their economic status and also access to future educational opportunities. Their voices are no longer included in classroom discussions, so the community is not accurately represented in public schools. Classmates who are already marginalized by their race and economic status are further isolated when their peers disappear, impacting their educational experiences as well.

 Teen pregnancy impacts the mother’s family, her vocational future, and her child’s overall welfare. Employment opportunities are lost for the baby’s caregiver. According to The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy the children of these children start their education less prepared than those of mothers in their twenties. (https://www.devex.com/organizations/national-campaign-to-prevent-teen-and-unplanned-pregnancy95842#:~:text=Founded%20in%201996%2C%20the%20mission,the%20demanding%20task%20of%20raising).

 Students leaving high school is also devastating to the economy. According to the Alliance for Excellent Education, a college graduate will earn, on average, $1 million more, over their lives, than a high school dropout. It is estimated that a single high school dropout costs the nation approximately $260,000 in lost earnings, taxes, and productivity.

 The US still has the highest teen birth rate among developed countries (Sedgh, Finer, Bankole, Eilers, & Singh, 2015), with a disproportionate number of teen pregnancies in the southern states, compared with the other US states. The majority of black people live in12 US states, many in the South, where Medicaid has not been extended to all low-income residents. For example, Mississippi claims the highest teen pregnancy rate of all 50 states, and the highest percentage of black residents. According to Attorney General Merrick Garland the number of states that are criminalizing abortion is likely to have a greater impact on black teens [and their families] than on other teens. (https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/attorney-general-merrick-b-garland-statement-supreme-court-ruling-dobbs-v-jackson-women-s). Multiple rounds of the National Center for Health Statistics’ National Survey of Family Growth reported that only “30% of non-Hispanic Black females reported that they had learned about where to get birth control before having sex for the first time.”.

 All American students, especially girls who are black and poor, need access to a school counselor who can educate and support them “to reduce sexual risk behaviors associated with STI/HIV and unintended pregnancy, as well as provide opportunities for students to build health-enhancing knowledge and skills needed for a healthy transition into adulthood.” (Goldfarb E, Lieberman L., 2020).

 For school counselors to safely provide education and support, in states where abortion is illegal, counselors need to have legal protection to inform students about accessing abortion elsewhere, when this is requested.

 The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) developed three critical resources to support schools’ implementation of health and sexual health education programming:

(https://www.cdc.gov/healthyschools/sher/characteristics/index.htm).

 My city of Bellingham Washington, is implementing a comprehensive sex education program for teachers and counselors, for grades 4-12, eventually to include grades k-3 as well: (https://bellinghamschools.org/families/academics/curriculum/health-education/).

 I am committed to improving education in the United States, particularly for our girls, especially poor girls and black girls. Everyone benefits when each person has a seat in the classroom, and providing support and comprehensive sex education and counseling will allow our children to grow up, with access to education, before they become parents.

 I thank you for your time and consideration of my proposals. Please contact me if I can be of any further service.

 Best,

Cat Enright

Graduate Student, Antioch University, Seattle

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

References

Alliance for Excellent Education, 2011, November, The High Cost of High School Dropouts: What the Nation Pays for Inadequate High Schools Washington, DC: https://all4ed.org/

Sedgh, Finer, Bankole, Eilers, & Singh, 2015, Journal of Adolescent Health, Adolescent pregnancy, birth, and abortion rates across countries: levels and recent trends.

Dumas, S. A., Chu, S., & Horswell, R. (2020). Analysis of Pregnancy and Birth Rates among Black and White Medicaid-Enrolled Teens. The Journal of Adolescent Health : Official Publication of the Society for Adolescent Medicine, 67(3), 409. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2020.04.026

Goldfarb E, Lieberman L., 2020) Three decades of research: The case for comprehensive sex education. J Adolesc Health. 2020;68(1):13–27. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]